Donald Hankey
Encyclopedia
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
both titled A Student in Arms.
Biography
Donald Hankey was born in BrightonBrighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
, Sussex, the youngest child of Robert Alers Hankey and Helen Bakewell Hankey. The senior Hankey returned to England with his Australian wife after having made his fortune sheep farming in South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
. Maurice Hankey
Maurice Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey
Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, PC was a British civil servant who gained prominence as the first Cabinet Secretary and who later made the rare transition from the civil service to ministerial office.-Life and career:The third son of R. A...
was one of Donald's brothers. As his father and his three older brothers had done, Donald attended Rugby School
Rugby School
Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...
and from there he entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in the autumn of 1901 when he was not yet seventeen. After what he later remembered as “the two most miserable years of my life” at Woolwich Academy, Hankey received his commission as a second lieutenant, joined the Royal Garrison Artillery
Royal Garrison Artillery
The Royal Garrison Artillery was an arm of the Royal Artillery that was originally tasked with manning the guns of the British Empire's forts and fortresses, including coastal artillery batteries, the heavy gun batteries attached to each infantry division, and the guns of the siege...
and was ultimately stationed in Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
until serious ill-health led to his return to England on extended sick leave at the end of 1906.
With his military career apparently cut short, three considerations entered into Hankey’s view of his future. One was his long-standing attraction to an eventual career as a Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
clergyman; another was a recently formed fascination with the challenge of ministering in some way to the manifold needs of the urban poor; and finally, a comfortable legacy at his father’s death (1906) gave him the means to make these two objectives practicable. Accordingly, he spent four months in residence at Rugby House, a mission in one of London’s roughest pockets of poverty, and at the same time enrolled in a “crammer” at Charterhouse
Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...
with the aim of gaining admittance to university and ultimately to ordination in the Church. Rugby Mission opened Hankey’s eyes to what it might take to work effectively with young people in the slums, but he did succeed in entering Oxford.
Having resigned his army commission and having treated himself to a four-month holiday on the Continent, Hankey began his theological studies as a member of Corpus Christi College
Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom...
. His three years at Oxford were fruitful. His theological studies gave focus to his convictions, and he produced what was eventually published as The Cross, a short book on the Atonement. Still more crucial, however, was Hankey’s introduction to life at the Oxford and Bermondsey
Bermondsey
Bermondsey is an area in London on the south bank of the river Thames, and is part of the London Borough of Southwark. To the west lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe, and to the south, Walworth and Peckham.-Toponomy:...
Mission, established and maintained by Oxonians in what was then a notoriously squalid London neighborhood south of the Thames. His connection with Bermondsey became one of the most decisive influences in Donald Hankey’s life.
After Oxford (and after a return visit to Mauritius by way of Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
and Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
), Hankey entered the clergy school in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, but found it stultifying and soon gravitated back to Bermondsey where he plunged into the demanding work of the Oxford mission’s several boys' clubs. But what Hankey had assumed would be his path to ordination
Ordination
In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...
in the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
continued to lead him in unexpected ways. For various reasons, as he accustomed himself to the life of an Oxford missionary among the noise and stench of Bermondsey, it came to seem all too congenial and curiously unchallenging. Accordingly, (dressed as a labourer, an identity he sometimes assumed in London’s mean streets), Hankey sailed for Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
as a steerage passenger
Steerage
Steerage is the act of steering a ship. "Steerage" also refers to the lowest decks of a ship.-Steerage and steerage way:The rudder of a vessel can only steer the ship when water is passing over it...
, seeking first of all hard manual work and also the chance eventually to establish a wholesome refuge for London’s hopeless poor somewhere in the vast reaches of the sub-continent. Farm work, travel, and a series of articles on “Australian Life” for the Westminster Gazette
Westminster Gazette
The Westminster Gazette was an influential Liberal newspaper based in London. It was known for publishing sketches and short stories, including early works by Raymond Chandler, Anthony Hope and Saki, and travel writing by Rupert Brooke. One of its editors was caricaturist and political cartoonist...
occupied this interval.
Returning to England and to Bermondsey in the winter of 1913, Hankey resumed his work with the Mission, looking ahead to a more constructive sojourn in Australia the next summer and throwing himself into the writing of a book on Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
and the failings of the contemporary church. That book, The Lord of All Good Life, was headed for publication and Hankey was all but headed back to Australia when war came in August 1914. He put in for a commission, but hearing that Lord Kitchener
Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener
Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, ADC, PC , was an Irish-born British Field Marshal and proconsul who won fame for his imperial campaigns and later played a central role in the early part of the First World War, although he died halfway...
had called for one hundred thousand recruits under thirty, Hankey (who was some two months short of that limit) decided that as a “possible parson” he preferred “experience in the ranks,” and on 8 August enlisted as a private in the 7th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade.
Though they naturally stood out, “gentleman rankers” such as Donald Hankey were not unknown in what became spoken of as “Kitchener’s Mob
Kitchener's Army
The New Army, often referred to as Kitchener's Army or, disparagingly, Kitchener's Mob, was an all-volunteer army formed in the United Kingdom following the outbreak of hostilities in the First World War...
”; but few, like Hankey, had gone to a military academy and had previously held commissions. So given the extreme needs of the new army, Hankey’s military experience marked him at once, and within a week he was made a sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
, then sent to barracks
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
at Aldershot
Aldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
and later billeted upon elderly Mrs. Coppin of Firs Cottage in nearby Elstead
Elstead
Elstead is a village in Surrey, England, with shops and cottages mainly clustered around a central green, close to the River Wey. Neighbouring villages include Gatwick , Puttenham, Charleshill and Peper Harow...
