Navigation: Hankeys of Churton > John Hankey > Robert Hankey > Robert Hanky > Thomas Hankey > Henry Hankey >
Only surviving daughter of Sir Henry Hankey; born on 22 Oct 1709 and baptised on 15 Nov at St Dionis Backchurch.
Mary was married on 13 Jul 1725 at Clapham to James Creed (later Sir James, 1695-1762), of Blackheath, East Greenwich, by whom she had three daughters and a son who died in 1750 aged 15. James Creed bought in 1731 at Greenwich ‘a most handsome house, of three and a half storeys, seven bays wide, with a double flight of curved steps to the main entrance hall’.
James Creed was in business at The White Lead Works, Whitechapel in the manufacture of white lead, for which he obtained a patent in December 1749. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in February 1743. He was a Haberdasher (Master in 1744); knighted on 21 Feb 1744; director of the East India Company 1755-58 & 1761; having unsuccessfully contested Southwark in 1747, he was MP for Canterbury 1754-61; Deputy Lieutenant of Middlesex. He invested considerable sums in Government stock between 1755 and 1761. Sir James died on 7 Feb 1762 aged 67, and Lady Creed on 14 Oct in the same year. MI Greenwich.
These miniatures were painted by Nathaniel Hone in 1749. Although a type-written label gives the sitters as Sir James Creed (1694-1762) and his wife Mary nee Hankey, it is more likely that they are John (Jacky) Barnard (1709-1784) and his wife Mary.
The will of Thomas Hankey’s widow Elizabeth mentions two miniatures, of John Barnard Hankey’s Great Uncle Mr J. Barnard, the other that of his wife. These last are in small round wooden frames exactly alike. This description fits these two miniatures, although they are slightly oval.
Sir James Creed was aged 55 in 1749, and Jacky Barnard 40, which is much more likely the age of the sitter.
A Musical Family
Through the years, several of the Hankey family were keenly interested in music, and may well have been accomplished musicians themselves:
-Sir Joseph Hankey and his son Joseph Chaplin Hankey are on record as frequent purchasers of musical scores.
-In about 1746, Joseph Gibbs (1699-1788), organist and composer, published Eight Solos for a Violin with a Thorough Bass for the Harpsichord, with a dedication to Sir Joseph Hankey. (DNB)
-Sir Thomas Hankey was an acquaintance of Handel, and attended his concerts in the 1760s.
-Joseph Chaplin Hankey left to his daughter Elizabeth Dobrée such of his harpsichords as his wife Katharine did not wish to have, 1773.
-Joseph Chaplin Hankey’s son Joseph Chaplin Hankey Jr was surrounded by sheets of music in his portrait by George Romney, c.1790.
-The 2nd Viscount Palmerston recorded attending some concerts held by his first cousin Thomas Hankey, including one in 1789 at which ‘there was some very good music.’
- Kate Hankey was a writer of hymns, including in 1867 the hymn Tell me the old, old story.