In the early part of his career as engineer to the commissioners, in 1850-1, in conjunction with Mr. Frank Forster, chief engineer to the metropolitan commissioners of sewers, he prepared a scheme for diverting the sewage from the Thames; and again in 1854, in conjunction with Mr. (afterwards Sir) Joseph Bazalgette [q. v. Suppl.], he prepared further schemes for the same purpose, and these were practically the plans eventually carried out.
During the time he held his city post he carried on a considerable practice as a consulting engineer, and obtained numerous foreign honours as a reward for the services he rendered. He was a chevalier of the legion of honour, and a knight of the Ernestine house order; a member of the Portuguese order of Christ, and the Belgian order of Leopold.
He was an ardent volunteer, and served in the London rifle brigade, of which he was lieutenant-colonel from 1876 to 1882.
His literary work consists of numerous reports presented to the commissioners of sewers for the city of London, over one hundred in number, dealing with almost every branch of the work of a municipal engineer.
He died at 56 Hamilton Terrace, Maida Vale, on 13 April 1894.
[Men of the Time, ed. 1891; Proc. Inst. Civil Eng. vol. cxvii.]
HEALY, JAMES (1824–1894), Roman catholic divine and humourist, one of twenty-three children of John Healy, provision dealer, by his first wife Mary (Meyler), was born in Francis Street, Dublin, on 15 Dec. 1824. From the Vincentian school, Usher's Quay (entered 1834), he proceeded (1839) to St. Vincent's College, Castleknock, co. Dublin, but quitting the Vincentian rule he matriculated (11 Sept. 1843) at Maynooth, where in 1847 he became a Dunboyne student [see Butler, John, D.D.] under John O'Hanlon, D.D., a critical theologian and a wit, and Patrick Aloysius Murray [q. v.], from whom he learned his admirable elocution. He was not a hard student. Leaving Maynooth in 1850, his first appointment was as reader at St. Andrew's, Westland Row, Dublin, and chaplain to the sisters of mercy in Baggott Street; his next (1852) was to a curacy at St. Michael and St. John's, Dublin. He lived in an attic in the chapel-house, Smock Alley, Essex Street West, and was a model of punctual devotion to his calling, fearlessly risking his life during a visitation of cholera. His appointments were from Daniel Murray [q. v.], archbishop of Dublin, to whose principles
in religion and politics Healy adhered through life. From Dublin he was transferred (1858) by Paul Cullen [q. v.] to a curacy at Bray, co. Wicklow. His intimacy with William Nicholas Keogh [q. v.] stood in the way of his professional prospects.
Becoming more friendly to him, Cardinal Cullen appointed him (1867) administrator of Little Bray, co. Dublin, on the other side of the Dargle. In this cure he remained, without further preferment, till in 1893 he was appointed parish priest of Ballybrack and Killiney, co. Dublin, by archbishop Walsh. His income never exceeded 200l. a year; most of a sum raised for him by his friends was lost in Wicklow copper mines. Beloved by his parishioners, his social charm made him a coveted guest in the highest circles of Dublin society. The spontaneity of his humour, the brightness of his repartee, his manly purity, and the inimitable expressiveness of his voice and gesture made his neat little figure a unique personality. At his Saturday dinners the arrangements were of the simplest (his housekeeper was his only servant); his guests included prominent persons of every rank and section. Latterly he paid almost yearly visits to London; he was much courted, but his keen good sense, equal to his kindness of heart, never failed him. In 1886 he visited America. His health began to break in 1889; he suffered from gall-stones and dyspepsia, and went to Carlsbad. In 1892 he took a prolonged tour in Spain and Italy with his friend Mr. Henry Arthur Blyth. Another visit to Carlsbad in 1894 failed to restore his strength. He died on 28 Oct. 1894, and was buried at Ballybrack.
[Memories of Father Healy, 1898, 3rd edit. : a book full of good stories.]
HEATH, DOUGLAS DENON (1811–1897), classical and mathematical scholar, second son of George Heath, serjeant-at-law, by his wife, Anne Raymond (Dunbar), was born in Chancery Lane, London, on 6 Jan. 1811. His father was a son of James Heath [q. v.], the engraver, and half-brother of Charles Heath (1785-1848) [q. v.] Admiral Sir Leopold George Heath is the scholar's younger brother. After schooling at Greenwich, he spent the greater part of 1826-7 with friends of his father's in France; among the latter was his godfather, the savant Denon, master of the mint to Napoleon I. He went into residence at Trinity College, Cambridge, in October 1828, and read for a year with the well-known classical tutor, Henry Malden [q.v.] Among his Cambridge intimates was James Spedding, in
