John Hey (1734–1815) was an English cleric, the first Norrisian Professor of Theology at Cambridge.

Life

The son of Richard Hey of

Pudsey Pudsey is a market town in the City of Leeds, City of Leeds Borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is located midway between Bradford, Bradford city centre and Leeds city centre. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of ...

and his wife Mary Simpson, and elder brother of William Hey and

Richard Hey Richard Hey (1745–1835) was an English academic, essayist and writer against gambling. Life He was born at Pudsey, near Leeds, on 22 August 1745, the younger brother of John Hey and William Hey. He became a fellow of Magdalene College, Camb ...

, he was born in July 1734. He entered

Catharine Hall, Cambridge St Catharine's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The college is located in the historic city-centre of Camb ...

in 1751, graduating B.A. in 1755 and M.A. in 1758. He became a fellow of

Sidney Sussex College Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wife ...

in 1758, and was tutor from 1760 to 1779. He took his B.D. degree in 1765, and his D.D. in 1780. His lectures on morality were admired, and were attended by

William Pitt the younger William Pitt the Younger (28 May 175923 January 1806) was a British statesman, the youngest and last prime minister of Great Britain (before the Acts of Union 1800) and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ire ...

. In 1779

Charles Maynard, 1st Viscount Maynard Charles Maynard, 1st Viscount Maynard (c. 1690 – 30 June 1775), styled Charles Maynard between 1699 and 1745 and known as The Lord Maynard between 1745 and 1766, was a British peer. He served as Lord-Lieutenant of Suffolk between 1763 and 1769. ...

presented Hey to the rectory of

Passenham Passenham is a small village in the civil parish of Old Stratford in south-west Northamptonshire, England. It is just north of the River Great Ouse, which forms the boundary with Buckinghamshire, and close to (but separated by the river from) ...

, in southern

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, and he later obtained the adjacent rectory of

Calverton, Buckinghamshire Calverton is a civil parish in the unitary authority area of the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England and just outside the Milton Keynes urban area, near Stony Stratford. The parish consists of one village, Lower Weald and two hamlets: ...

. He was elected in 1780 to the Norrisian professorship of divinity, of which he was the first holder. He was re-elected in 1785 and in 1790. According to the regulations then in force, he might have been elected for another term if he had resigned in 1794, before reaching the age of 60, but declined to do so. He held his livings until 1814, when he resigned them and moved to London. Hey died 17 March 1815, and was buried in St John's Chapel,

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from ...

Works

Hey's Norrisian lectures in divinity represented the difference between the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

and unitarians as little more than verbal, but defended subscription to the

Thirty-nine Articles The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (commonly abbreviated as the Thirty-nine Articles or the XXXIX Articles) are the historically defining statements of doctrines and practices of the Church of England with respect to the controversies of the ...

. His treatment of the issues appealed later to the

Tractarians The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...

. The lectures were published in 1796 in 4 vols. A second edition appeared in 1822, and a third, edited by

Thomas Turton Thomas Turton (25 February 1780 – 7 January 1864) was an English academic and divine, the Bishop of Ely from 1845 to 1864. Life Thomas Turton was son of Thomas and Ann Turton of Hatfield, West Riding. He was admitted to Queens' College, ...

, appeared in 1841. He published also in 1801 a ''Set of Discourses on the Malevolent Passions'' (reprinted 1815); and printed, but did not publish, in 1811, ''General Observations on the Writings of St. Paul''. Winning the

Seatonian prize The Seatonian Prize is awarded by the University of Cambridge for the best English poem on a sacred subject. This prize has been awarded annually since 1750 and is open to any Master of Arts of the university. Lord Byron referred to this prize in ...

for a poem in 1763, Hey published it as ''The Redemption: a Poetical Essay''. He also published sermons.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Hey, John 1734 births 1815 deaths 19th-century English Anglican priests Fellows of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge English theologians Norrisian Professors of Divinity 18th-century English Anglican priests