Henry Perry (or Henry Parry) (1560/61–1617) was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

Anglican priest and linguistic scholar.

Life

Perry was born in Flintshire, Wales, and was a descendant of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (the last Welsh Prince of Wales). He was educated at the University of Oxford, initially as a member of Balliol College before moving to Gloucester Hall (which would later become Worcester College) to take his BA degree then Jesus College, Oxford for his MA and

BTh BTH may refer to: * Bachelor of Theology (B.Th.) * Bacterial two-hybrid system, a genetic technique to detect interactions among proteins * Benzothiadiazole (disambiguation) * Blekinge Institute of Technology (''Blekinge Tekniska Högskola''), Swe ...

degrees. In between obtaining his MA (1583) and his BTh (1597), he travelled overseas and got married, before returning to north Wales as the chaplain to

Sir Richard Bulkeley ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

, a prominent landowner from near Beaumaris, Anglesey. He then obtained various parish positions on Anglesey, in

Rhoscolyn Rhoscolyn is a village and Community (Wales), community located on Holy Island, Anglesey, Wales. It is just over five miles south of Holyhead and is the most southerly settlement on the island. The name Rhoscolyn is said to mean "The Moor" ''(Rho ...

, Trefdraeth and

Llanfachraeth Llanfachraeth is a village and community in Anglesey, Wales. It is located near the west coast of the island, at the head of the Alaw estuary, east of Holyhead, south west of Amlwch and north west of Llangefni. The A5025 road runs through ...

, also becoming a canon and prebendary of

Bangor Cathedral Bangor Cathedral ( cy, Eglwys Gadeiriol Bangor) is a cathedral in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. It is dedicated to its founder, Saint Deiniol. The site of the present building of Bangor Cathedral has been in use as a place of Christian worship since ...

. His date of death is unknown, but was before 30 December 1617 when his prebendary successor was appointed. One of his grandchildren was Henry Maurice, who became Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Oxford. In addition to his parish work, Perry was a skilled linguist; he was highly regarded by the lexicographer John Davies. He was said by Davies to have worked on the compilation of a Welsh language dictionary, although his sole publication was a book on

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

' ("The elucidator of eloquence", 1595). It was the first book of its kind in Welsh, and drew upon the works of contemporary writers in English. A further edition of the work was published in 1807 and the original edition, with critical assessment of Perry's scholarship, was reprinted in 1930.

Publications

* (1595) ', Ioan Danter, Lhundain

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Henry 1560s births 1617 deaths Welsh scholars and academics Linguists from Wales Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Alumni of Gloucester Hall, Oxford 16th-century Welsh writers 16th-century male writers 17th-century Welsh Anglican priests