David Hannay

“ His tastes and his impatience both of routine work and control unfitted him for the life of a naval officer. Very soon after entering the service he began to devote himself to general reading, and even studied Latin with a priest at Malta. ”

“ During these years he published his best work, his two naval novels, 'Singleton Fontenoy' (1850) and 'Eustace Conyers' (1855) , and the volume of lectures on 'Satire and Satirist,' delivered at the Literary Institution, Edward Street, Portman Square, in 1853, and collected in book form in 1854. It was during these years also that he began to write the essays to the 'Quarterly,' afterwards collected into a volume, and that he taught himself to read Greek. In 1857 he contested without success the representation of the Dumfries boroughs in parliament. ”

“ With the instinct of a born journalist he started a manuscript comic paper to ridicule the admiral and captains on the Mediterranean station. At a later period he was wont to confess that he had been a somewhat insubordinate midshipman. In 1845 he and two brother-officers were tried by court-martial and dismissed the service. The finding of the court was generally thought to have been vindictive, and it was subsequently quashed on the ground of informality. Hannay was not, however, employed again, nor did he seriously seek for employment. ”