John Hanmer, 1st Baron Hanmer (1809-1881). Drawing by Frederick Sargent. Courtesy National Portrait Gallery.
Sir John Hanmer (22 December 1809 - 8 March 1881), later Lord Hanmer, was an English poet and politician.
Life[]
Hanmer was the son of Thomas Hanmer, colonel of the royal Flints militia (died 1818), by Arabella Charlotte, daughter of Thomas Bucknell, M.P., of Hampton Court. He was 18th in descent from Sir John de Hanmere, constable of Carnarvon Castle in the time of Edward I.[1]
He was educated 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 3rd baronet in 1828.[1]
On 3 September 1833 he married Georgiana, youngest daughter of Sir George Chetwynd of Grendon Hall, Warwickshire; she died on 21 March 1880.[1]
He was liberal MP for Shrewsbury from 1832 till 1837, for Kingston-upon-Hull from 1841 till 1847, and for the Flint boroughs in 6 parliaments, from 1847 till 1872. 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."[1]
On 24 September 1872 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Hanmer of Hanmer and Flint, both in the county of Flint.[1]
Hanmer died on 8 March 1881 at Knotley Hall, near Tunbridge Wells, and was buried at Bettisfield, Whitchurch, on the 15th. On Hanmer's death the peerage became extinct.[1]
Writing[]
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.[1]
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.[1]
Publications[]
, Sonnets (1848). Forgotten Books, 2018. Courtesy Amazon.com.
Poetry[]
- Proteus, and other poems. London: Gilbert & Rivington, 1832.
- Poems on Various Subjects. London: Gilbert & Rivington, 1836.
- Fra Cippolla, and other poems. London: Edward Moxon, 1839.
- Sonnets. London: Edward Moxon, 1840.
Non-fiction[]
- Notes and Papers to Serve for a Memorial of the Parish of Hanmer in Flintshire: Collected at Bettisfield, 1871-2. Westminster, UK: J.B. Nichols, 1871.
- A Memorial of the Parish and Family of Hanmer in Flintshire: Out of the thirteenth into the nineteenth century. London: privatly published at Chiswick Press, 1876.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[2]
See also[]
References[]
Porter, Bertha (1890) "Hanmer, John (1809-1881)" in Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 24 London: Smith, Elder, p. 295. Wikisource, Web, Feb. 11, 2017.
Notes[]
External links[]
- Poems
- "The Pine Woods" in A Victorian Anthology
- Sir John Hanmer at PoemHunter (8 poems)
- Sir John Hanmer at AllPoetry
- John Hanmer (1809-1881) at Sonnet Central (11 sonnets)
- Books
- John Hanmer at Amazon.com
- About
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen & Sidney Lee). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Hanmer, Joh (1809-1891)
|