George A. Birmingham

[1] He was active in the Gaelic League, but strained his relations with Irish nationalists by supporting Robert Lindsay Crawford in his opposition to clerical control of education.

His personal network of Irish Irelanders included Gaelic League President Douglas Hyde and the principal ideologue of the emergent Sinn Féin movement, United Irishman editor Arthur Griffith.

[3][4] Hannay's defence of Crawford's opposition to the clerical control of education in Ireland, however, strained his relations with Irish nationalists, and it was a position that had little support in their own church.

Hannay became rector of Kildare parish from 1918 to 1920, and after serving as chaplain to the Viceroy of Ireland, he joined the British ambassadorial team in Budapest in 1922.

He returned to officiate at Mells, Somerset from 1924 to 1934, after which he was appointed vicar of Holy Trinity Church in the London suburb of Kensington where he served from 1934[2] to his death in 1950.