Charles G. Henderson
Encyclopedia
Charles Gordon Henderson (July 11, 1900 – September 24, 1933) was a historian
and antiquarian
of Cornwall
.
Charles Henderson's only quarrel with Cornwall was that it had given him no more than a quarter of his blood. His father, Major J. S. Henderson, was half Scottish
and half of the Irish
family of Newenham: his mother was a Carus-Wilson from Westmorland
. Both, however, were born and bred in Cornwall, and a portion of Cornish ancestry came to him through his mother's mother, one of the Willyamses of Carnanton in Mawgan-in-Pydar. He was glad to claim so much hereditary right to Cornwall, and it happened against his wish that he neither began nor ended his life there, but was born in Jamaica
and died in Rome
.
and took his degree with first-class honours in Modern History
in 1922. He was a lecturer at University College, Exeter
, and afterwards at Corpus Christi College, Oxford
, where he was elected to an official fellowship as tutor in modern history in 1929. He had settled down at Oxford
, and was showing great promise as a teacher and lecturer. Whenever he was able he would return to Cornwall and continue his historical research which in the early years was concerned very largely with the four western hundreds but finally he planned a parochial history of the whole county on a grand scale.
and daughter of J. A. R. Munro, the Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford
; at the end of August, he set out with her for southern Italy
. He had been troubled for some months with pains in his chest and they attacked him severely at Monte Sant'Angelo on the Gargano, where he was visiting the shrine of the Cornish patron St. Michael. He died in Rome eleven days later, on 24 September, of heart-failure following pleurisy
.
He was buried in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome
, between the Porta San Paolo
and Monte Testaccio
, a place that he knew well: also in that cemetery are the graves of Keats and Shelley
and one great Cornishman, Edward John Trelawny
.
of the Cornish Gorseth at Boscawen-Un
, taking the bardic name
Map Hendra ('Son of the Old Farmstead'). His collection of documents is held at the Courtney Library of the Royal Institution of Cornwall
in Truro
.
}
}
}
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and antiquarian
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
of Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
.
Charles Henderson's only quarrel with Cornwall was that it had given him no more than a quarter of his blood. His father, Major J. S. Henderson, was half Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and half of the Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
family of Newenham: his mother was a Carus-Wilson from Westmorland
Westmorland
Westmorland is an area of North West England and one of the 39 historic counties of England. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974, after which the entirety of the county was absorbed into the new county of Cumbria.-Early history:...
. Both, however, were born and bred in Cornwall, and a portion of Cornish ancestry came to him through his mother's mother, one of the Willyamses of Carnanton in Mawgan-in-Pydar. He was glad to claim so much hereditary right to Cornwall, and it happened against his wish that he neither began nor ended his life there, but was born in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
and died in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
Biography
He was at Wellington College for a short time but left on account of ill-health. For this reason he was frequently sent home from school for rest, and spent a large amount of his time walking over Cornwall and studying Cornish monuments and history. He collected a large number of documents from all over the county and published a book on Cornish bridges in collaboration with Mr. H. Coates. He went to New College, OxfordNew College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...
and took his degree with first-class honours in Modern History
Modern history
Modern history, or the modern era, describes the historical timeline after the Middle Ages. Modern history can be further broken down into the early modern period and the late modern period after the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution...
in 1922. He was a lecturer at University College, Exeter
University of Exeter
The University of Exeter is a public university in South West England. It belongs to the 1994 Group, an association of 19 of the United Kingdom's smaller research-intensive universities....
, and afterwards at Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom...
, where he was elected to an official fellowship as tutor in modern history in 1929. He had settled down at Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, and was showing great promise as a teacher and lecturer. Whenever he was able he would return to Cornwall and continue his historical research which in the early years was concerned very largely with the four western hundreds but finally he planned a parochial history of the whole county on a grand scale.
