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From: "Peter McCrae" <>
Subject: [W-OBITS] HANNIGAN: James Edgar Hannigan 2008
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:31:09 -0000


James Hannigan
Civil servant who worked closely with the former head of MI6 .

Last Updated: 7:39PM GMT 01 Dec 2008

from The Telegraph.co.uk

James Hannigan, who has died aged 80, was deputy secretary at the Northern
Ireland Office from 1978 to 1980, a period of intense Provisional IRA
terrorist activity.

As deputy secretary, Hannigan was resident in Belfast and had a wide-ranging
and complex set of responsibilities which included security. On August 27
1979 the IRA murdered Lord Mountbatten and perpetrated the massacre at
Warrenpoint, in which 18 British soldiers died. As a result of these
atrocities Sir Maurice Oldfield, the former head of MI6, was brought in to
the Northern Ireland Office as security co-ordinator. Hannigan worked under
Oldfield, and liaised with Sir John Hermon, the then head of the Royal
Ulster Constabulary.

Hannigan also acted in an advisory and supporting role to the Secretary of
State for Northern Ireland, Humphrey Atkins, in dealing with the political
implications of the so-called "dirty protest" by Provisional IRA and INLA
prisoners held in the Maze.

James Edgar Hannigan was born at Eastbourne on March 12 1928, the eldest of
the three sons of a beach inspector. As a child he suffered from
osteomyelitis, and spent a number of years in Stanmore orthopaedic hospital
in London following an operation to remove bone from his femur and spine -
he had a severe walking disability for the rest of his life. At the time the
hospital consisted of single-storey wards, each of which had only three
walls - the fourth side being open to the elements. Fresh air was thought to
aid recovery, and the young patients were left exposed 365 days a year; in
winter ponchos were placed over the beds, and in the mornings the porter
would sweep off the ice and driven snow.

Although he had missed three years' full-time education, Jim won a
scholarship to Eastbourne Grammar School, where he became head boy, and went
on to Sidney Sussex, Cambridge (the first boy from his school to get to
Oxbridge), taking a First in History. In 1951 he joined the civil service.

After posts at the Ministry of Housing and Local Government and the
Department of the Environment, in 1972 he was appointed regional director
for the West Midlands in charge of roads and transport, including Spaghetti
Junction. He was also chairman of the West Midlands Economic Planning Board
(1972-75). From 1975 to 1978 Hannigan was a director of housing at the DoE,
before being transferred to the Northern Ireland Office. For his work in the
province Hannigan was appointed CB in 1981, while Sir John Hermon presented
him with an Honorary Achievement Award in recognition of his work with the
RUC.

In 1980 Hannigan was appointed deputy secretary for tranport in Whitehall,
where ministers counted him a wise and able administrator. In 1985 he became
a member of the international executive committee of the World Road
Association. Among his roles was to promote British business and transport,
and he successfully sold buses to the Chinese. Although it was predicted
that he would be promoted to permanent secretary, he was forced to retire
due to ill-health in 1988. He was, however, retained by the government as a
consultant, travelling to Kuwait, China and Australia to promote British
industry.

Following the Clapham Junction train crash of 1988 Hannigan became a trustee
of the disaster fund assisting and supporting survivors and the bereaved
familes.

A man of great integrity, Hannigan had a thirst for learning and a deep
affection for Northern Ireland. As a young man he had been a talented table
tennis player, and in county competitions - in deference to his disability -
had been allowed to hold on to the table to stabilise himself before making
a shot. He also enjoyed appearing as an umpire in village cricket.

Jim Hannigan died on October 22. He married, in 1955, Jean Bell. She died in
2001, and he is survived by their two daughters.



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