Richard Hannay Richard Hannay Major-General Sir Richard Hannay, KCB, OBE, DSO, Legion of Honour, is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist John Buchan and further made popular by the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film "The 39 Steps" (and other later film adaptations), very loosely based on Buchan's 1915 novel of the same name. In his autobiography, "Memory Hold-the-Door", Buchan suggests that the character is based, in part, on Edmund Ironside, from Edinburgh, a spy during the Second Boer War. Hannay appears in several novels as a major character, including: He also appears as a minor character in: "The Thirty-One Kings" (2017), by
Hannay baronets of Girthon, Kirkcudbright. m. 4 Nov. 1760, Mary, da. of Robert Meade, MD, of Teddington, Mdx., 5s. 4da. suc. e. bro. Col. Alexander Hannay, E.I. Co. service 1782. Served heir to Sir Robert Hannay, 1st Bt. (d.1658) (a baronetcy dormant since the death of the 2nd Bt. in 1689) 26 Sept. 1783. Hannay, who combined the lives of an eminent London drug merchant and a Scottish baronet with considerable East Indian investments, was also addicted to gambling, and apparently went through several fortunes. From 1765 onwards, Hannay appears merely as a merchant; but in 1790 in partnership with William Duncan