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1901 - 1975
Son of Charles and Sheila Alers Hankey, Jack was born in 1901 and was educated at Wellington and Sandhurst. Being a keen sportsman, he played rugger for Wellington and the Egyptian Army, was a member of the MCC and I Zingari, and shot a right and left of Great Indian bustards. Commissioned in the Kings Own Scottish Borderers, he was in India during the First World War. Jack’s cousin Donald Alers Hankey dedicated to him his book The Beloved Captain.
During the Second World War as Lieutenant-Colonel, he raised and commanded the 52nd (Lowland) Recconnaissance Regiment, 1941-45. After the Normandy landings, he fought in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany, being awarded the DSO and OBE.
In 1945 he retired to his home at Melrose on the Borders, where the Scottish radio padre Ronald Selby Wright referred to him as that ‘amazingly popular character’.
He had 26 godchildren including six Ians.
He never married and died in 1975.