English: Arthur Devis

Portrait of Jonas Hanway, seated at a table beside a surveyor's theodolite and a classical urn, overlooking a landscape

oil on canvas, laid down on board

Jonas Hanway (1712-1786) was a merchant and philanthropist. In 1729 he was apprenticed to an English merchant in Lisbon where he spent twelve years. In 1743 he joined the Russia Company and spent the next seven years in St. Petersburg, including an adventure-filled trading expedition to Persia. Hanway established his name in 1753 with the published account of his travels in Russia and Persia in his four volume text An Historical Account of the British Trade over the Caspian Sea. He thereafter devoted himself to philanthropic pursuits. He was founder of the Marine Society, a governor and eventually the vice-president of the Foundling Hospital, and helped to establish the Magdalen Hospital for Penitent Prostitutes. He also supported the Stepney Society, which apprencticed poor boys to marine trades, and the Troop Society which provided clothing to British soldiers. Hanway is also remembered for popularizing the use of the umbrella in London. After his death in 1788, a memorial was dedicated to him in Westminster Abbey, the first to commemorate a philanthropist.