. His few short months there, training recruits and sharing meaningfully in their lives, mediating to some degree between humble men and the rigid authority above them, were among the happiest and most fulfilling days of Hankey’s life. They corresponded, too, with the beginnings of his recognition as a writer; The Lord of All Good Life “by Donald Hankey, Sergeant, Rifle Brigade,” was published in October of that year. Its modest but gratifying reception could be explained in part by the technically accurate but essentially misleading identification of its author as a soldier in the ranks. Hankey had found his relationship to his fellow men-in-arms more deeply satisfying even than work among London’s poor, and his book subtitled “A study of the greatness of Jesus and the weakness of His Church” gave him needed confidence in his promise as a writer.
From Elstead his posting to dismal Borden Camp was a next step toward active combat. About this time the captain put in charge of Hankey’s company turned out to be such a detested contrast to the man Donald had been serving under that he gave up his sergeant’s stripes in order to be transferred to another company. This incident was part of the inspiration for what became Hankey’s most popularly admired essay, “The Beloved Captain,” an uncharacteristically effusive tribute to the memory of Captain Ronald Hardy, who as a lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
had been Hankey’s platoon commander.
Hankey’s two tours of combat duty were separated by about a year and by a change in rank from corporal
Corporal
Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-4....
in the Rifle Brigade to second lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...
in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. The first culminated in his being wounded near Ypres
Second Battle of Ypres
The Second Battle of Ypres was the first time Germany used poison gas on a large scale on the Western Front in the First World War and the first time a former colonial force pushed back a major European power on European soil, which occurred in the battle of St...
on 30 July 1915. Since crossing the Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
in May, Hankey had begun to write about the war, more in the form of reflective essays than in personal narrative; but his wounding was the basis for an impressionistic and somewhat disguised account of that particular experience, later published as The Honour of the Brigade. During his protracted convalescence, Hankey was prompted to apply for a commission. Various considerations were involved in this decision, especially the urging of his older brother Maurice, himself a former captain in the Royal Marine Artillery who was already well along in what would become a distinguished career as Secretary of the Committee of Imperial Defense and eventually Cabinet Secretary
Cabinet Secretary
A Cabinet Secretary is almost always a senior official who provides services and advice to a Cabinet of Ministers. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powers, including general responsibility for the entire civil service...
.
At length, and not without misgivings, Donald was commissioned, finally joining the “Warwicks” infantry regiment, and returned to action. In the meantime Hankey was becoming an acclaimed, though as yet anonymous, author of a series of essays appearing in The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
under the nom de plume “A Student in Arms.”
In essence, Hankey’s increasingly popular essays were a comprehensive meditation on how Britain’s citizen army was meeting the unprecedented challenge of war. In general, they fell somewhere between the jingoistic enthusiasm with which the Great War tended to be greeted at its outset and the bleak disillusionment so strikingly evident in the work of those writers who survived it. Modestly and thoughtfully, Hankey spoke of the ordinary soldiers’ common ordeal in terms that his readers at home found sobering but reassuring. In their day, collected in two volumes published in the spring of 1916 by Andrew Melrose and (posthumously) in 1917, the pieces that comprise A Student in Arms were received with what must be called gratitude; today they provide valuable insight into how the 1914-18 war appeared to many who, both as civilians and in the military, actually experienced it whether facing combat or waiting anxiously at home.
It is not surprising that the later essays written by the “Student in Arms” during his second close-up view of war are significantly more sombre. Some, in fact, were rejected by the Spectator owing to their “change in tone.” The battle-tested Hankey’s sympathies for the increasingly younger officers and men become ever more acute; his confidence that their sacrifice will be sufficiently honoured grows less certain. His brief first-hand participation in the cataclysmic opening day of the Battle of the Somme and its sickening aftermath mark some of Hankey’s final letters with unmistakable signs of shock. After a short respite at an Army School behind the lines, Hankey was back in the trenches near Le Transloy
Le Transloy
Le Transloy is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:Le Transloy is situated south of Arras, at the junction of the N17 and the D19 roads.-Population:-Places of interest:...
. On 6 October, he wrote in calm resignation to his sister Hilda that heavy fighting was just ahead. It is part of the Hankey legend that as he and his men waited to go “over the top” at 1:30 on the afternoon of 12 October 1916, Lt Hankey was heard to tell them, “If you are wounded, ‘Blighty’; if killed, the Resurrection!” Hankey died in that attack and was buried near where he fell. That grave was never located, and his name appears on the huge Thiepval
Thiepval
The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a major war memorial to 72,191 missing British and South African men who died in the Battles of the Somme of the First World War between 1915 and 1918 who have no known grave...
memorial to the 70,000 missing and unidentified dead who fought on the Somme
Somme
Somme is a department of France, located in the north of the country and named after the Somme river. It is part of the Picardy region of France....
.
Works
- Australian Life (six articles in the Westminster Gazette, 26 July to 29 August 1913)
- The Lord of All Good Life (Longmans: 1914)
- Faith or Fear? An Appeal to the Church of England (D. Hankey et al.) (Macmillan: 1916)
- A Student in Arms (Andrew Melrose: 1916)
- A Student in Arms, Second Series (Andrew Melrose: 1917)
- The Cross (Andrew Melrose: 1919)
- Letters of “A Student in Arms” (Donald Hankey) (Andrew Melrose: 1921)