Headley, Henry

(1765-1788)

   The son of Henry Headley, rector of Irstead, Norfolk, he was educated at Trinity College, Oxford. Part-way through he quit college and married. He returned to Oxford and graduated in 1786. Taken ill with tuberculosis, he died in Norwich and was buried at North Walsham, Norfolk. He contributed to the publication The Lounger's Miscellany, or the Lucubrations of Abel Slug, Esq., which ran to twenty numbers in 1788 and 1789. He also published articles in the Gentleman's Magazine (GM), sometimes under the pseudonym of "C.T.O." Some of his other publications: Fugitive Pieces, 1785 (reissued with additions in 1786 as Poems and Other Pieces by Henry Headley). Account of Johnson's Prayers, 1785 (GM). Baron's Cyprian Academy, 1785 (GM). Beggar's Dog, 1785 (GM). Instances of Poetical Imitations in Milton, 1786 (GM). Select Beauties of Ancient English Poetry. With Remarks, 1787. Some of his poems: "A Parody on Gray's Elegy," "An Invocation to Melancholy," "Ode to the Memory of Chatterton," "Prostituted Honour, or Lothario, a Character," "To Cynthia, a Fragment," "Verses Written on a Winter's Night."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. EighteenthCentury English Verse. Dennis Davison, ed. Penguin Books, 1988. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Gentleman's Magazine (http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ilej/journals/srchgm.htm). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Blackstaff Press, 1990. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. Who's Who. London: A & C Black, 2005.