press; among them ‘A Night in the Catacombs’ (‘St. James's Magazine,’ 1861), ‘The Beggar Saint’ (‘Once a Week,’ 1862), and ‘Mr. H——'s Own Narrative’ (‘All the Year Round,’ 1861); the last tale attracted great attention, and was subsequently republished in a separate form under the title ‘A Wonderful Ghost Story,’ with letters from Charles Dickens to the author on the subject. During the last four years of his life, when ill-health kept him much indoors, he painted a series of types of foreign beauty, and wrote accounts of them in various publications. At an early period Heaphy assumed the additional christian name ‘Frank,’ with the view of thereby distinguishing his works from those of his father, but dropped it before 1850. He died in South Belgravia, 7 Aug. 1873. In 1842 he married Eliza Bradstreet, daughter of Joseph Bradstreet, of the family of Little Wenham, Suffolk, by whom he had many children.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Athenæum, No. 2390, 16 Aug. 1873; Art Journal, 1873, p. 308; information from the family.]
HEARD, Sir ISAAC (1730–1822), Garter king-of-arms, born at Ottery St. Mary, Devonshire, on 10 Dec. (O.S.) 1730, was son of John Heard, gentleman, sometime of Bridgwater, and afterwards of London, by Elizabeth, daughter of Benjamin Mitchell of Branscombe and Salcombe Regis. He was educated at Honiton grammar school. At the age of fifteen he entered the navy as a volunteer, and served as a midshipman on board H.M.S. Lynn, and afterwards in the Blandford till 1751, when he settled at Bilbao in Spain. There he engaged in mercantile pursuits, but his speculations were frustrated by the outbreak of war between that country and England in 1757. He was afterwards employed by a London merchant, and was introduced to Thomas Howard, earl of Effingham, then exercising the office of earl marshal, who, noticing his liking for antiquarian research, appointed him Blue-mantle pursuivant-of-arms 5 Dec. 1759. He became Lancaster herald on 3 July 1761, Norroy king-of-arms on 18 Oct. 1774, gentleman usher of the scarlet rod of the order of the Bath, and Brunswick herald; Clarenceux king-of-arms 16 May 1780, and on the death of Ralph Bigland [q. v.], by patent dated 1 May 1784, Garter principal king-of-arms, receiving the honour of knighthood in the following month. He died in the College of Arms, London, on 29 April 1822, and was buried in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. He was twice married, but left no issue. A portrait of him was painted in 1817 by Arthur W. Devis.
[Noble's College of Arms, pp. 418, 422, 439, 441, 448; Gent. Mag. 1822, pt. i. pp. 466, 625; Nichols's Illustr. of Lit. v. 225; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. vii. 589; Evans's Cat. of Engraved Portraits, No. 5120; Townsend's Calendar of Knights, p. 31.]
HEARD, WILLIAM (fl. 1778), poet and dramatist, was the son of a bookseller of Piccadilly, and was educated for the medical profession. Unfortunately he betook himself to play-writing, and brought out two feeble dramas:
- ‘The Snuff Box; or, A Trip to Bath,’ a comedy in two acts, performed at the Haymarket in 1775.
- ‘Valentine's Day,’ a musical drama in two acts, performed for only one night at Drury Lane on 22 March 1776 at Mr. Reddish's benefit, and printed anonymously (cf. Genest, v. 493).
Still more deplorable is a volume of poems entitled ‘A Sentimental Journey to Bath, Bristol, and their Environs; a descriptive Poem. To which are added Miscellaneous Pieces,’ 4to, London, 1778. Heard died on the coast of Africa at the age of thirty-four. His wife and daughter were both actresses.
[Baker's Biographia Dramatica, ed. 1812, i. 322, iii. 284, 375; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
HEARDER, JONATHAN (1810–1876), electrician, born at Plymouth in 1810, was well known as a popular lecturer throughout the west of England. Though nearly blind, owing to an accident when experimenting in his youth with a fulminating compound, he acquired a thorough knowledge of practical chemistry and electricity, and was for many years intimately associated with Sir William Snow Harris [q. v.] in his researches. Hearder devised several improvements in connection with the induction coil and the application of electricity to medical purposes. He also invented and patented a sub-oceanic cable, which proved to be almost identical with that subsequently chosen for transatlantic telegraphy. Another invention was a thermometer for lead soundings at sea which should indicate the depth of water by its pressure. Hearder's attainments, however, were not exclusively scientific, and his success as a lecturer was due not only to his knowledge of facts, but to his skill as an experimenter and his genial manner. He took a special interest in the Plymouth Institution, and had an excellent knowledge of local antiquities and history. He acted for many years as electrician to the South Devon Hospital. Hearder died in Plymouth of a paralytic attack on 16 July 1876.
[Ann. Reg. for 1876; Athenæum, July 1876; Plymouth Gazette, 19 July 1878.]
