William Herbert Tankard

Courtesy of The British Institute of Homeopathy http://www.arnica.com.au/news-jan09.php http://sueyounghistories.com/archives/2009/02/01/william-herbert-ta... Note: all GRO records for the Tankard family have no reference to the surname Hahnemann.

 OBITUARY -   WILLIAM HERBERT TANKARD-HAHNEMANN

1922-2009

  Great great great grandson of Samuel Hahnemann

It is with great sadness we report that Mr. William Tankard-Hahnemann

  passed away peacefully at his home in Crowborough, East Sussex on 12th

  January 2009, his 87th birthday.

As a young boy, Mr. Hahnemann remembered his mother telling him of her

  visits to Uncle Leo at Ventnor, Isle of Wight. He later knew that he was

  Dr. Leopold SussHahnernann, Dr Samuel Hahnemanns grandson, the only son of

  his favourite daughter, Amelie (1789-1881). Dr. Suss-Hahnemann was the only

  member of the Hahnemann family to be present at Samuel Hahnemanns funeral,

  apart from Hahnemanns second wife Melanie, in Paris in 1843 and at his

  subsequent re-burial in the Per Lachaise Cemetry in east Paris.

  Subsequently Leopold emigrated to England, when he practised homeopathy in

  London. He retired to the Isle of Wight and died there at the outbreak of

  World War I in 1914.?

Dr Leopold Suss-Hahnemanns youngest daughter, Amalia had two children,

  Winifred (born in 1898) and Herbert. William Herbert Tankard-Hahnemann was

  Winifreds son.?

After serving as a Major in the British Army during World War II, Mr.

  Hahnemann had a distinguished career in the city of London. He was honoured

  by his appointment as a Freeman of the City of London. On his retirement to

  Crowborough, he became the patron of the British Institute of Homeopathy in

  1987. Since then he has given his time generously to promoting classical

  and modern homeopathy in the United Kingdom and around the world.

  Ambassadorial tact and diplomacy, his equanimity and gentlemanly behaviour

  were legendary and he never baulked at anything he was asked to do in the

  service of homeopathy.?

I recall his escorted tour of an ancient fort in Lahore in a temperature

  of 100F, when he scaled the highest tower unflinchingly, whilst covered

  in sweat, leaving his hosts. It was also in Pakistan that he chaired an

  International Congress sponsored by the British Institute , attended by 720

  delegates. He bestowed an Honorary Fellowship to Mrs Benazir Bhutto (the

  then Prime Minister) who stated that "the organisers and Mr Hahnemanns role

  in the welfare of suffering humanity was most laudible". We were then

  invited to dinner at the official residence of the Govenor of Punjab, Ch.

  Altaf Hussain.

Mr Hahnemann also attended many homeopathic events in the United Kingdom

  including, as a Life Fellow, an Annual Congress of the Homeopathic Medical

  Association and award ceremonies of the British Institute , including

  events at Los Angeles, Toronto, New Delhi, Paris and the birth place of his

  great, great, great grandfather, Samuel Hahnemann, Meissen.

In October 2008, William Tankard-Hahnemann stood down as patron owing to

  ill health. He was succeeded by his son, Charles Tankard- Hahnemann.Charles

  visited Singapore, accompanied by his wife Bron, last October to present

  British Institute certificates and prizes at an Award Ceremony organised by

  the Singapore Faculty of Homeopathy, and opened three free homeopathic

  clinics on Temple sites.

The condolences of the entire homeopathic community go to Williams wife,

  Beth (sadly it would have been their 60th wedding anniversary next month),

  and the Hahnemann family. We offer our respect and gratitude for his

  incalculable contribution to the progress of Samuel Hahnemanns Healing Art

  over the past 22 years.?

  Department of Homeopathy