General Sir John Winthrop Hackett GCB, CBE, DSO & Bar, MC (5 November 1910–9 September 1997) was an Australian-born British soldier, author and university administrator.
Hackett, who was nicknamed "Shan", was born in Perth, Western Australia. His Irish Australian father, Sir John Hackett (1848-1916), originally from Tipperary, was a newspaper man and politician, and his mother was Deborah Drake-Brockman (also known as Lady Deborah Hackett, Lady D...
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General Sir John Winthrop Hackett GCB, CBE, DSO & Bar, MC (5 November 1910–9 September 1997) was an Australian-born British soldier, author and university administrator.
Hackett, who was nicknamed "Shan", was born in Perth, Western Australia. His Irish Australian father, Sir John Hackett (1848-1916), originally from Tipperary, was a newspaper man and politician, and his mother was Deborah Drake-Brockman (also known as Lady Deborah Hackett, Lady Deborah Moulden and Dr Deborah Buller Murphy, 1887-1965), a prominent mining company director.
John Hackett Junior received secondary schooling at Geelong Grammar School, after which he travelled to London to study painting at the Central School of Art. He then studied Greats and Modern History at New College, Oxford. As his degree was not good enough for an academic career, Hackett joined the British Army and was commissioned into the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars in 1933, having previously joined the Supplementary Reserve of Officers in 1931...
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