Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hendley, William
HENDLEY, WILLIAM (1691?–1724), divine, born about 1691 at Bearstead, Kent, was the second son of William Hendley of Otham, in the same county, and Elizabeth his wife (W. Berry, County Genealogies, Kent, p. 175). On 26 May 1708 he was admitted a sizar of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. in 1711 (College Register). He was ordained to the curacy of Aylesford, Kent, but in October 1716 was elected to the lectureship of St. James, Clerkenwell (Pink, Clerkenwell, ed. Wood, 2nd edit., p. 621). He took part in the Bangorian controversy by issuing ‘An Appeal to the Consciences and Common Sense of the Christian Laity, whether the Bishop of Bangor in his Preservative, &c., hath not given up the Rights of the Church and the Powers of the Christian Priesthood,’ 8vo, London, 1717. A warm advocate of charity schools, Hendley preached a sermon at Chislehurst, Kent, on 24 Aug. 1718 for the benefit of the poor children belonging to St. Anne-within-Aldersgate, London. The local justices of the peace suspected that the funds for which Hendley appealed were really intended for the Pretender, and attempted by force to prevent him and the rector of Chislehurst from making a collection. Hendley and the rector persisted, and with the three trustees, who had acted as collectors, were brought to trial on 15 July 1719, on the charge of intending to procure to themselves unlawful gains under the pretence of collecting charities for the sustenance of boys and girls. A fine of 6s. 8d. each was imposed by the judge. Defoe published a brilliant account of the trial, entitled ‘Charity still a Christian Virtue’ (Lee, Life, &c., of Defoe, i. 312–14). A curious frontispiece, by S. Nichols, depicts the scene in the church. Hendley printed his sermon in 1720, with the title ‘The Rich Man's proper Barns.’ Meanwhile in October 1718 he had been appointed lecturer of St. Mary, Islington, Middlesex (Lewis, Islington, p. 115), and was also chaplain to Charles, lord Fitzwalter. Hendley died in the autumn of 1724, for his will, dated 25 Aug. of that year, was proved on 5 Oct. following (P. C. C. 226, Bolton). He desired to be buried in Islington churchyard, near the grave of Archdeacon Cornelius Yeate, his former vicar. By his wife Bithiah, daughter of John Honeycott, clerk and master of the charity school of St. James, Clerkenwell, he left a daughter, Mary, to whom he left property which he derived from his father at Herne and Faversham, Kent.
Hendley wrote, in addition to the works already noticed: 1. ‘Loimologia Sacra, or a Discourse shewing that the Plague … is sent immediately from God … With an appendix, wherein the case of flying from a pestilence is briefly consider'd,’ 8vo, London, 1721. 2. ‘The Great Blessedness of Communicating. Being an earnest exhortation to the Holy Communion … With a brief explanation of the nature of the Lord's Supper. … Second edition … enlarged,’ 8vo, London, 1723. 3. ‘A Defence of the Charity-Schools. Wherein the many … Objections of … the Author of the Fable of the Bees [Bernard de Mandeville] and Cato's Letter in the British Journal … are … answer'd. … To which is added … the Presentment of the Grand Jury of the British Journal,’ 4to, London, 1725; published by subscription after his death.
[Registers of St. James, Clerkenwell (Harl. Soc.); Pink's Clerkenwell (Wood), 2nd ed., pp. 621–2, 755.]