Philip Henry (clergyman)
Encyclopedia
Philip Henry was an English
Nonconformist
clergy
man and diarist.
in 1652 and was ordained in 1657. He was the eldest son of John Henry, keeper of the orchard at Whitehall
, and was born at Whitehall on 24 August 1631. His father, son of Henry Williams, was Welsh, born at Briton Ferry
, Glamorganshire, on 10 July 1590, and took his father's name; he rose to be page of the backstairs to James, Duke of York, and was buried at St. Margaret's, Westminster
, on 2 March 1652. His mother, Magdalen, daughter of Henry Rochdale, was baptised at St. Martin's-in-the-Fields on 19 October 1599, and died on 6 March 1645.
Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke
, in whose service his father had been, was his godfather. As a child he was playmate to the princes Charles
and James, and kept to his dying day a book given him by the latter. Archbishop William Laud
took notice of him for his readiness in opening the watergate when Laud came late from the council to cross to Lambeth
. His father took him to see Laud in prison in the Tower of London
, when the archbishop gave him some money. After preliminary schooling he was admitted in 1643 to Westminster School
, and became a favourite pupil of Richard Busby
. His mother, a Puritan
, got leave for him to attend the early lecture at Westminster Abbey
; but to Busby's diligence in preparing him for the communion he ascribes his adoption of a religious life in 1647.
In May 1647 Henry was elected to a studentship at Christ Church, Oxford
, and went into residence on 15 December. He was admitted student on 24 March 1648, just before the parliamentary visitation, which removed Underwood, his tutor, substituting William Finmore (afterwards archdeacon of Chester). While at home on leave in January 1649 he saw Charles I, going on foot daily to his trial, who once spoke to his father. Of Charles's execution he gave an eye-witness account. He graduated B.A. in 1649 and M.A. on 10 December 1652. His father's death left the family in financial difficulties.
, and preacher at Worthenbury Chapel, in the parish of Bangor-is-coed, same county. In 1654 he was with his pupils at Oxford; from 1655 he was constantly at Worthenbury. The rector of Bangor was Henry Bridgeman
, but the living had been sequestered in 1646. Robert Fogg, the parliamentary incumbent, put in a caveat (14 Sept. 1657) against Henry's ordination as minister of Worthenbury, but afterwards withdrew it. Accordingly, having undergone an examination by the fourth Shropshire
classis (constituted by parliament, April 1647), he was ordained with five others at Prees, Shropshire, on 16 September 1657. He made a strongly Calvinistic confession, but said nothing about church government. His ideal was a modified episcopacy on James Ussher
's system.
In 1658 a commission of ecclesiastical promotions took Worthenbury Chapel out of Bangor parish, making it with Worthenbury Church (a donative) a new parish, of which Henry was incumbent. He declined the vicarage of Wrexham, Denbighshire, in March 1659, refusing shortly afterwards a living near London. He appears to have sympathised with the royalist rising under Sir George Booth in August 1659. Mrs. Puleston died in 1658, and the judge on 5 September 1659. Roger Puleston, their eldest son, had no love for his tutor; they had even come to blows (16 September 1656).
, which Henry, then newly married, welcomed, Bridgeman resumed the rectory of Bangor, and Henry's position was simply that of his curate at Worthenbury Chapel. In September 1660 he was presented at Flint assizes with Fogg and Richard Steel for not reading the common prayer, and again at the spring assizes, without effect. He had taken the oath of allegiance, but refusing reordination he was incapable of preferment. On 24 October 1661 Bridgeman, having failed to arrange matters, came to Worthenbury and read Henry's discharge before a crowd. Henry showed some feeling, but was allowed to preach farewell sermons on 27 October. The Uniformity Act of 1662, which took effect on 24 August 1662, silenced him. He surrendered his house and annuity for £100, to avoid litigation, and left Worthenbury for Broad Oak, Flintshire, a property settled upon his wife.
He consulted John Fell
, then dean of Christ Church, about his difficulties. His main objection was re-ordination, which he reckoned simony
. On 10 October 1663 he was apprehended with thirteen others and imprisoned for four days at Hanmer, Flintshire, on suspicion of an insurrectionary plot. On 15 March 1665 he was cited to Malpas, Cheshire
, for baptising one of his own children; at the end of the month he was treated as a layman, and was made sub-collector of tax for the township of Iscoyd. The Five Mile Act of 1665 placed him in a difficulty, Broad Oak being four reputed miles from Worthenbury; on actual measurement it was found to be sixty yards over the five miles. However, he removed for a season to Whitchurch
, Shropshire. All this time he was a regular attendant at parish churches, his habit being to stand throughout the service; he forbore communicating simply on the ground of the kneeling posture.
