Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 24.djvu/309

 

 HANMER, JOHN, afterwards  (1809–1881), poet and politician, born 22 Dec. 1809, was son of Thomas Hanmer, colonel of the royal. Flints militia, who died in 1818, by Arabella Charlotte, daughter of Thomas Skip Dyot Bucknell, esq., M.P., of Hampton Court. He was eighteenth in descent from Sir John de Hanmere, constable of Carnarvon Castle in the time of Edward I. He was educated first at Eton and afterwards at Christ Church, Oxford, where he matriculated on 3 Dec. 1827, but did not proceed to a degree. He succeeded his grandfather, Sir Thomas Hanmer, as third baronet in 1828, was M.P. in the liberal interest for Shrewsbury from 1832 till 1837, for Kingston-upon-Hull from 1841 till 1847, and for the Flint boroughs in six parliaments, from 1847 till 1872. On 24 Sept. 1872 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Hanmer of Hanmer and Flint, both in the county of Flint. Hanmer supported free trade and religious liberty, voted for the total repeal of the corn laws (though his views in this respect were afterwards modified), and advocated the adoption in their place of a 'moderate fixed duty.' He sought to abolish bribery at elections, and declined to stand for Kingston-upon-Hull in 1847 on the failure of full assurance that 'his election should be made in obedience to and in conformity with the law.'

In 1836 Hanmer privately printed 'Poems on various Subjects,' and in 1839 published 'Fra Cipolla and other poems,' containing, besides new matter, many of the shorter pieces previously printed. The title-poem is a translation of the tale of 'Friar Onion,' from the 'Decameron,' and the story of the 'Friar and the Ass' is founded on an old Italian novel; both indicate a keen perception of beauty, and some power of describing it. In 1840 appeared 'Sonnets,' dealing mostly with Italian subjects and scenes, and nearly all of a high level of excellence. In 1872 he printed 'Notes and Papers to serve for a Memorial of the Parish of Hanmer,' subsequently enlarged for private issue in 1877, as 'Memorial of the Family and Parish of Hanmer.' It contains some quaint and interesting information, and in an appendix are added 'Sonnets and Epigrams, with other Rhymes, written long since by John, Lord Hanmer,' many reprinted from the 'Sonnets' of 1840. Hanmer died on 8 March 1881 at Knotley Hall, near Tunbridge Wells, and was buried at Bettisfield, Whitchurch, on the 15th. He married, 3 Sept. 1833, Georgiana, youngest daughter of Sir George Chetwynd of Grendon Hall, Warwickshire; she died on 21 March 1880. On Hanmer's death the peerage became extinct. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his brother, Major Wyndham Edward Hanmer, of the royal horse guards, father of the present baronet.

 HANMER, JONATHAN (1606–1687), ejected minister, younger son of 'John Hanmer, alias Davie' (who died in April 1628), and Siblye (née Downe) his wife (Barnstaple par. reg.), was born at Barnstaple in Devonshire, and baptised there on 3 Oct. 1606. He was admitted to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1624, and graduated B.A. in 1627, and M.A. in 1631. He was ordained on 23 Nov. 1632; was instituted to the living of Instow, Devonshire, in the same year; afterwards held the vicarage of Bishops Tawton in the same county, and from 1646 to 1662 was lecturer in the church at Barnstaple. He gained a high reputation as a preacher, but declined an invitation to preach before Bishop Hall of Exeter at his triennial visitation (February 1635). In 1646, when Blake, vicar of Barnstaple, was temporarily suspended, a petition was signed by the mayor and other residents of the town to the Devonshire committee of commissioners for the approbation of public preachers, requesting the appointment in Blake's absence of 'Mr. Hughes or Mr. Hanmer.' Dr. Walker (Sufferings of the Clergy, p. 196) speaks without authority of Hanmer as a 'factious lecturer,' who 'encumbered' Blake.

Hanmer was ejected from both vicarage and lectureship on the passing of the Act of Uniformity in 1662, and afterwards, in conjunction with Oliver Peard, founded the first nonconformist congregation in Barnstaple. The Oxford Five-mile Act necessitated frequent changes of abode, and he laboured in London, Bristol, Pinner, and Torrington, as well as Barnstaple. It is not known how long he presided over his newly gathered congregation, with whom, however, he communicated either in person or by letter to the time of his death. Previous to the building of a meeting-house in 1672, near the castle, the congregation met in a private malthouse