HACKLÄNDER, FRIEDRICH WILHELM VON (1816-1877), German novelist and dramatist, was born at Burtscheid near Aix-la-Chapelle on the 1st of November 1816. Having served an apprenticeship in a commercial house, he entered the Prussian artillery, but, disappointed at not finding advancement, returned to business. A soldier’s life had a fascination for him, and he made his début as an author with Bilder aus dem Soldatenleben im Frieden (1841). After a journey to the east, he was appointed secretary to the crown prince of Württemberg, whom he accompanied on his travels. Wachtstubenabenteuer, a continuation of his first work, appeared in 1845, and it was followed by Bilder aus dem Soldatenleben im Kriege (1849-1850). As a result of a tour in Spain in 1854, appeared Ein Winter in Spanien (1855). In 1857 he founded, in conjunction with Edmund von Zoller, the illustrated weekly, Über Land und Meer. In 1859 Hackländer was appointed director of royal parks and public gardens at Stuttgart, and in this post did much towards the embellishment of the city. In 1859 he was attached to the headquarters staff of the Austrian army during the Italian war; in 1861 he was raised to an hereditary knighthood in Austria; in 1864 he retired into private life, and died on the 6th of July 1877. Hackländer’s literary talent is confined within narrow limits. There is much in his works of lively, adventurous and even romantic description, but the character-drawing is feeble and superficial.
Hackländer was a voluminous writer; the most complete edition of his works is the third, published at Stuttgart in 1876, in 60 volumes. There is also a good selection in 20 volumes (1881). Among his novels, Namenlose Geschichten (1851); Eugen Stillfried (1852); Krieg und Frieden (1859), and the comedies Der geheime Agent (1850) and Magnetische Kuren (1851) may be specially mentioned. His autobiography appeared in 1878 under the title, Der Roman meines Lebens (2 vols.). See H. Morning, Erinnerungen an F. W. Hackländer (1878).
HACKNEY, a north-eastern metropolitan borough of London, England, bounded W. by Stoke Newington and Islington, and S. by Shoreditch, Bethnal Green and Poplar, and extending N. and E. to the boundary of the county of London. Pop. (1901), 219,272. It is a poor and populous district, in which the main thoroughfares are Kingsland Road, continued N. as Stoke Newington Road and Stamford Hill; Mare Street, continued N.W. as Clapton Road to join Stamford Hill; and Lea Bridge Road running N.E. towards Walthamstow and Low Leyton. The borough includes the districts of Clapton in the north, Homerton in the east, and Dalston and part of Kingsland in the west. On the east lies the open flat valley of the Lea, which flows in several branches, and is bordered, immediately outside the confines of the borough, by the extensive reservoirs of the East London water-works. In these low lands lie the Hackney Marshes (338 acres; among several so-called marshes in the Lea valley), and the borough also contains part of Victoria Park and a number of open spaces collectively called the Hackney Commons, including Mill Fields, Hackney Downs, London Fields, &c. The total area of open spaces exceeds 500 acres. The tower of the ancient parish church of St Augustine, with the chapel of the Rowe family, still stands, and is the only historic building of importance. Among institutions are the German hospital, Dalston, Metropolitan hospital, Kingsland Road, and Eastern Fever hospital, Homerton; and the Hackney polytechnic institute, with which is incorporated the Sir John Cass institute. Cass (1666-1718), a merchant of the city of London, also a member of parliament and sheriff, bequeathed £1000 for the foundation of a free school; in 1732 the bequest was increased in accordance with an unfinished codicil to his will; and the income provided from it is now about £6000, some 250 boys and girls being educated. The parliamentary borough of Hackney comprises north, central and south divisions, each returning one member; and the northern division includes the metropolitan borough of Stoke Newington. The metropolitan borough of Hackney includes part of the Hornsey parliamentary division of Middlesex. The borough council consists of a mayor, 10 aldermen and 60 councillors. Area, 3288.9 acres.
In the 13th century the name appears as Hackenaye or Hacquenye, but no certain derivation is advanced. Roman and other remains have been found in Hackney Marshes. In 1290 the bishop of London was lord of the manor, which was so held until 1550, when it was granted to Thomas, Lord Wentworth. In 1697 it came into the hands of the Tyssen family. Extensive property in the parish also belonged to the priory of the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem at Clerkenwell. From the 16th to the early 19th century there were many fine residences in Hackney. The neighbourhood of Hackney had at one time an evil reputation as the haunt of highwaymen.
HACKNEY (from Fr. haquenée, Lat. equus, an ambling horse or mare, especially for ladies to ride; the English “hack” is simply an abbreviation), originally a riding-horse. At the present day, however, the hackney (as opposed to a thoroughbred) is bred for driving as well as riding (see [Horse]: Breeds). From the hiring-out of hackneys, the word came to be associated with employment for hire (so “a hack,” as a general term for “drudge”), especially in combination, e.g. hackney-chair, hackney-coach, hackney-boat. The hackney-coach, a coach with four wheels and two horses, was a form of hired public conveyance (see [Carriage]).
HADAD, the name of a Syrian deity, is met with in the Old Testament as the name of several human persons; it also occurs in compound forms like Benhadad and Hadadezer. The divinity primarily denoted by it is the storm-god who was known also as Ramman, Bir and Dadda. The Syrian kings of Damascus seem to have habitually assumed the title of Benhadad, or son of Hadad (three of this name are mentioned in Scripture), just as a series of Egyptian monarchs are known to have been accustomed to call themselves sons of Amon-Ra. The word Hadadrimmon, for which the inferior reading Hadarrimmon is found in some MSS. in the phrase “the mourning of (or at) Hadadrimmon” (Zech. xii. 11), has been a subject of much discussion. According to Jerome and all the older Christian interpreters, the mourning for something that occurred at a place called Hadadrimmon (Maximianopolis) in the valley of Megiddo is meant, the event alluded to being generally held to be the death of Josiah (or, as in the Targum, the death of Ahab at the hands of Hadadrimmon); but more recently the opinion has been gaining ground that Hadadrimmon is merely another name for Adonis (q.v.) or Tammuz, the allusion being to the mournings by which the Adonis festivals were usually accompanied (Hitzig on Zech. xii. 11, Isa. xvii. 8; Movers, Phönizier, i. 196). T. K. Cheyne (Encycl. Bibl. s.v.) points out that the Septuagint reads simply Rimmon, and argues that this may be a corruption of Migdon (Megiddo), in itself a corruption of Tammuz-Adon. He would render the verse, “In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of the women who weep for Tammuz-Adon” (Adon means lord).