Frederick Hankey (1774-1855)

Portrait of elderly Sir Frederick, by his daughter Ionia, ca. 1850 Colonel 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. He served as a diplomat on Corfu and Malta.

Biography Hankey was born in London, the third son of John Hankey, a merchant of Mincing Lane, and his wife, Elizabeth.

Hankey married his first cousin, Charlotte Hankey, at Fetcham, Surrey, in July 1796. They had two daughters, Emma (1798-1864) and Frederica (1816-1872). Charlotte Hankey died that same year 1816.

He then became private secretary of Sir Thomas Maitland, Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands and Governor of Malta, 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 to as "governor of the Ionian Islands".

Hankey served in Malta 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 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 1855 on his 81st birthday.