Sir Frederick Hankey (13 March 1774 – 13 March 1855) was a British army officer, diplomat and colonial administrator. He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1833 by

William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

. He served as a diplomat on Corfu and

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

Biography

Hankey was born in London, the third son of John Hankey, a merchant of

Mincing Lane Mincing Lane is a short one-way street in the City of London linking Fenchurch Street to Great Tower Street. In the late 19th century it was the world's leading centre for tea and spice trading. Etymology Its name is a corruption of Mynchen ...

, and his wife, Elizabeth.''London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812'' Hankey married his first cousin, Charlotte Hankey, at

Fetcham Fetcham is a suburban village in Surrey, England west of the town of Leatherhead, on the other side of the River Mole and has a mill pond, springs and an associated nature reserve. The housing, as with adjacent Great Bookham, sits on the lower ...

, Surrey, in July 1796. They had two daughters, Emma (1798-1864) and Frederica (1816-1872). Charlotte Hankey died that same year 1816. Frederick Hankey served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

in Ceylon (1800-1811) as an infantry officer (he attained the rank of

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

in the 15th Regiment of Foot) He then became private secretary of

Sir Thomas Maitland Lieutenant General The Right Honourable Sir Thomas Maitland (10 March 1760 – 17 January 1824) was a British soldier and British colonial governor. He also served as a Member of Parliament for Haddington from 1790 to 1796, 1802–06 and 1812 ...

Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands The Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands was the local representative of the British government in the United States of the Ionian Islands between 1816 and 1864, succeeding the earlier office of the Civil Commissioner of the Ionian Island ...

and

Governor of Malta A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, whom he had met while in Ceylon. Hankey represented Maitland (who resided in Malta) in Corfu from 1817 to 1823, thus being often incorrectly referred as "governor of the Ionian Islands". Hankey remarried in December 1818 with a woman from Corfu, Mrs Catterina (or Catherine) Valarmo, Vaslamo or Varlamo, with who he had Thomasina-Ionia (1819-1900), who married Captain Charles F. Maxwell in 1839, and Frederick (1821), who became a famour erotic writer. Catherina Valarmo died in Malta in 1835 and is buried in the Greek Orthodox cemetery there. Hankey served in

from 1824 to 1837. He achieved great respect for a sensitive diplomatic mission to the Vatican about the legal immunity that the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

enjoyed on the Island of Malta. In particular Naples' claim that he had the right to nominate any Bishops of Malta. The Vatican would eventually come down on the side of the British, thanks in large part to Hankey's diplomatic intervention with Rome. Sir Frederick Hankey died in London in 1855England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index 1837-1915 on his 81st birthday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hankey, Frederick 1744 births 1855 deaths Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George British diplomats East Yorkshire Regiment officers