Early years Percy William Bunting was born on 1 February 1836 at
Radcliffe in Lancashire, the only son of Thomas Percival Bunting and Eliza (
née Bealey). His father was a solicitor in Manchester. Percy had three sisters, Mary (born in 1833), Eliza (born in 1838) and
Sarah (born in 1841). The children, whose paternal grandfather was the prominent
Wesleyan Methodist leader
Jabez Bunting, were raised in a devout household. Percy Bunting was educated at home until 1851, when he became one of the original students at the newly-opened
Owen's College in Manchester. He was awarded a scholarship to
Pembroke College at the
University of Cambridge. In 1859 Bunting was classed as the twentieth '
wrangler', denoting a ranking of those who gained
first-class honours in the
Mathematical Tripos competition. He graduated that year with a Master of Arts.
Legal practice In 1862 Bunting was
called to the bar at
Lincoln's Inn, where he practiced law and acquired a large practice as a conveyancer and at the
Chancery bar. He was an "examiner in equity and real property at the London University for some years". Bunting married Mary Hyett Lidgett on 21 June 1869, the elder sister of
Elizabeth Lidgett. The couple had four children: two daughters (Evelyn, born in 1870, and Dora, born in 1877) and two sons (
Sidney, born in 1873, and Sheldon, born in 1882). In 1882 Bunting was appointed editor of
The Contemporary Review, a position he occupied until his death in 1911. He conducted the journal with a liberal slant, supportive of social reform. He encouraged writers in the fields of contemporary theology, science, art, literature and politics and enlisted foreign correspondents. Bunting took on the role of treasurer of the mission. In the Wesleyan Conference, where he sat as a lay representative, he served for many years as the lay secretary of the Committee of Privileges. Bunting frequently visited European countries promoting moral purity as a social reform. Bunting remained as Methodist editor of
The Review of the Churches until 1896. Bunting was an advocate of international peace and friendship. He visited Germany in 1907 and 1909 and assisted in the formation of the
Anglo-German Friendship Committee in the months before his death. In the last three years of his life, Bunting's physical powers slowly declined. Sir Percy Bunting died on 22 July 1911 at his home in London, at 11
Endsleigh Gardens in
Bloomsbury, aged 75. He was buried at
Highgate Cemetery (on the western side). ==Publications==