From “hanaper” is derived the modern “hamper,” a wicker or rush basket used for the carriage of game, fish, wine, &c. The verb “to hamper,” to entangle, obstruct, hinder, especially used of disturbing the mechanism of a lock or other fastening so as to prevent its proper working, is of doubtful origin. It is probably connected with a root seen in the Icel. hemja, to restrain, and Ger. hemmen, to clog.
HANAU, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of
Hesse-Nassau, on the right bank of the Main, 14 m. by rail E.
from Frankfort and at the junction of lines to Friedberg, Bebra
and Aschaffenburg. Pop. (1905) 31,637. It consists of an old
and a new town. The streets of the former are narrow and
irregular, but the latter, founded at the end of the 16th century
by fugitive Walloons and Netherlanders, is built in the form of a
pentagon with broad streets crossing at right angles, and possesses
several fine squares, among which may be mentioned the market-place,
adorned with handsome fountains at the four corners.
Among the principal buildings are the ancient castle, formerly
the residence of the counts of Hanau; the church of St John,
dating from the 17th century, with a handsome tower; the old
church of St Mary, containing the burial vault of the counts of
Hanau; the church in the new town, built by the Walloons in
the beginning of the 17th century in the form of two intersecting
circles; the Roman Catholic church, the synagogue, the theatre,
the barracks, the arsenal and the hospital. Its educational
establishments include a classical school, and a school of industrial
art. There is a society of natural history and an historical
society, both of which possess considerable libraries and collections.
Hanau is the birthplace of the brothers Grimm, to whom
a monument was erected here in 1896. In the neighbourhood
of the town are the palace of Philippsruhe, with an extensive
park and large orangeries, and the spa of Wilhelmsbad.
Hanau is the principal commercial and manufacturing town in the province, and stands next to Cassel in point of population. It manufactures ornaments of various kinds, cigars, leather, paper, playing cards, silver and platina wares, chocolate, soap, woollen cloth, hats, silk, gloves, stockings, ropes and matches. Diamond cutting is carried on and the town has also foundries, breweries, and in the neighborhood extensive powder-mills. It carries on a large trade in wood, wine and corn, in addition to its articles of manufacture.
From the number of urns, coins and other antiquities found near Hanau it would appear that it owes its origin to a Roman settlement. It received municipal rights in 1393, and in 1528 it was fortified by Count Philip III. who rebuilt the castle. At the end of the 16th century its prosperity received considerable impulse from the accession of the Walloons and Netherlanders. During the Thirty Years’ War it was in 1631 taken by the Swedes, and in 1636 it was besieged by the imperial troops, but was relieved on the 13th of June by Landgrave William V. of Hesse-Cassel, on account of which the day is still commemorated by the inhabitants. Napoleon on his retreat from Leipzig defeated the Germans under Marshal Wrede at Hanau, on the 30th of October 1813; and on the following day the allies vacated the town, when it was entered by the French. Early in the 15th century Hanau became the capital of a principality of the Empire, which on the death of Count Reinhard in 1451 was partitioned between the Hanau-Münzenberg and Hanau-Lichtenberg lines, but was reunited in 1642 when the elder line became extinct. The younger line received princely rank in 1696, but as it became extinct in 1736 Hanau-Münzenberg was joined to Hesse-Cassel and Hanau-Lichtenberg to Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1785 the whole province was united to Hesse-Cassel, and in 1803 it became an independent principality. In 1815 it again came into the possession of Hesse-Cassel, and in 1866 it was joined to Prussia.
See R. Wille, Hanau im dreissigjährigen Krieg (Hanau, 1886); and Junghaus, Geschichte der Stadt und des Kreises Hanau (1887).
