Dr. William Lloyd, bishop of St. Asaph, and the members of parliament for Wales thanked William III for selecting Humphreys for the see. Humphreys was translated to Hereford in November 1701, and dying on 20 Nov. 1712 was buried in Hereford cathedral, where a monument with a Latin inscription was erected to his memory.
He was 'excellently well versed in the antiquities of Wales,' and enjoyed the reputation of being, after Edward Lhuyd [q.v.], the best Celtic scholar of his time (Caius, Vindiciæ Antiq. Acad. Oxon. ed. Hearne, ii. 646). He married the third daughter of Robert Morgan, D.D., bishop of Bangor. A daughter married John, son of William Lloyd, the deprived bishop of Norwich [q.v.]
His works are: 1. 'A Sermon preach'd before the House of Lords [at Westminster Abbey] on 30 Jan. 1695-6, being the Martyrdom of K. Charles I,' Lond. 1696, 4to. 2. 'Additions to and corrections of Anthony à Wood's Athenæ and Fasti Oxonienses.' Printed by Hearne in his edition of Caius's 'Vindiciæ' (Oxford, 1730), ii. 605-78, from a copy given to him by Thomas Baker, B.D. (1656-1740) [q. v.] These notes are incorporated in Dr. Philip Bliss's edition of the 'Athenæ.' 3. 'A Catalogue of the Deans of Bangor and St. Asaph.' Drawn up for the use of Anthony à Wood, and printed in Hearne's edition of Otterbourne and Whetehamstede (Oxford, 1732), ii. 719-32. Hearne also mentions a 'Discourse concerning the Antiquities of St. Winifrid's Well.'
[Abbey's English Church and its Bishops, i. 162; Bedford's Blazon of Episcopacy, p. 15; Caius, Vindiciæ (Hearne), ii. 638, 645, 646; Gent. Mag. 1826, ii. 586; Godwin, De Præsulibus (Richardson), p.498; Havergal's Fasti Herefordenses, p. 33; Hearne's edit, of Otterbourne and Whetehamstede, ii. 725; Hearne's Collections, ed.Doble (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), i. 225, 325; Le Neve's Fasti: ii. 305, 331, 370, 384; Rawlinson's Antiq. of the Cathedral of Hereford, p. 222; Willis's Survey of Cathedrals, ii. 530; Wood's Life (Bliss), p. xcvi; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss.), pref. p. 14, ii. 62, 890, iv. 895, Fasti, ii. 305, 331, 370, 384.]
HUMPHREYS, JAMES (d. 1830), legal writer, a native of Montgomeryshire, was articled to a solicitor named Yeomans at Worcester, but determining to go to the bar, he entered at Lincoln's Inn in November 1789, read with Charles Butler (1750-1832) [q. v.], was called to the bar (25 June 1800), and obtained a good practice as a conveyancer. It is said that Brougham and Denman proposed that he and Charles Butler should be made benchers of their inn, but that the motion was lost, owing to the opposition of Sugden and Sir A. Hart. In politics Humphreys was a liberal, and was friendly with Fox, Clifford, Sir James Mackintosh, and Sir Francis Burdett. He was often present at Horne Tooke's parties at Wimbledon, and delivered a course of lectures on law at the newly founded university of London. He died on 29 Nov. 1830, in Upper Woburn Place, London.
Humphreys's chief work, 'Observations on the Actual State of the English Laws of Real Property, with the outlines of a Code' (London, 1826, 8vo, 2nd edit. 1827), gave him a high reputation as a legal reformer. Fox is said to have suggested the work, but it was really the fruit of its author's association with Charles Butler and with the new school of analytical jurists of which Bentham and Austin were the leaders. Bentham, in an elaborate notice of the book in 'The Westminster Review,' remarked that 'the publication forms an epoch, in law certainly; I had almost said in history.' The changes which Humphreys proposed excited much opposition at the time, but the majority have been since adopted: shortened forms of conveyance, registration of title, abolition of copyhold tenure, increase in the number of judges, improvement of procedure, the alteration of the law of descents, and the like. Sugden, John James Park, and others published adverse criticisms of Humphreys's proposals, but his scheme was praised by Kent in America, and the need for radical change in the land laws was admitted in this country by the appointment in 1827 of the real property commission. Humphreys also wrote 'Suggestions respecting the Stamp Duties affecting Real and Personal Property,' published posthumously in 1830, and a few other pamphlets.
[Gent. Mag. 1830 ii. 571, 1831 i. 181; Law Mag. i. 613, v. 258; Westminster Rev. No. xii.; October 1826; Bentham's Works, ed. Bowring, v. 387, &c., vi. 203; American Jurist and Law Mag. i. 58; Kent's Commentaries, iv. 8n; Martin's Conveyancing, ed. 1837, p. 39; Quarterly Rev. xxxiv. 520; Edinb. Rev. March 1827; Butler's Reminiscences, pp. 56, 284; Lincoln's Inn MS. Register.]
HUMPHREYS, SAMUEL (1698?–1738), poet and miscellaneous writer, born about 1698, was well educated, and adopted a literary life. He was best known as author of a life of Prior, prefixed to an edition of his poems (1733–66), verses on Canons inscribed to the Duke of Chandos (1728), and the words to Handel's oratorios, 'Esther' (1732), 'Deborah' (1733), 'Athaliah ' (1733). It is said that 'the admired Mr. Handel had a due esteem for the harmony of his numbers; and the great Mæcenas, the Duke of Chandos, showed the