Married life and death
On 19 June 1933, he married (Mary) Isobel Munro, a fellow of Somerville CollegeSomerville College, Oxford
Somerville College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and was one of the first women's colleges to be founded there...
and daughter of J. A. R. Munro, the Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford
Lincoln College, Oxford
Lincoln College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is situated on Turl Street in central Oxford, backing onto Brasenose College and adjacent to Exeter College...
; at the end of August, he set out with her for southern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. He had been troubled for some months with pains in his chest and they attacked him severely at Monte Sant'Angelo on the Gargano, where he was visiting the shrine of the Cornish patron St. Michael. He died in Rome eleven days later, on 24 September, of heart-failure following pleurisy
Pleurisy
Pleurisy is an inflammation of the pleura, the lining of the pleural cavity surrounding the lungs. Among other things, infections are the most common cause of pleurisy....
.
He was buried in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome
Protestant Cemetery, Rome
The Protestant Cemetery , now officially called the Cimitero acattolico and often referred to as the Cimitero degli Inglesi is a cemetery in Rome, located near Porta San Paolo alongside the Pyramid of Cestius, a small-scale Egyptian-style pyramid built in 30 BC as a tomb and later incorporated...
, between the Porta San Paolo
Porta San Paolo
The Porta San Paolo is one of the southern gates in the 3rd-century Aurelian Walls of Rome, Italy. The Ostiense Museum is housed within in the gatehouse...
and Monte Testaccio
Monte Testaccio
Monte Testaccio is an artificial mound in Rome composed almost entirely of testae , fragments of broken amphorae dating from the time of the Roman Empire, some of which were labelled with tituli picti...
, a place that he knew well: also in that cemetery are the graves of Keats and Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
and one great Cornishman, Edward John Trelawny
Edward John Trelawny
Edward John Trelawny was a biographer, novelist and adventurer who is best known for his friendship with the Romantic poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. Trelawny was born in England to a family of modest income but extensive ancestral history...
.
Scholarly work
Mr. Henderson’s publications included Cornwall; A Guide in collaboration with J. C. Tregarthen, in 1925; three books on Cornish churches; and another on Cornish coasts, moors, and valleys with notes on antiquities. In 1928, he was made a BardBard
In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...
of the Cornish Gorseth at Boscawen-Un
Boscawen-Un
Boscawen-Un is a Bronze age stone circle close to St Buryan in Cornwall, UK. It consists of 19 upright stones in an ellipse with diameters 24.9m and 21.9m, with another, leaning, stone just south of the centre. There is a west-facing gap in the circle, which may have formed an entrance. It is...
, taking the bardic name
Bardic name
A bardic name is a pseudonym, used in Wales, Cornwall and Brittany, by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement....
Map Hendra ('Son of the Old Farmstead'). His collection of documents is held at the Courtney Library of the Royal Institution of Cornwall
Royal Institution of Cornwall
The Royal Institution of Cornwall was founded in Truro, Cornwall, United Kingdom, in 1818 as the Cornwall Literary and Philosophical Institution. The Institution was one of the earliest of seven similar societies established in England and Wales. The RIC moved to its present site in River Street...
in Truro
Truro
Truro is a city and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The city is the centre for administration, leisure and retail in Cornwall, with a population recorded in the 2001 census of 17,431. Truro urban statistical area, which includes parts of surrounding parishes, has a 2001 census...
.
Selected works
- The 109 Ancient Parishes of the Four Western Hundreds of Cornwall 1955 (in Journal of Royal Institution of Cornwall)
- The Cornish Church Guide (only in part by Henderson) 1925 ISBN 0-85153-052-4
- The Cornish Church Guide and Parochial History of Cornwall. Truro: D. Bradford Barton, 1964 (a reissue of the Parochial history section only from The Cornish Church Guide, to which illustrations are added)
- Cornish Saints with Gilbert Hunter DobleGilbert Hunter DobleGilbert Hunter Doble was an Anglican priest and Cornish historian and hagiographer.-Early life:G. H. Doble was born at Penzance, Cornwall on 26 November 1880. His father, John Medley Doble shared his enthusiasm for archaeology and local studies with his sons. He was a scholar of Exeter College,...
