Nicholas Hannen (actor)

Nicholas James "Beau" Hannen OBE (mil) (1 May 1881 – 25 June 1972) was a British actor of the early and mid-20th century who acted in a number of stage plays and films.

Hannen was born on 1 May 1881 at No. 40 Westbourne Park Road, London, England. He was brought up in Yokohama and Shanghai where his father, Sir Nicholas John Hannen was serving, first as Judge of the British Court for Japan (1881–1891) and then Chief Justice of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan (1891–1900) as well as Consul-General in Shanghai (1891–1897). He attended Radley College from 1895 to 1900 where he was a member of the rowing eight.

His uncle, James Hannen was also a noted English judge. Sir Nicholas Hannen died, in 1900, at the young age of 58 in Shanghai just before Beau turned 19. Sir Nicholas was given a funeral with full honours including a full honour guard from the crew of the HMS Hermione then in harbour in Shanghai and the pallbearers at his funeral were from the crew of the boat.

From 1902 to 1905 Beau Hannen worked in the offices of the famous architect Edwin Lutyens as an apprentice. Lutyens designed a columbarium – the Hannen Columbarium – for the Hannen family that was completed in 1907. It still stands to this day in the graveyard of St Mary's Churchyard in Wargrave. In 1907, his mother, Jessie (née Woodhouse) died and her ashes as well as his father's ashes were interred in the columbarium.

Hannen married Muriel Morland, the daughter of the late Sir Henry and Lady Morland in 1907. They had two daughters and a son. One of his daughters, Hermione Hannen, was born in 1913 and presumably named after HMS Hermione. She also went on to have a successful acting career and was married twice, firstly to Anthony Quayle and later to Clifford Evans. Another daughter, Jane Hannen, also became an actress.

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