In February 1668 he preached by request in the parish church of Betley
, Staffordshire
, a circumstance of which accounts were reported in the House of Commons. Not till the short-lived indulgence of 1672 did he resume his public ministry in his licensed house, still avoiding encroachment on church hours. On the withdrawal of the indulgence, he continued to preach without molestation till 1681, when he was fined for keeping conventicle
s. In 1682 he had a public discussion with quakers at Llanfyllin
, Montgomeryshire
, and was drawn into a debate on ordination at Oswestry
, Shropshire, with William Lloyd, at that time bishop of St. Asaph, and Henry Dodwell the elder.
for three weeks (July 1685) under a general order from the lord-lieutenant. He joined in a cautiously worded address (September 1687) to James II. In May 1688 he was placed on the commission of the peace for Flintshire, but declined to qualify. At the revolution he had great hopes of ‘comprehension.’ The terms of the Toleration Act he accepted with some reservations. He ministered at Broad Oak in an outbuilding near his house.
His last years were spent in pastoral work. He died at Broad Oak of a sudden attack of colic and stone, on 24 June 1696, and was buried on 27 June in Whitchurch Church, where a marble tablet was erected to his memory, bearing a Latin inscription by John Tylston, M.D., his son-in-law. In 1712, when the church was rebuilt, his body was removed to the churchyard, and the monument to the porch.
In 1844 a tablet bearing an English version of the epitaph was placed in the north aisle of the church, the original monument being transferred to Whitewell Chapel, near Broad Oak. Funeral sermons were preached at Broad Oak by Francis Tallents
of Shrewsbury, James Owen of Oswestry, and Matthew Henry
.
, Flintshire, and had two sons, John (3 May 1661-12 April 1667), and Matthew Henry
, and four daughters, all of whom married. A genealogy of his descendants, to 1844, was published by one of them, Sarah Lawrence of Leamington. One of her great nieces was Susan Lawrence
, the Labour politician.
was a notable commentator on the Bible and also a Presbyterian minister.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
Nonconformist
Nonconformism
Nonconformity is the refusal to "conform" to, or follow, the governance and usages of the Church of England by the Protestant Christians of England and Wales.- Origins and use:...
clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
man and diarist.
Early life
Henry graduated from OxfordUniversity of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
in 1652 and was ordained in 1657. He was the eldest son of John Henry, keeper of the orchard at Whitehall
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road in Westminster, in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square...
, and was born at Whitehall on 24 August 1631. His father, son of Henry Williams, was Welsh, born at Briton Ferry
Briton Ferry
Briton Ferry is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The town encompasses the electoral wards of Briton Ferry East and Briton Ferry West....
, Glamorganshire, on 10 July 1590, and took his father's name; he rose to be page of the backstairs to James, Duke of York, and was buried at St. Margaret's, Westminster
St. Margaret's, Westminster
The Anglican church of St. Margaret, Westminster Abbey is situated in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, and is the parish church of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in London...
, on 2 March 1652. His mother, Magdalen, daughter of Henry Rochdale, was baptised at St. Martin's-in-the-Fields on 19 October 1599, and died on 6 March 1645.
Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke
Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke
Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke and 1st Earl of Montgomery KG was an English courtier and politician active during the reigns of James I and Charles I...
, in whose service his father had been, was his godfather. As a child he was playmate to the princes Charles
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
and James, and kept to his dying day a book given him by the latter. Archbishop William Laud
William Laud
William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...
took notice of him for his readiness in opening the watergate when Laud came late from the council to cross to Lambeth
Lambeth
Lambeth is a district of south London, England, and part of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated southeast of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:...
. His father took him to see Laud in prison in the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
, when the archbishop gave him some money. After preliminary schooling he was admitted in 1643 to Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
, and became a favourite pupil of Richard Busby
Richard Busby
The Rev. Dr. Richard Busby was an English Anglican priest who served as head master of Westminster School for more than fifty-five years.-Life:...
. His mother, a Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
, got leave for him to attend the early lecture at Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
; but to Busby's diligence in preparing him for the communion he ascribes his adoption of a religious life in 1647.
In May 1647 Henry was elected to a studentship at Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
, and went into residence on 15 December. He was admitted student on 24 March 1648, just before the parliamentary visitation, which removed Underwood, his tutor, substituting William Finmore (afterwards archdeacon of Chester). While at home on leave in January 1649 he saw Charles I, going on foot daily to his trial, who once spoke to his father. Of Charles's execution he gave an eye-witness account. He graduated B.A. in 1649 and M.A. on 10 December 1652. His father's death left the family in financial difficulties.
