Maurice Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey

The third son of R. A. Hankey, Maurice Hankey was born at Biarritz in 1877 and educated at Rugby School. He joined the Royal Marine Artillery, was promoted captain and served in successive roles, including as coastal defence analyst in the War Division of the Naval Intelligence Department (1902–1906).[4]

In 1908, he was appointed Naval Assistant Secretary to the Committee of Imperial Defence and became Secretary to the Committee in 1912, a position that he would hold for the 26 years.

In November 1914, he took on the additional duty of Secretary of the War Council. In that function, he took notice of the ideas of Major Ernest Swinton to build a tracked armoured vehicle and brought them to the attention of Winston Churchill on 25 December 1914. That led to the eventual creation of the Landships Committee.

In December 1916, David Lloyd George became Prime Minister and greatly changed how the government was run. A small War Cabinet was instigated, and Hankey was appointed as its Secretary and served as Secretary of the Imperial War Cabinet, which also incorporated representatives of the Colonies and Dominion governments. He gained such a reputation for strong competency that when the full Cabinet was restored in 1919, the secretariat was retained, and Hankey then served as Secretary to the Cabinet for 19 years.

In 1923, he acquired the further position of Clerk of the Privy Council. During his long tenure, he would also often serve as British Secretary to many international conferences and Secretary-General of many Imperial Conferences.

In August 1938, Hankey retired from government and became a British Government Director of the Suez Canal Company, a post that he would hold for only one year.

In the 1939 New Year Honours, he was ennobled as Baron Hankey, of The Chart in the County of Surrey.[5][6] Hankey remained a respected figure and was often consulted by ministers and civil servants for advice.

In August 1939, he advised Neville Chamberlain about the formation of a new War Cabinet and, the following month, became another of Chamberlain's many non-party political appointments when he was made Minister without Portfolio and a member of the War Cabinet. Hankey was personally reluctant to take on the task but agreed to do so. He became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when Chamberlain was succeeded by Winston Churchill in May 1940 but was left out of Churchill's War Cabinet.

In July 1941, Lord Hankey was moved to the position of Paymaster-General, but the following year, he was dropped from the Government altogether. He continued to hold other positions in both the public and private sector until his death.

After World War II, Hankey emerged as a leading critic of the war crimes trials, and in his 1950 book Politics, Trials and Errors, he argued that the Allies had no right to convict German and Japanese leaders of war crimes. Hankey kept a series of at times startlingly-detailed handwritten diaries throughout most of his years in government, including during his time as Secretary to the War Council and Imperial War Cabinet of the First World War. The diaries are currently held at the Churchill Archives Centre in Cambridge, England, and can be read by the public.

His youngest brother, Donald Hankey, was a soldier best known for a series of essays that he wrote while he served on the western front in World War I. Donald died in action at the Somme.

Lord Hankey died in 1963, aged 85, and was succeeded in his barony by his eldest son, Robert.

In the 1912 Birthday Honours, Hankey was appointed to the Order of the Bath as a Companion.[7] He was then promoted within the same order as a Knight Commander in 1916[8] and as a Knight Grand Cross in 1919.[9] In the 1929 Birthday Honours, Sir Maurice was appointed to the Order of St Michael and St George as a Knight Grand Cross.[10] In the 1934 New Year Honours, Sir Maurice was appointed to the Royal Victorian Order as a Knight Grand Cross.[11]

In the 1939 New Year Honours, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Hankey, of The Chart in the County of Surrey.[5][6] The same l year, he was also appointed to the Privy Council.[12] In 1942, he was elected to the Royal Society as a Fellow under Statute 12 for those "who have rendered conspicuous service to the cause of science, or are such that election would be of signal benefit to the Society".[13]

Coat of arms of Maurice Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey

Crest A wolf's head erased at the neck Erminois, gorged with a collar wavy Azure. Escutcheon Per pale Azure and Gules, a wolf salient Erminois vulned on the shoulder of the second, a bordure wavey of the third. Supporters Dexter: A fallow deer resting the sinister hind foot Proper on a millrind Sable; Sinister: An alpine chamois resting the dexter hind foot Proper on a like millrind. Motto Per Sagitatem Pax Cum Justitia [14]

• Hankey, Maurice (1961). The Supreme Command. Volume I (1914-1918). George Allen. OCLC 249296.
• Hankey, Maurice (1961). The Supreme Command. Volume II (1914-1918). George Allen. OCLC 886110948.
• Naylor, John F. A man and an institution: Sir Maurice Hankey, the cabinet secretariat and the custody of cabinet secrecy (1984)
• Roskill, Stephen (1970). Hankey: Man Of Secrets. Volume I (1877-1918). Collins. ISBN 0-00-211327-9.
• Roskill, Stephen (1972). Hankey: Man Of Secrets. Volume II (1919-1931). Collins. ISBN 0-00-211330-9.
• Roskill, Stephen (1974). Hankey: Man Of Secrets. Volume III (1931-1963). Collins. ISBN 0-00-211332-5.

• Spartacus Educational article
• The Papers of Lord Hankey are held at the Churchill Archives Centre in Cambridge, and are accessible to the public.
• Newspaper clippings about Maurice Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW