Henry Petrie (1768–1842) was an English antiquary and official.

Early life

Petrie was the son of a schoolmaster in

Stockwell, Surrey Stockwell is a district in south west London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. It is situated south of Charing Cross. Battersea, Brixton, Clapham, South Lambeth, Oval and Kennington all border Stockwell. History The na ...

. Through

Thomas Frognall Dibdin Thomas Frognall Dibdin (177618 November 1847) was an English bibliographer, born in Calcutta to Thomas Dibdin, the sailor brother of the composer Charles Dibdin. Dibdin was orphaned at a young age. His father died in 1778 while returning to En ...

, a pupil at the school, he was introduced to

George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer, (1 September 1758 – 10 November 1834), styled Viscount Althorp from 1765 to 1783, was a British Whig politician. He served as Home Secretary from 1806 to 1807 in the Ministry of All the Talents. He was ...

, who encouraged his early works on historic buildings. Petrie became a close friend of Dibdin, and helped with his bibliographical work.

Work on records

On the death of

Samuel Lysons Samuel Lysons (1763 – June 1819) was an English antiquarian and engraver who, together with his elder brother Daniel Lysons (1762–1834), published several works on antiquarian topics. He was one of the first archaeologists to investigate ...

in 1819, Petrie was appointed

keeper of the records in the Tower of London This is a list of Keepers of the Records in the Tower of London. The position was medieval in origin, and ended in 1838 with the creation of the London Public Record Office. In the 16th century the distinction was made between Chancery Rolls fro ...

. He had already revived an old idea of

John Pinkerton John Pinkerton (17 February 1758 – 10 March 1826) was a Scottish antiquarian, cartographer, author, numismatist, historian, and early advocate of Germanic racial supremacy theory. He was born in Edinburgh, as one of three sons to Ja ...

for a major collection of historical material. Consultation with Earl Spencer led to the conclusion that government support would be needed, and Petrie was asked to draw up a plan. It was presented to the Record Commission in 1821, and was approved by the government and parliament. The work began in 1823, with Petrie as chief editor, assisted by John Sharpe (1769–1859), his brother-in-law. The Welsh portion was given to

John Humffreys Parry John Humffreys Parry (24 January 1816 – 10 January 1880) was a British barrister, who became serjeant-at-law. Early life The son of John Humffreys Parry the antiquarian (1786–1825), he was born in London on 24 January 1816. He received a comm ...

(killed in the street in 1825) and

Aneurin Owen Aneurin Owen may refer to: * Aneurin Owen (antiquarian) * Aneurin Owen (rugby union) {{hndis, Owen, Aneurin ...

, and was published in 1841. The main portion entrusted to Petrie proceeded steadily until 1832, when it was interrupted by his illness. In 1835, when the text of the first volume had been completed, the work was suspended by the record commissioners.

Francis Palgrave Sir Francis Palgrave, (; born Francis Ephraim Cohen, July 1788 – 6 July 1861) was an English archivist and historian. He was Deputy Keeper (chief executive) of the Public Record Office from its foundation in 1838 until his death; and he is ...

had criticised the approach, which followed that of Martin Bouquet, and divided texts into extracts arranged chronologically.

Death

Petrie died unmarried at Stockwell, on 17 March 1842.

Works

One volume of the project was completed and published in 1848 by

Thomas Duffus Hardy Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy (22 May 1804 – 15 June 1878) was an English archivist and antiquary, who served as Deputy Keeper of the Public Record Office from 1861 to 1878. Life Hardy was the third son of Major Thomas Bartholomew Price Hardy, from ...

, who had been trained by Petrie, as ''

Monumenta Historica Britannica ''Monumenta Historica Britannica'' (''MHB''); or, ''Materials for the History of Britain, From the Earliest Period'', is an incomplete work by Henry Petrie, the Keeper of the Records of the Tower of London, assisted by John Sharpe. Only the fir ...

'', subtitled ''or Materials for the History of Great Britain from the Earliest Period to the Norman Conquest''. Petrie also edited ''Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniæ'', 1830; and his translation of the earlier portion of the ''

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...

'' was reprinted from the ''Monumenta'' in the ''Church Historians of England'', 1854, vol. ii. pt. i.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Petrie, Henry 1768 births 1842 deaths English antiquarians People from Surrey (before 1889)