Anthony Henley (1667 – August 1711) was an English Whig politician who sat in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...

between 1698 and 1711. He was noted as a wit.

Early life

Henley was son of Sir Robert Henley of the Grange, near Alresford,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, Member of Parliament for

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia * Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Ando ...

and his second wife Barbara Hungerford, daughter of Anthony Hungerford. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford on 3 March 1682, aged 15 and was admitted at

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1684. At Oxford he studied classical literature, particularly poetry. His grandfather was the legal official Sir Robert Henley, master of the court of king's bench, on the pleas side. Out of the profits of this post Anthony inherited a fortune of more than £3,000 a year.

Career

Coming to London, Henley was welcomed by the wits, and was on good terms with the

Earl of Dorset Earl of Dorset is a title that has been created at least four times in the Peerage of England. Some of its holders have at various times also held the rank of marquess and, from 1720, duke. A possible first creation is not well documented. About ...

and

Earl of Sunderland Earl of Sunderland is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1627 in favour of Emanuel Scrope, 11th Baron Scrope of Bolton. The earldom became extinct on his death in 1630 while the barony becam ...

. At the

1695 English general election The 1695 English general election was the first to be held under the terms of the Triennial Act of 1694, which required parliament to be dissolved and fresh elections called at least every three years. This measure helped to fuel partisan rivalry ...

he stood for Parliament at Newtown (Isle of Wight), but was defeated. This seems to have stimulated his interest in politics and by 1697 he was going to meetings of the Whig Rose Club, and later the Kit-Cat. He was returned as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

at the

1698 English general election After the conclusion of the 1698 English general election the government led by the Whig Junto believed it had held its ground against the opposition. Over the previous few years, divisions had emerged within the Whig party between the 'court' sup ...

. He married in 1700, Mary Bertie, daughter of Peregrine Bertie and his wife Susan Monins, daughter of Sir Edward Monins of

Waldershare Waldershare is a village near Dover in Kent, England. In 1086, the village was in the hundred of Eastry in the ancient Lathe of Eastry.Whig MP for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis at the

1702 English general election The 1702 English general election was the first to be held during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain, Queen Anne, and was necessitated by the demise of William III of England, William III. The new government dominated by the Tories (Britis ...

. He was several times a teller for the Whigs. At the

1705 English general election The 1705 English general election saw contests in 110 constituencies in England and Wales, roughly 41% of the total. The election was fiercely fought, with mob violence and cries of " Church in Danger" occurring in several boroughs. During the pr ...

he was returned again as Whig MP for Weymouth. He voted for the Court candidate for Speaker on 25 October 1705 and was again a frequent teller on behalf of the Whigs. He was returned for Weymouth again at the

1708 British general election The 1708 British general election was the first general election to be held after the Acts of Union had united the Parliaments of England and Scotland. The election saw the Whigs finally gain a majority in the House of Commons, and by November ...

and supported the naturalization of the Palatines in 1709. On 14 December 1709 he moved the address to Queen Anne, urging some dignity in the church for

Benjamin Hoadly Benjamin Hoadly (14 November 1676 – 17 April 1761) was an English clergyman, who was successively Bishop of Bangor, of Hereford, of Salisbury, and finally of Winchester. He is best known as the initiator of the Bangorian Controversy. Li ...

, based on his justification of

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

principles. He voted for the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell in 1710. He was returned again for Weymouth at the

1710 British general election The 1710 British general election produced a landslide victory for the Tories. The election came in the wake of the prosecution of Henry Sacheverell, which had led to the collapse of the previous government led by Godolphin and the Whig Junto. ...

and survived a petition against his return.

Wit and patron

Henley was one of the foremost Whig wits who welcomed

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...

's appearance in London life after the publication of the '' Tale of a Tub''. He once said of Swift that he would be "a beast for ever, after the order of Melchisedeck", and Swift reported the witticism in the ''

Journal to Stella ''A Journal to Stella'' is a work by Jonathan Swift first partly published posthumously in 1766. It consists of 65 letters to his friend, Esther Johnson, whom he called ''Stella'' and whom he may have secretly married. They were written between ...

