Hankey, Maurice Pascal Alers, 1st Baron (1877-1963), British civil servant. In 1908, while still an officer in the Royal Marines, Hankey was appointed assistant secretary to the Committee of Imperial Defence (CID), a body established in 1902 to co-ordinate British strategy and defence planning. From this unpromising appointment he rose almost without let to a position of unparalleled influence in the inner councils of government. He was secretary to the CID, 1912-38; to the War Cabinet, 1916-19; and to the cabinet itself, 1919-38. Hankey had a genius for making himself indispensable. Successive political leaders came to appreciate his formidable memory and his discretion, but his influence was not only personal. He was also a man of systems and the architect of modern cabinet government, introducing agenda, proper record-keeping, and minutes. His views on defence matters were also often sought, less often acted upon, but always lucid, well informed, and sometimes far-sighted. During WW I, in particular, his co-ordinating role gave authority and substance to cabinet decisions. Without Hankey, declared Balfour, ‘we should have lost the war’.

Bibliography

• Roskill, Stephen W., Hankey: Man of Secrets, 2 vols. (London, 1970)

— John M. Bourne

Baron, 1877–1963, British soldier and civil servant. Educated at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, he served in the Royal Marines artillery (1895–1901) and in naval intelligence (1902–6). As secretary to the Committee of Imperial Defence (1912–38) and secretary to the cabinet (1916–38), he represented Great Britain at imperial and international conferences and was extremely influential in a back-room capacity. In 1939 he was made a baron and a privy councillor, and he held minor cabinet posts until 1942. He became an active member of the House of Lords, a director of the Suez Canal Company, and an author. His writings include Government Control in War (1945), Diplomacy by Conference (1946), and The Supreme Command, 1914–1918 (1961).

Bibliography

See biography by S. W. Roskill (2 vol., 1970–72).

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