Memorial to William Hay Hannay

Image: © Lairich Rig Taken: 1 Oct 2012

"William Hay Hannay, ex-Bailie of this city, died 27th August 1920, aged 69 years." The inscription also commemorates his daughter, Jane Lorimer Chrichton, who died in infancy, and his wife of the same name, who died on the 9th of March, 1929, aged 70. William was the elder brother of the chemist James Ballantyne Hannay; the latter attracted considerable attention when he mistakenly claimed (in a paper that was published in 1880) to have devised a method for creating synthetic diamonds. [The discovery of a secret process to create synthetic diamonds would later prove to be ideal fodder for film writers; for example, two of the 1940s films featuring The Falcon (a character very similar to The Saint) would employ it as a plot device: "A Date with the Falcon" (1942) and "The Falcon's Adventure" (1946).]

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