Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, PC, FRS[1] (1 April 1877 – 26 January 1963) was a British civil servant who gained prominence as the first Cabinet Secretary and later made the rare transition from the civil service to ministerial office.

Naylor found, "Hankey did not altogether grasp the virulence of fascism ... except as a military threat to Britain; nor did he ever quite comprehend the changing face of domestic politics which Labour's emergence as a party of government entailed.

In these shortcomings Hankey was typical of his generation and background; that his responsibility was greater lay in the fact that he was better informed than nearly any of his contemporaries".

He joined the Royal Marine Artillery, was promoted to captain and served in successive roles, including as coastal defence analyst in the War Division of the Naval Intelligence Department (1902–1906).

The Hankey family moved several times while their children were young, living in Malta for a year in 1907 before eventually settling in Highstead near Limpsfield, Surrey.

In that function, he took notice of the ideas of Major Ernest Swinton to build a tracked armoured vehicle and brought them to the attention of Winston Churchill on 25 December 1914.

In December 1916, David Lloyd George became Prime Minister and greatly changed how the government was run.

In July 1941, Lord Hankey was moved to the position of Paymaster General, but the following year, he was dropped from the government altogether.

[12] In the 1934 New Year Honours, Sir Maurice was appointed to the Royal Victorian Order as a Knight Grand Cross.