Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Henshall, Samuel
HENSHALL, SAMUEL (1764?–1807), philologist, born in 1764 or 1765, son of George Henshall, grocer, of Sandbach, Cheshire, was educated at Manchester grammar school. On being nominated to a school exhibition he went to Brasenose College, Oxford, matriculated on 11 Oct. 1782, and subsequently became one of Hulme's exhibitioners. His tutor was Thomas Braithweite, an old Manchester schoolboy, whom he mentions gratefully in his ‘Etymological Organic Reasoner,’ p. 8. He graduated B.A. 14 June 1786, M.A. 12 May 1789, and after taking holy orders was elected a fellow of the college. On 9 Dec. 1792, being then curate of Christ Church, Spitalfields, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the lectureship of St. Peter the Poor, and preached a probationary sermon, afterwards published. In November 1800 he stood, again without success, for the Anglo-Saxon professorship at Oxford against Thomas Hardcastle (Gent. Mag. vol. lxx. pt. ii. p. 1097). In 1801 he was appointed a public examiner in the university. He was presented by his college on 22 Jan. 1802 to the rectory of St. Mary Stratford, Bow, Middlesex, where he died on 17 Nov. 1807, aged 42. A narrow flat stone, on the south side of the chancel, covers his remains, and records that ‘he was rector of the parish five years, ten months, and twenty-six days,’ and that ‘he was married five years, six months, and thirteen days.’
Henshall published: 1. ‘Specimens and Parts; containing a History of the County of Kent and a Dissertation on the Laws from the reign of Edward the Confessour to Edward the First; of a Topographical, Commercial, Civil, and Nautical History of South Britain …, from authentic documents,’ 2 vols. 4to, London, 1798. This was to have been completed in six quarterly parts, but it was discontinued after forty-one pages of vol. ii. had been printed. 2. ‘The Saxon and English Languages reciprocally illustrative of each other; the Impracticability of acquiring an accurate Knowledge of Saxon Literature through the Medium of the Latin Phraseology exemplified in the Errors of Hickes, Wilkins, Gibson, and other scholars; and a new Mode suggested of radically studying the Saxon and English Languages,’ 4to, London, 1798, dedicated to Thomas Astle [q. v.], his ‘avowed patron,’ who had permitted him the ‘unlimited perusal’ of his manuscripts. Richard Gough and Professor Charles Mayo in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ (vol. lxviii. pt. ii. pp. 861–5) and Horne Tooke in the ‘Analytical Review’ exposed Henshall's ignorance and self-conceit. 3. ‘Domesday, or an Actual Survey of South Britain, … faithfully translated, with an introduction, notes, and illustrations, by Samuel Henshall … and John Wilkinson, M.D.,’ 4to, London, 1799. This, comprehending the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, was to be the first of ten similar numbers, which were to contain both volumes of the original. In spite of a boastful advertisement, the book was shown to be full of blunders, and dropped after the first number. 4. ‘Strictures on the late Motions of the Duke of Leinster, … R. B. Sheridan, Esq., … and a paragraph in the semi-official Chronicle of Opposition,’ 8vo, London, 1799 (Gent. Mag. vol. lxx. pt. ii. p. 645). 5. A thanksgiving sermon upon Trafalgar, preached 5 Dec. 1805, rightly described as ‘fustian declamation’ in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ for April 1806. 6. ‘The Gothic Gospel of Saint Matthew, from the Codex Argenteus of the Fourth Century; with the corresponding English or Saxon from the Durham Book of the Eighth Century, in Roman characters; a literal English Lesson of each; and Notes, Illustrations, and Etymological Disquisitions on Organic Principles,’ 8vo, London, 1807, dedicated to Richard Heber [q. v.], to whom Henshall was indebted for the loan of rare books. Four monthly numbers; the fifth, due on 30 Sept. 1807, was stopped by Henshall's last illness. In the ‘occasional preface’ he turns upon his critics and threatens in a note to expose ‘this mystery of iniquity,’ in which ‘many Antiquaries, Blackstonians, Electioneering Oxonians, Reviewers, Low Churchmen, Presbyterians, Methodists, and other herds of animals that follow their leader's tail are concerned.’ To the ‘Anti-Jacobin Review and Magazine’ Henshall was at one time a frequent contributor.
[J. F. Smith's Reg. Manchester Grammar School (Chetham Soc.), ii. 8–10, iii. pt. ii. 322; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886, p. 646; Gent. Mag. vol. lxxvii. pt. ii. pp. 1176, vol. lxxviii. pt. i. p. 288; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Lysons's Environs, Supplement, p. 307.]