Preacher
Henry preached his first sermon at South Hinksey, Oxfordshire, on 9 January 1653. On the introduction of Francis Palmer, afterwards professor of moral philosophy, he was engaged (30 September) by John Puleston, justice of the common pleas, as tutor to his sons at Emral, FlintshireFlintshire
Flintshire is a county in north-east Wales. It borders Denbighshire, Wrexham and the English county of Cheshire. It is named after the historic county of Flintshire, which had notably different borders...
, and preacher at Worthenbury Chapel, in the parish of Bangor-is-coed, same county. In 1654 he was with his pupils at Oxford; from 1655 he was constantly at Worthenbury. The rector of Bangor was Henry Bridgeman
Henry Bridgeman
Henry Bridgeman may refer to:*Henry Bridgeman Dean of Chester, 1660–1682, later Bishop of Sodor and Man*Henry Bridgeman, 1st Baron Bradford , British MP for Ludlow & Wenlock...
, but the living had been sequestered in 1646. Robert Fogg, the parliamentary incumbent, put in a caveat (14 Sept. 1657) against Henry's ordination as minister of Worthenbury, but afterwards withdrew it. Accordingly, having undergone an examination by the fourth Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
classis (constituted by parliament, April 1647), he was ordained with five others at Prees, Shropshire, on 16 September 1657. He made a strongly Calvinistic confession, but said nothing about church government. His ideal was a modified episcopacy on James Ussher
James Ussher
James Ussher was Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625–56...
's system.
In 1658 a commission of ecclesiastical promotions took Worthenbury Chapel out of Bangor parish, making it with Worthenbury Church (a donative) a new parish, of which Henry was incumbent. He declined the vicarage of Wrexham, Denbighshire, in March 1659, refusing shortly afterwards a living near London. He appears to have sympathised with the royalist rising under Sir George Booth in August 1659. Mrs. Puleston died in 1658, and the judge on 5 September 1659. Roger Puleston, their eldest son, had no love for his tutor; they had even come to blows (16 September 1656).
After the Restoration
At the RestorationEnglish Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
, which Henry, then newly married, welcomed, Bridgeman resumed the rectory of Bangor, and Henry's position was simply that of his curate at Worthenbury Chapel. In September 1660 he was presented at Flint assizes with Fogg and Richard Steel for not reading the common prayer, and again at the spring assizes, without effect. He had taken the oath of allegiance, but refusing reordination he was incapable of preferment. On 24 October 1661 Bridgeman, having failed to arrange matters, came to Worthenbury and read Henry's discharge before a crowd. Henry showed some feeling, but was allowed to preach farewell sermons on 27 October. The Uniformity Act of 1662, which took effect on 24 August 1662, silenced him. He surrendered his house and annuity for £100, to avoid litigation, and left Worthenbury for Broad Oak, Flintshire, a property settled upon his wife.
He consulted John Fell
John Fell (clergyman)
John Fell was an English churchman and influential academic. He served as Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and later concomitantly as Bishop of Oxford.-Education:...
, then dean of Christ Church, about his difficulties. His main objection was re-ordination, which he reckoned simony
Simony
Simony is the act of paying for sacraments and consequently for holy offices or for positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus , who appears in the Acts of the Apostles 8:9-24...
. On 10 October 1663 he was apprehended with thirteen others and imprisoned for four days at Hanmer, Flintshire, on suspicion of an insurrectionary plot. On 15 March 1665 he was cited to Malpas, Cheshire
Malpas, Cheshire
Malpas is a large village which used to be a market town, and it is also a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The parish lies on the border with Shropshire and Wales...
, for baptising one of his own children; at the end of the month he was treated as a layman, and was made sub-collector of tax for the township of Iscoyd. The Five Mile Act of 1665 placed him in a difficulty, Broad Oak being four reputed miles from Worthenbury; on actual measurement it was found to be sixty yards over the five miles. However, he removed for a season to Whitchurch
Whitchurch, Shropshire
Whitchurch is a market town in Shropshire, England on the border between England and Wales. It is the oldest continuously inhabited town in Shropshire. According to the 2001 Census, the population of the town is 8,673, with a more recent estimate putting the population of the town at 8,934...
, Shropshire. All this time he was a regular attendant at parish churches, his habit being to stand throughout the service; he forbore communicating simply on the ground of the kneeling posture.
In February 1668 he preached by request in the parish church of Betley
Betley
Betley is a village and civil parish in the Newcastle district of Staffordshire, England, about halfway between Newcastle-under-Lyme and Nantwich. Betley forms a continual linear settlement with Wrinehill.-Transport:...
, Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
, a circumstance of which accounts were reported in the House of Commons. Not till the short-lived indulgence of 1672 did he resume his public ministry in his licensed house, still avoiding encroachment on church hours. On the withdrawal of the indulgence, he continued to preach without molestation till 1681, when he was fined for keeping conventicle
Conventicle
A conventicle is a small, unofficial and unofficiated meeting of laypeople, to discuss religious issues in a non-threatening, intimate manner. Philipp Jakob Spener called for such associations in his Pia Desideria, and they were the foundation of the German Evangelical Lutheran Pietist movement...
s. In 1682 he had a public discussion with quakers at Llanfyllin
Llanfyllin
Llanfyllin is a small town in Powys, Mid Wales, United Kingdom.- Location, history and amenities :Llanfyllin's population at the date of the 2001 Census was 1,407. The town lies on the River Cain by the Berwyn Mountains in Montgomeryshire. It is known for its holy well, dedicated to Saint Myllin....
, Montgomeryshire
Montgomeryshire
Montgomeryshire, also known as Maldwyn is one of thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. Montgomeryshire is still used as a vice-county for wildlife recording...
, and was drawn into a debate on ordination at Oswestry
Oswestry
Oswestry is a town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483, and A495 roads....
, Shropshire, with William Lloyd, at that time bishop of St. Asaph, and Henry Dodwell the elder.
Last years
At the time of Monmouth's rebellion he was confined in Chester CastleChester Castle
Chester Castle is in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It is sited at the southwest extremity of the area bounded by the city walls . The castle stands on an eminence overlooking the River Dee. In the castle complex are the remaining parts of the medieval castle together with the...
for three weeks (July 1685) under a general order from the lord-lieutenant. He joined in a cautiously worded address (September 1687) to James II. In May 1688 he was placed on the commission of the peace for Flintshire, but declined to qualify. At the revolution he had great hopes of ‘comprehension.’ The terms of the Toleration Act he accepted with some reservations. He ministered at Broad Oak in an outbuilding near his house.
His last years were spent in pastoral work. He died at Broad Oak of a sudden attack of colic and stone, on 24 June 1696, and was buried on 27 June in Whitchurch Church, where a marble tablet was erected to his memory, bearing a Latin inscription by John Tylston, M.D., his son-in-law. In 1712, when the church was rebuilt, his body was removed to the churchyard, and the monument to the porch.
In 1844 a tablet bearing an English version of the epitaph was placed in the north aisle of the church, the original monument being transferred to Whitewell Chapel, near Broad Oak. Funeral sermons were preached at Broad Oak by Francis Tallents
Francis Tallents
Francis Tallents was a non-conforming English Presbyterian clergyman.-Life:He was the eldest son of Philip Tallents, whose father, a Frenchman, accompanied Sir Francis Leake to England after saving his life. Francis Tallents was born at Pilsley in the parish of North Wingfield, Derbyshire, in...
of Shrewsbury, James Owen of Oswestry, and Matthew Henry
Matthew Henry
Matthew Henry was an English commentator on the Bible and Presbyterian minister.-Life:He was born at Broad Oak, a farmhouse on the borders of Flintshire and Shropshire. His father, Philip Henry, had just been ejected under the Act of Uniformity 1662...
.
Family
He married, on 26 April 1660, at Whitewell Chapel, Katharine (25 March 1629-25 May 1707), only child of Daniel Matthews of BroningtonBronington
Bronington is a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. The community has an area of 3,482 hectares and a population of 1,228 ....
, Flintshire, and had two sons, John (3 May 1661-12 April 1667), and Matthew Henry
Matthew Henry
Matthew Henry was an English commentator on the Bible and Presbyterian minister.-Life:He was born at Broad Oak, a farmhouse on the borders of Flintshire and Shropshire. His father, Philip Henry, had just been ejected under the Act of Uniformity 1662...
, and four daughters, all of whom married. A genealogy of his descendants, to 1844, was published by one of them, Sarah Lawrence of Leamington. One of her great nieces was Susan Lawrence
Susan Lawrence
Arabella Susan Lawrence was a British Labour Party politician, one of the first female Labour MPs.Lawrence was the youngest daughter of Nathaniel Lawrence, a wealthy solicitor, and Laura Bacon, daughter of Sir James Bacon, a bankruptcy judge and Vice-Chancellor. She was educated in London and at...
, the Labour politician.
Works
His Diaries and Letters, published in 1882, gives a detailed account of the nonconformist life of his period. His son MatthewMatthew Henry
Matthew Henry was an English commentator on the Bible and Presbyterian minister.-Life:He was born at Broad Oak, a farmhouse on the borders of Flintshire and Shropshire. His father, Philip Henry, had just been ejected under the Act of Uniformity 1662...
was a notable commentator on the Bible and also a Presbyterian minister.