Thornton Leigh Hunt 1860s. Hunt was also editor of "The Spectator" from around 1859 to January 1861. James Buchanan was at that time President of the United States and was attempting to counter civil war over the issue of slavery, mostly by adopting a vacillatory position. Two Americans based in London - a businessman called John McHenry and an Assistant Secretary to ambassador George M. Dallas, called Benjamin Moran - determined to use the magazine as a counter to the generally anti-Buchanan position of the British press. Hunt had assisted Robert Stephen Rintoul at "The Spectator" and appears to have stayed on after
William Rintoul a plant for the recovery of acetone during the production of cordite. In 1909, the superintendent of the Gunpowder Factory, Sir Frederic Nathan, moved to the Nobel Enterprises, an explosives plant in Ardeer, Scotland founded in 1870 by Alfred Nobel. Rintoul followed him and assumed the post of research manager. His organizational activities brought him in close contact with a wide range of scientists both in Britain and abroad. For his contribution to supporting the army in the World War I, Rintoul was decorated with the Order of the British Empire. He was a member of numerous committees including the