Sir Walter Bullivant Sir Walter Bullivant Sir Walter Bullivant is a fictional character created by the Scottish thriller writer John Buchan for his series of novels featuring the spy Richard Hannay. He plays small but significant roles in both "The Thirty-Nine Steps" and "Greenmantle". Sir Walter is a senior mandarin at the Foreign Office in the years leading up to World War I. He is the archetypal spymaster — gruff, acutely conscious of his duty, yet thoughtful and kindly towards those he sends into peril. In "Greenmantle", he recruits Hannay to perform a dangerous mission in the East as the Great Game heats
James Hannay James Hannay James Hannay FRSE (17 February 1827 – 9 January 1873), was a Scottish novelist, journalist and diplomat. Hannay was born at Dumfries, Scotland, on 17 February 1827. His father, David Hannay (1794-1864), a member of the Speculative Society at Edinburgh University, 1813–14, and author of "Ned Allen, or the Past Age," 1849, was engaged in business in Dumfries. The family had some reason for believing that they were descended from the Hannays of Sorble. In James Hannay, the belief was sufficiently strong to influence his studies, inclining him to study heraldry and family history. Hannay entered the navy