1927 - Cornwall: a Survey of its Coast, Moors, and Valleys 1930
- The Ecclesiastical History of Western Cornwall. 2 vols. Truro: Royal Institution of Cornwall; D. Bradford Barton, 1962
- Essays in Cornish History edited by A. L. RowseA. L. RowseAlfred Leslie Rowse, CH, FBA , known professionally as A. L. Rowse and to friends and family as Leslie, was a British historian from Cornwall. He is perhaps best known for his work on Elizabethan England and his poetry about Cornwall. He was also a Shakespearean scholar and biographer...
and M. I. Henderson (his wife) 1935 Contents include: essays on Truro, the origin of towns, Fowey, Lostwithiel, Restormel Castle, Mitchell, Luxulyan, Helston, St Ives, the Deanery of Buryan, the Hundreds of Pydar and Powder, Twelve Men's Moor, Black-more, woodlands, and shorter pieces - Four Saints of the Fal. St. Gluvias, St. Kea, St. Fili, St. Rumon 1929
- A History of the Parish and Church of Saint Euny-Lelant with Gilbert Hunter DobleGilbert Hunter DobleGilbert Hunter Doble was an Anglican priest and Cornish historian and hagiographer.-Early life:G. H. Doble was born at Penzance, Cornwall on 26 November 1880. His father, John Medley Doble shared his enthusiasm for archaeology and local studies with his sons. He was a scholar of Exeter College,...
and R. Morton NanceRobert Morton NanceRobert Morton Nance was a leading authority on the Cornish language, nautical archaeologist, and joint founder of the Old Cornwall Society....
, and a description of the Church by M. H. N. C. Atchley. 1939 - A History of the Parish of ConstantineConstantine, KerrierConstantine is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately five miles west-southwest of Falmouth....
in Cornwall; edited by the Rev. G. H. Doble. 1937 - A History of the Parish of CrowanCrowanCrowan is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately three-and-a-half miles south of Camborne. The River Hayle rises near Crowan and flows through the village and the railway branch to Helston passed nearby. Crowan has a population of 2,375...
... with explanations of place-names by R. Morton NanceRobert Morton NanceRobert Morton Nance was a leading authority on the Cornish language, nautical archaeologist, and joint founder of the Old Cornwall Society....
, 1939 - Mabe ChurchChurch of Saint LaudThe Church of Saint Laud is an active parish church in Mabe, Cornwall, England, UK, originally built in the 15th century and dedicated to the sixth-century Saint Laud of Coutances. It is part of the Church of England's Diocese of Truro. Struck by lightning in the 19th century, much of it had to...
and Parish, Cornwall 1931 - Old Cornish Bridges and Streams 1928
- Old Devon Bridges 1938
- Records of the Church and Priory of St. Germans in Cornwall with a preface by the Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of Truro. 1929
- Saint Carantoc 1928
- Saint Clether 1930
- Saint Cuby 1929
- Saint Day 1933
- Saint Euny 1933
- Saint Gerent, Gerendus, Gerens 1938
- Saint Gudwal or Gurval 1933
- Saint Mawgan 1936
- Saint Melor 1927
- Saint Nectan, S. Keyne and the Children of Brychan in Cornwall 1930
- Saint Neot 1929
- Saint Nonna 1928
- Saint Perran, Saint Keverne, & Saint Kerrian 1931
- Saint Petrock 1938
- Saint Rumon and Saint Ronan 1939
- Saint Selevan 1928
- Saint Senan 1928
- Saint Sezni 1928
- Saint Tudy 1929
- Saint Winnoc 1940
- Some Notes on the Parish of Goran, otherwise St. Goronus 1936
- St. Columb Major Church & Parish 1930
- St. Constantine, King and Monk, and St. Mervyn 1930
External links
- Samples of Henderson's Cornish writing:
}
}
}