Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 24.djvu/317

 Human Elements in Holy Scripture;' in 1870 he published 'Courtly Poets from Raleigh to Montrose,' and at various times a vast number of single sermons, archidiaconal charges, and popular lectures on subjects of literary, historical, antiquarian, and practical interest. Hannah's only son, John Julius Hannah, is vicar of Brighton.



HANNAM, RICHARD (d. 1656), robber, was son of a shoemaker of Shaftesbury, Dorsetshire. He was apprenticed to a silk weaver in London, but left to become a tapster, and finally joined a gang of thieves. He engaged in burglary unaccompanied by violence, and speedily gained great notoriety. Early in his career he was apprehended for a robbery of plate from the Earl of Pembroke, but escaped and left the country. He stayed abroad some time and visited various countries. In Denmark he is said to have robbed the royal treasury of vast sums, and then to have obtained from the queen of Sweden 4,000l. in gold, besides plate and jewellery. After this adventure he was caught and imprisoned, but escaped to Rotterdam, where he introduced himself as a merchant, and won a fair repute for upright dealing. He waited his opportunity, and got away to England with large sums entrusted to him by broker merchants and drawn from the bank by forged signatures. He was soon compelled to leave London and went to Paris, where he was imprisoned and made a marvellous escape. Returning to England he lived for a time in grand style as a peaceable citizen, but in 1654, together with confederates, planned an extensive burglary at the house of an alderman in Fleet Street. Two men and a woman were caught and hanged for this attempt, and later Hannam was also captured. He was condemned on a Saturday to die on the following Monday, but by promising to give information as to the thieves who had been concerned in a robbery from the French ambassador, he obtained a respite, and escaped. Being left unmolested he turned coiner. He was concerned with his father-in-law in a petty robbery on an alehouse-keeper, and, in revenge for the capture of his companion, returned to the scene and stabbed their 'victim. He was arrested and, after trial, was hanged at Smithfield on 17 June 1656.



HANNAN, WILLIAM (d. 1775?), draughtsman and decorative painter, a native of Scotland, was first apprenticed to a cabinet-maker, but his master encouraged him to cultivate a talent for drawing. He was employed by Lord le Despenser to decorate his house at West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, where he painted several ceilings, the drawings for which are preserved in the library at Eton College. He drew in black chalk and Indian ink four views of the gardens at West Wycombe, which were engraved by [q. v.]; two of these drawings are now in the print room at the British Museum. Hannan exhibited some drawings with the Incorporated Society of Artists from 1769 to 1772; they were mostly views in the Lakes and Cumberland. He was an excellent draughtsman. He died at West Wycombe about 1775.



HANNAY, JAMES (1827–1873), man of letters, was born at Dumfries on 17 Feb. 1827. His father, David Hannay (1794-1864), a member of the Speculative Society at Edinburgh University, 1813-14, and author of 'Ned Allen, or the Past Age,' 1849 (a novel which attracted no notice), was engaged in business in Dumfries. The family had some reason for believing that they were descended from the Hannays of Sorble [see ]. In James Hannay the belief was sufficiently strong to influence his studies, inclining him to study heraldry and family history. He entered the navy on 2 March 1840, on board the Cambridge, 78, and served in her during the tedious blockade of Alexandria in the Syrian war, and had therefore no share in the operations of Sir Charles Napier's squadron at Acre. From the Cambridge he passed in succession to the sloop Snake in 1842, the corvette Orestes in 1843, and the Formidable, 84, in 1844. His tastes and his impatience both of routine work and control unfitted him for the life of a naval officer. Very soon after entering the service he began to devote himself to general reading, and even studied Latin with a priest at Malta. With the instinct of a born journalist he started a manuscript comic paper to ridicule the admiral and captains on the Mediterranean station. At a later period he was wont to confess that he had been a somewhat insubordinate midshipman. In 1845 he and two brother-officers were tried by court-