Family and Education

b. c.1659, 1st s. of John Hanses of Selby and York, Yorks. educ. Archbishop Holgate’s sch. York; Magdalene and St. John’s, Camb. 1677; G. Inn 1681, called 1683. ?unm.

Offices Held

Freeman, Winchester 1685; judge-advocate, Jamaica 1693-?d.1

Biography

Hanses was recommended to Lord Halifax in 1681 as secretary and reader. ‘He is a very good scholar, and of a modest, humble and ingenuous behaviour. He has studied the law a little, and may be capable to solicit any business in it. ... My lord may have him upon easy terms, for his parents are but of moderate fortune.’ Halifax apparently refused the bargain, for Hanses entered government service and was called to the bar after only two years’ study at the special request of Judge Jeffreys. He assisted Roger L’Estrange in his investigation of the press after the Rye House Plot and the treasury solicitors in preparing the case against Titus Oates, for which he received £1,800. After considerable pressure from the Court, he and L’Estrange were returned unopposed for Winchester in 1685, and he became an active Member of James II’s Parliament. He was appointed to 12 committees, including those to recommend expunctions from the Journals and revivals of expiring laws. He was reappointed to the latter committee on 18 June, when it was instructed to bring in a clause to regulate printing. He was also named to the committees on the bills to prevent clandestine marriages and relieve poor debtors, and for the general naturalization of Protestant refugees. Towards the end of the year, he sought to connect himself by marriage with the Meux, a leading Isle of Wight family; but although he took out a licence, the marriage did not take place in the specified church.2

Hanses received no preferment from James II, and had broken with his government by the summer of 1688, when he helped Archbishop Sancroft to prepare his defence. He gave evidence in 1689 to the Commons committee appointed to prepare a case against his former superiors. He accepted the new regime, however, for on the recommendation of the Earl of Nottingham (Daniel Finch) he was made judge-advocate of Jamaica. His name was removed from the lists of the Winchester electorate in 1698.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Paula Watson

Notes

• 1. Winchester corp . assembly bk. 6, f. 13; CSP Col. 1693-6, p. 110.
• 2. Notts. RO, DDSR 219/11, Goodall to Clarges, 27 Apr. 1681; Pension Bk. of G. Inn, ii. 72; G. Kitchin, Sir Roger L’Estrange, 311; HMC Kenyon, 264; CSP Dom. 1684-5, p. 133; Cal. Treas. Bks. viii. 280; Secret Services (Cam. Soc. lii) 101; Mar. Lic.(Harl. Soc. xxx) 222.
• 3. Collectanea Curiosa, i. 363; Bodl. Tanner mss 28, f. 97; CJ, x. 148; CSP Col. 1693-6, p. 102; Winchester corp. assembly bk. 6, ff. 136, 143.