Navigation: Alers Hankey > Miss Alers > William Alers > John Alers > Jameson Alers >
Sixth son and tenth of the thirteen children of Jameson Alers Hankey of The Mount, Upton, Bexley, Kent, Humphrey was born on 27 July 1874 at The Strand, Ryde, Isle of Wight. His father being a very keen yachtsman, who had just bought a new racing schooner Olga, the family were in Ryde for the summer season of regattas and racing. The family was still in Ryde on 27 Sep 1874, when Humphrey was christened at All Saints church.
First registered as Humphrey Clement, his names were:
Humphrey Lt.-Gen. Humphrey Lyons, his grandfather, who had died in 1873, and whose mother’s family of Walrond had often used the name Humphrey from the fifteenth century
Bickerton Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Bickerton Bt was godfather and patron of Vice-Admiral Lord Lyons, Humphrey Lyons’ brother, whose son was known by his second name Bickerton
Munster Count Munster, the German ambassador in London, was his godfather. He was on board the Olga when she won the Town Cup in 1876
Humphrey was born in the year his father bought both The Mount at Bexley and his racing schooner Olga. He went to a prep school at Blackheath and was later educated at home by tutors and governesses. Two stories illustrate how unsatisfactory such an education could be:
- On one occasion when Jameson’s yacht was in the Solent, the tutor and governess went ashore, leaving the children locked up on board, and were discharged when the facts emerged.
- Another governess cruelly beat the children with her ruler, but the parents did not find out until gin bottles were discovered in her room.
Humphrey later went to a university in Switzerland.
Humphrey & Kit Alers Hankey
It was at The Mount that Humphrey and his eldest sister Edith caught typhoid, probably in 1885. An eminent doctor came down from London to treat them, but he was unable to save Edith, aged 25. Humphrey later caught typhoid a second time.
The Sanctuary, Milnerton, built 1932
Although born to a wealthy father whose ancestors were bankers in the City of London, Humphrey as a member of a large family was expected to make his own way in the world. At the age of twelve he was sent by himself on the train to London to sit the entrance exam for the Navy, but he arrived so distressed that he was unable to write anything at all. At the age of eighteen he went to Canada on a tramp steamer, a voyage of nine days. After travelling around the country, he spent nine years in North America as secretary and business manager of mining companies. In 1900 he was with Dominion Mining in Vancouver. He went to Johannesburg in 1903 and to Natal in 1905, to open the branch agency of Baerecke & Kleudgen, Agents, of Club Arcade, Durban.
It was in Durban in the following year, 1906, that Humphrey met his future wife, Kathleen Randles (known as Kit). She was ten years his junior, and daughter of the late William Randles of Sydenham, Durban. They were married at Durban on 28 April 1908; their children Nigel Humphrey (1911-1985) and Cynthia (1914-2003) were both born at Durban.
Table Mountain from The Sanctuary
Humphrey, Kit, Cynthia and Nigel (r to l)
Following the outbreak of the First World War Humphrey arrived at London on 19 Dec 1915 on the Llandovery Castle to enrol in the forces, but was rejected on medical grounds. It is believed Humphrey bought his firm at this time (the owners being aliens), and after 1914 moved back to Johannesburg, where his company was H. Alers Hankey Ltd, agents for Lysaghts steel, for GKN nuts and bolts, and manufacturers agents for the mining industry. The company became Hankey Jardine Ltd, and was later absorbed into an industrial conglomerate. Kenneth Jardine was Humphrey’s partner.
Humphrey and Kit retired to the Cape. In 1929 they bought about 12 acres of land at Milnerton, two miles north of Cape Town, and in 1931 started construction of their home The Sanctuary, completed the following year. This was a spacious single storey thatched house, with stables, paddocks and a cottage, with a fine view across the lagoon and beach towards Table Mountain. Cynthia wrote on 25 March 1932 ‘We went down to see the cottage. It is very charming, especially the living room, which reminds one of a miniature baronial hall.’ The family moved in on 15th July 1932. Humphrey’s step-grand-daughter Suzie Baxter recalls that ‘when the golf club was built across the lagoon in full view of his verandah, he sent them one of his curt notes (oh so polite) enclosing a cheque for the purchase of green paint, instead of the red with which they had painted it ‘ and yes they repainted the roof!!’
Humphrey kept a fine stable of thoroughbreds, and rode regularly with the Cape Hunt. Humphrey and Kit maintained an active social life, and were prominent in Cape society. They usually travelled to England each year on the Union Castle, or a ship of Ellerman Lines, Sir John Ellerman being an old friend. Cynthia and Nigel were at school in England, and on these extended visits Humphrey often rented a flat in London or a house on the south coast, the latter including the farmhouse Budock Vean at Mawnan Smith (1928), which in 1933 was extended as a luxury hotel. Humphrey was keen on sailing, though not on the same scale as his father. He owned the four-ton lug Vida in 1913, and later kept a modest yacht named Ladybelle on the Hamble, followed by Chance and Meta, both Falmouth quay punts, at Port Navas on the Helford.
Humphrey stayed once with his brother Syd in Zara, Dalmatia, in about 1936. They went sailing together, and Syd’s young daughter Judy recalled that Humphrey ‘was a silver fox type’. ‘I recall he had a rakish hat (a Borsalino fedora) and was quite spiffy. Saw him again at Effingham when he came to dinner at the cottage. Mother was having fits trying to make him an impressive dinner ‘ she told me he was very particular; I recall hearts of lettuce and Argyle beef.’
Humphrey had a dry sense of humour, and his conversation would captivate any listener, whatever the subject. He was exceptionally well read, and his interest in art was evidenced by his discriminating purchases in London of furniture, books and especially of pictures.
Humphrey Alers Hankey
Of slight build and moderate stature, Humphrey’s looks and temperament probably owed more to the Lyons than to the Hankeys, who were typically short, dark and tending to baldness. He was always immaculately dressed, with his suits from Sandon in Saville Row, shirts from Edouard & Butler and so on; flowers for his button-hole were delivered twice a week from Cape Town. Entertaining being very formal, Humphrey had an enormous stock of dress shirts and wing collars. These were sent on the mail boat from Cape Town, to be laundered and starched in Southampton, and received back a month or so later.
He was, perhaps, not the easiest of fathers, and his sharp temper was not infrequently vented on Nigel. His presence in a hotel or restaurant had an electrifying effect on staff and waiters; on one occasion he was giving a lunch at the Ritz, and his own special diet of sole was served before his guests had even seen the menu. At home he usually had soup, followed by roast chicken and ice cream with chocolate sauce.
Humphrey died in February 1959 at his home at Milnerton, aged 84.
Humphrey and Kathleen Alers Hankey
Addresses: Enstead, Escombe Avenue, Park Town West, Johannesburg (designed by Sir Herbert Baker)
The Sanctuary, Milnerton, Cape