He began missionary work in north Belfast in 1851, founding a congregation in Berry Street, which moved to St Enoch's in Carlisle Circus in 1872.

In 1857, the Church of Ireland was asked by local magistrates to postpone open-air preaching, in an effort to calm sectarian tensions.

Hanna, with the encouragement of Henry Cooke, objected to this, and preached in public, with widespread riots ensuing.

He fiercely opposed the Home Rule Bill of 1886, claiming that Roman Catholic police officers had been brought from other parts of Ireland in an attempt to intimidate Protestant opinion.

[2] A black marble statue to Hanna was erected in Carlisle Circus in 1894;[2] this was removed after it was damaged by an Irish Republican Army bomb in 1970.