''. Letters from Henley in 1708–10 are in Swift's ''Works''. The Purcells had patronage from Henley, who was musical. The songs composed by

Daniel Purcell Daniel Purcell (c. 1664 – buried 26 November 1717) was an English Baroque composer, the younger brother or cousin of Henry Purcell. Biography Like Henry Purcell before him, Daniel Purcell joined the choir of the Chapel Royal at about the age of ...

for the opera of '' Brutus of Alba'' were dedicated on their publication in 1696 to Henley and Richard Norton, a friend; and his music for

John Oldmixon John Oldmixon (1673 – 9 July 1742) was an English historian. He was a son of John Oldmixon of Oldmixon, Weston-super-Mare in Somerset. He was brought up by the family of Admiral Robert Blake in Bridgwater and later became involved in trade ...

's opera of ''The Grove, or Love's Paradise'', was worked out on a visit to Henley and other friends in Hampshire. He himself wrote several pieces for music, and almost finished Daniel Purcell's opera of ''Alexander''.

Samuel Garth Sir Samuel Garth FRS (1661 – 18 January 1719) was an English physician and poet. Life Garth was born in Bolam in County Durham and matriculated at Peterhouse, Cambridge in 1676, graduating B.A. in 1679 and M.A. in 1684. He took his M.D. an ...

dedicated to him his poem ''The Dispensary'', and he was a member of the

Kit-Cat Club The Kit-Cat Club (sometimes Kit Kat Club) was an early 18th-century English club in London with strong political and literary associations. Members of the club were committed Whigs (British political party), Whigs. They met at the Trumpet tavern ...

Death and legacy

Henley died of

apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...

in August 1711. He left three sons, of whom the eldest,

Anthony Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the ''Antonia (gens), Antonii'', a ''gens'' (Roman naming conventions, Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were ...

, MP for Southampton from 1727 to 1734, was a jester like his father. The younger sons were

Robert Henley, 1st Earl of Northington Robert Henley, 1st Earl of Northington, PC (c. 1708 – 14 January 1772), was the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. He was a member of the Whig Party in the parliament and was known for his wit and writing. Family Born the second son of ...

, and Bertie, a churchman and prebendary of Bristol (died 1760). His widow afterwards married, as his second wife, her relative Henry Bertie. Henley was a half-brother of John Henley and Robert Henley, both MPs. One of his sisters married Sir Theodore Janssen, the other was the wife of

Sir John Rogers, 2nd Baronet Sir John Rogers, 2nd Baronet (14 June 1676 – 21 January 1744) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1713 to 1722. Rogers was the only son of Sir John Rogers, 1st Baronet and his wife Mary Vincent, daughter o ...

. Henley found them both marriage portions in 1698. His marriage with Mary Bertie has been attributed to a need to clear himself from resulting debts. The royal assent was given on 22 May 1712 to a bill arranging for the payment of the portions of Henley's younger children. From a letter written in 1733 it is apparent that Swift continued his friendship to the sons.

Works

John Nichols believed that Henley wrote for ''

The Tatler ''Tatler'' is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications focusing on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper-middle class and upper class, and those interes ...

''. When the Whig ''Medley'' was started by

Arthur Maynwaring Arthur Maynwaring or Mainwaring (9 July 1668 – 13 November 1712), of Ightfield, Shropshire, was an English official and Whig politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1706 to 1712. He was also a journalist and a p ...

as a counterblast to the Tory ''Examiner'', one of the papers was written by Henley, and he is said to have aided William Harrison in his continuation of the ''Tatler''. An anecdote told by him on the death of Charles II was in

Gilbert Burnet Gilbert Burnet (18 September 1643 – 17 March 1715) was a Scottish philosopher and historian, and Bishop of Salisbury. He was fluent in Dutch, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Burnet was highly respected as a cleric, a preacher, an academic, ...

's ''History of his own Time'', and was criticised by

Bevil Higgons Bevil Higgons (1670–1735) was an English historian and poet, He was born at Kezo. Life Higgons was the third son of Sir Thomas Higgons, by his second wife, Bridget, who was herself the daughter of Sir Bevil Grenville, and widow of Sir Simon Lea ...

in his volume of ''Remarks'' on Burnet.

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...

said that Henley contributed the "Life of His Music-Master, Tom D'Urfey", a chapter in the ''Memoirs of Scriblerus''. Henley liked describing the manners and foibles of servants, and possibly some of the pastiches of communications from them in ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' came from him.

Notes

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Henley, Anthony 1667 births 1711 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies English MPs 1698–1700 English MPs 1702–1705 English MPs 1705–1707 British MPs 1707–1708 British MPs 1708–1710 British MPs 1710–1713 People from Hampshire (before 1974)