Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 25.djvu/404

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Henderson
398
Henderson

Bible Society,’ 1840. 12. ‘On the Conversion of the Jews,’ a lecture, 1843. 13. ‘The Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets,’ translated from the Hebrew, 1845; another edit. 1858. 14. ‘The Vaudois, a tour to the Valleys of Piedmont,’ 1845. 15. ‘The Book of Jeremiah and that of the Lamentations,’ translated, 1851. 16. ‘Divine Inspiration,’ 1847; third edit. 1852. 17. ‘The Book of Ezekiel,’ translated, 1855. 18. ‘The Book of Isaiah,’ translated, 1857. He also edited the following works by Albert Barnes: ‘Job,’ 1851; ‘Revelations,’ 1852; ‘The Way of Salvation,’ 1855; ‘Essays on Science and Theology,’ 1856. By J. M. Good: ‘The Book of Psalms,’ 1854. By G. B. Cheevers: ‘W. Cowper,’ 1856. By M. Stuart: ‘The Epistle to the Romans,’ in conjunction with E. P. Smith. He also printed charges, lectures, and sermons.

[Memoir of Ebenezer Henderson, by Thalia S. Henderson, 1859, with portrait; Congregational Year-Book, 1859, p. 200; John Paterson's Book for Every Land, 1858, p. 1 et seq.]

G. C. B.


HENDERSON, EBENEZER, the younger (1809–1879), author of ‘The Annals of Dunfermline,’ was born at Dunfermline in February 1809, and educated there (Stewart, Reminiscences of Dunfermline). He was son of John Henderson, watch and clock maker, and nephew of Ebenezer Henderson the elder [q. v.] He learned his father's business, but gave his real strength to scientific pursuits, producing by 1827 an orrery and an astronomical clock, both of which were much admired. Between 1829 and 1863 he was in England, mainly at Liverpool and in London. His nominal post at first was clerk and assistant to his brother, an extensive tanner at St. Helens, but for a time he was curator of the Liverpool Astronomical Institution and Observatory, where he also lectured. He continued his astronomical studies, becoming a member of thirteen scientific societies in England, and receiving (at a date now unknown) the degree of LL.D. from an American college. In 1850 he was highly commended by Airy, Arago, and other European experts, for an ingenious combination of wheels designed to show and check sidereal time (see letters to him in Chalmers, History of Dunfermline, vol. ii.) He was busy meanwhile with the archæological and historical notes that ultimately developed into the ‘Annals of Dunfermline,’ and he secured in 1856 the recognition of Dunfermline as a city. The freedom of Elgin and of Dunfermline was conferred upon Henderson in 1858 and 1859 respectively. In 1866 he settled in Muckhart, Perthshire, where he died 2 Nov. 1879. He became a member of five Scottish scientific societies, and wrote papers both for these and for English societies. In his latter years he was instrumental in restoring the old market cross of Dunfermline (1868) and ‘Queen Margaret's Stone,’ on the Dunfermline and Queensferry road, for which he wrote the inscription. His wife's name was Betsy Coldstream Brodie. He had no issue.

Besides smaller works, Henderson published ‘Historical Treatise on Horology,’ London, 1836; ‘Treatise on Astronomy,’ which reached a third edition in 1848; ‘Life of James Ferguson, F.R.S., in a brief autobiographical account and further extended Memoir,’ 1867; and in 1879 ‘The Annals of Dunfermline and Vicinity, from the earliest authentic period to the present time, A.D. 1069–1878’ (Glasgow, 8vo). The last work, though not without instances of unsifted legends and specimens of archæological credulity, is on the whole a monument of patient industry and conspicuous ability.

[Works mentioned above; Dunfermline Free Press, November 1879; information from George Robertson, esq., F.S.A. Scotl., Dunfermline.]

T. B.


HENDERSON, GEORGE (1783–1855), lieutenant-colonel royal engineers, son of Captain Henderson of the 4th royals, was born on 4 June 1783 at Newton, his father's property, on the banks of the Dee, Aberdeenshire. He passed through the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, and obtaining a commission in the corps of royal engineers joined at Portsmouth as second lieutenant in March 1800. He was promoted lieutenant the following year, and in 1803 was sent to Ceylon, where he served for nine years. He returned to England in August 1812 with the rank of captain, and in September was sent to Spain to join the Duke of Wellington's army operating in the Peninsula. He distinguished himself at the siege of St. Sebastian, for which he was mentioned in despatches and received the gold medal; he also took part in the battles of the Nive, Nivelle, and Orthes, for which he received the war medal with two clasps. At the close of the war he was stationed in Ireland and, after his marriage, in Canada till 1819, when he returned to England. He attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel on 30 Dec. 1824, and retired from the service on 9 April 1825. In 1830 he devoted himself to the formation of the London and South-Western Railway Company, and was connected with that line, first as general superintendent, and subsequently as director, from its commencement until his death, which took place at Southampton on 21 April 1855. In May 1837 he was elected an associate of the Institution of Civil En-