[History, Religion]

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A CLERGYMAN [HENSLOWE, William Henry]

The christian hebdomad, or week of human life. A souvenir of the savior! And an occasional help to family devotion

London. Simpkin, Marshall and Co., 1866.

. 8vo. 117pp, [3]. Original publisher's navy cloth, stamped in gilt and blind. Rubbed and sunned, a trifle marked, some chipping to head and foot of spine. Recent bookplate of R. C. Fiske to recto of FFEP, blank marriage certificate pasted to RFEP. Presentation copy, inked inscription to FEP: 'Ellen E. Henslowe / 29 April 1884 / from the author WHH'.[Together with:] [HENSLOWE, William Henry]. In Memoriam. A sympathising protest in behalf of the naval knights of windsor, against the spoliation of their college institution, and perversion of the founder's will. King's Lynn. W. H. Taylor, 1890. First edition. 8vo. [2], ii, [3], 4-94pp, [12]. With a final errata leaf. Original publisher's brick-red cloth, lettered in gilt. Lightly rubbed. Recent bookplate of R. C. Ficke to FEP, several leaves protruding from text-block. Association copy, inked ownership inscription of Ellen Henslowe to verso of FFEP. OCLC records a single copy (Mariners Museum); COPAC adds no further.[And:] [A clutch of 13 late nineteenth-century printed handbills and broadsides authored by members of the Henslowe family].

A collection of historical, religious, and poetical works, both bound and broadside, by Anglican clergyman William Henry Henslowe (d. 1890) and members of his family. A controversial figure, having been dismissed from numerous previous appointments (as acting chaplain to the Royal Artillery Regiment at Woolwich he had preached a series of sermons so vehement and critical of military discipline he was barred from the chapel), at the age of 38 Henslowe took the position of curate Wormegay Parish, Norfolk, where he would remain for life. Henslowe subsidised his meagre Church income through his prolific literary output. The ephemeral content of this collection includes several original, often nationalistic, hymns, a succinct history of Henslowe's parish, and six handbills and broadsides published under his anagrammatical pseudonym 'Owen Welsh'; these include a 4pp pamphlet titled 'A Plea for Ireland by an English Unionist' and another, dated 1888, vehemently opposing the proposal of a 'Channel Tunnel' linking England and France. Also present is a pamphlet soliciting funds for a memorial to Thomas Arne by Cecilia-Maria Henslowe (1767-1859), and a single leaf broadside devotional poem by Francis Hartwell Henslowe (1811-1878), William's brother. The apparently unrecorded second mentioned bound work, which seems to have been Henslowe's final publication, collects testimonies in support of the Naval Knights of Windsor, with whom Francis had served with distinction.

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