HANNAY, Sir Samuel, 3rd Bt. (c.1742-90), of Kirkdale, Kirkcudbright, and Philpot Lane, Fenchurch St., London.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754-1790, ed. L. Namier, J. Brooke., 1964
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

5 July 1784 - 11 Dec. 1790

Family and Education

b. c.1742, 2nd s. of W. Hannay of Kirkdale by Margaret, da. of Rev. Patrick Johnston of Girthon, Kirkcudbright.  m. 1768, Mary, da. of Dr. Robert Meade, 1s. 2da.  26 Sept. 1783 served heir to Sir Robert Hannay, 1st Bt., who d. 1658, the baronetcy having been dormant since 1689.

Offices Held

Biography

The Gentleman’s Magazine (1790, p. 1151), in Hannay’s obituary note, describes him as ‘formerly an eminent chemist’; in the London directories, from 1765 onwards, he appears merely as a merchant; but in 1790 in partnership with William Duncan as a drug merchant. His brother Alexander was a lieutenant-colonel in the Indian army; another brother, Ramsay, was in trade from India to China. Samuel Hannay himself had important Indian (City and shipping) interests; he was one of the creditors of the Nawab of Arcot.1

In 1784 Hannay was on the list of Government candidates recommended by Richard Atkinson, and was one of those willing to pay £2,000 or £2,500 or perhaps £3,000.2 He stood at Ilchester but was defeated; next, Jonathan Phillips vacated for him the seat at Camelford. He voted with Pitt over Richmond’s fortifications plan, 27 Feb. 1786, and the impeachment of Impey, 9 May 1788, but left him during the Regency crisis together with his colleague at Camelford, James Macpherson, ‘both of whom were annoyed because Pitt had refused to allow Sir John Macpherson to return to India’.3 ‘Sir John Macpherson’, wrote James Grant to Lord Cornwallis, 18 Mar. 1789, ‘... took the opportunity of going over to the Rising Sun in the first boat ... he carried off his namesake and Sir Samuel Hannay.’4

Hannay died 11 Dec. 1790.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: Sir Lewis Namier

Notes

  • 1. C. H. Philips, E.I. Co. 1784-1834, p. 30.
  • 2. Laprade, 126-9.
  • 3. Philips, 64.
  • 4. Cornwallis Corresp. i. 448.