HANBURY WILLIAMS, SIR CHARLES (1708–1759), English
diplomatist and author, was a son of Major John Hanbury
(1664–1734), of Pontypool, Monmouthshire, and a scion of an
ancient Worcestershire family. His great-great-great-grand-father,
Capel Hanbury, bought property at Pontypool and began
the family iron-works there in 1565. His father John Hanbury
was a wealthy iron-master and member of parliament, who
inherited another fortune from his friend Charles Williams of
Caerleon, his son’s godfather, with which he bought the Coldbrook
estate, Monmouthshire. Charles accordingly took the
name of Williams in 1729. He went to Eton, and there made
friends with Henry Fielding, the novelist, and, after marrying
in 1732 the heiress of Earl Coningsby, was elected M.P. for
Monmouthshire (1734–1747) and subsequently for Leominster
(1754–1759). He became known as one of the prominent
gallants and wits about town, and following Pope he wrote a
great deal of satirical light verse, including Isabella, or the Morning
(1740), satires on Ruth Darlington and Pulleney
(1741–1742), The Country Girl (1742), Lessons for the Day (1742),
Letter to Mr Dodsley (1743), &c. A collection of his poems was
published in 1763 and of his Works in 1822. In 1746 he was
sent on a diplomatic mission to Dresden, which led to further
employment in this capacity; and through Henry Fox’s influence
he was sent as envoy to Berlin (1750), Dresden (1751), Vienna
(1753), Dresden (1754) and St Petersburg (1755–1757); in the
latter case he was the instrument for a plan for the alliance
between England, Russia and Austria, which finally broke down,
to his embarrassment. He returned to England, and committed
suicide on the 2nd of November 1759, being buried in Westminster
Abbey. He had two daughters, the elder of whom
married William Capel, 4th earl of Essex, and was the mother of
the 5th earl. The Coldbrook estates went to Charles’s brother,
George Hanbury-Williams, to whose heirs it descended.
See William Coxe’s Historical Tour in Monmouthshire (1801), and T. Seccombe’s article in the Dict. Nat. Biog. with bibliography.
HANCOCK, JOHN (1737–1793), American Revolutionary
statesman, was born in that part of Braintree, Massachusetts,
now known as Quincy, on the 23rd of January 1737. After
graduating from Harvard in 1754, he entered the mercantile
house of his uncle, Thomas Hancock of Boston, who had adopted
him, and on whose death, in 1764, he fell heir to a large fortune
and a prosperous business. In 1765 he became a selectman of
Boston, and from 1766 to 1772 was a member of the Massachusetts
general court. An event which is thought to have
greatly influenced Hancock’s subsequent career was the seizure
of the sloop “Liberty” in 1768 by the customs officers for discharging,
without paying the duties, a cargo of Madeira wine
consigned to Hancock. Many suits were thereupon entered
against Hancock, which, if successful, would have caused the
confiscation of his estate, but which undoubtedly enhanced his
popularity with the Whig element and increased his resentment
against the British government. He was a member of the
committee appointed in a Boston town meeting immediately
after the “Boston Massacre” in 1770 to demand the removal
of British troops from the town. In 1774 and 1775 he was
president of the first and second Provincial Congresses respectively,
and he shared with Samuel Adams the leadership of the
Massachusetts Whigs in all the irregular measures preceding
the War of American Independence. The famous expedition
sent by General Thomas Gage of Massachusetts to Lexington
and Concord on the 18th-19th of April 1775 had for its object,
besides the destruction of materials of war at Concord, the
capture of Hancock and Adams, who were temporarily staying
at Lexington, and these two leaders were expressly excepted
in the proclamation of pardon issued on the 12th of June by
Gage, their offences, it was said, being “of too flagitious a nature
to admit of any other consideration than that of condign punishment.”
Hancock was a member of the Continental Congress
from 1775 to 1780, was president of it from May 1775 to October
1777, being the first to sign the Declaration of Independence,
and was a member of the Confederation Congress in 1785–1786.
In 1778 he commanded, as major-general of militia, the Massachusetts
troops who participated in the Rhode Island expedition.
He was a member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention
of 1779–1780, became the first governor of the state, and served
from 1780 to 1785 and again from 1787 until his death. Although