of government, wherein possibly England and we might agree,” should be drawn up. This was unanimously approved of, and the laborious undertaking was left in Henderson’s hands; but the “notable motion” did not lead to any immediate results. During Charles’s second state-visit to Scotland, in the autumn of 1641, Henderson acted as his chaplain, and managed to get the funds, formerly belonging to the bishopric of Edinburgh, applied to the metropolitan university. In 1642 Henderson, whose policy was to keep Scotland neutral in the war which had now broken out between the king and the parliament, was engaged in corresponding with England on ecclesiastical topics; and, shortly afterwards, he was sent to Oxford to mediate between the king and his parliament; but his mission proved a failure.
A memorable meeting of the General Assembly was held in August 1643. Henderson was elected moderator for the third time. He presented a draft of the famous “Solemn League and Covenant,” which was received with great enthusiasm. Unlike the “National Covenant” of 1638, which applied to Scotland only, this document was common to the two kingdoms. Henderson, Baillie, Rutherford and others were sent up to London to represent Scotland in the Assembly at Westminster. The “Solemn League and Covenant,” which pledged both countries to the extirpation of prelacy, leaving further decision as to church government to be decided by the “example of the best reformed churches,” after undergoing some slight alterations, passed the two Houses of Parliament and the Westminster Assembly, and thus became law for the two kingdoms. By means of it Henderson has had considerable influence on the history of Great Britain. As Scottish commissioner to the Westminster Assembly, he was in England from August 1643 till August 1646; his principal work was the drafting of the directory for public worship. Early in 1645 Henderson was sent to Uxbridge to aid the commissioners of the two parliaments in negotiating with the king; but nothing came of the conference. In 1646 the king joined the Scottish army; and, after retiring with them to Newcastle, he sent for Henderson, and discussed with him the two systems of church government in a number of papers. Meanwhile Henderson was failing in health. He sailed to Scotland, and eight days after his arrival died, on the 19th of August 1646. He was buried in Greyfriars churchyard, Edinburgh; and his death was the occasion of national mourning in Scotland. On the 7th of August Baillie had written that he had heard that Henderson was dying “most of heartbreak.” A document was published in London purporting to be a “Declaration of Mr Alexander Henderson made upon his Death-bed”; and, although this paper was disowned, denounced and shown to be false in the General Assembly of August 1648, the document was used by Clarendon as giving the impression that Henderson had recanted. Its foundation was probably certain expressions lamenting Scottish interference in English affairs.
Henderson is one of the greatest men in the history of Scotland and, next to Knox, is certainly the most famous of Scottish ecclesiastics. He had great political genius; and his statesmanship was so influential that “he was,” as Masson well observes, “a cabinet minister without office.” He has made a deep mark on the history, not only of Scotland, but of England; and the existing Presbyterian churches in Scotland are largely indebted to him for the forms of their dogmas and their ecclesiastical organization. He is thus justly considered the second founder of the Reformed Church in Scotland.
See M‘Crie’s Life of Alexander Henderson (1846); Aiton’s Life and Times of Alexander Henderson (1836); The Letters and Journals of Robert Baillie (1841–1842) (an exceedingly valuable work, from an historical point of view); J. H. Burton’s History of Scotland; D. Masson’s Life of Drummond of Hawthornden; and, above all, Masson’s Life of Milton; Andrew Lang, Hist. of Scotland (1907), vol. iii. Henderson’s own works are chiefly contributions to current controversies, speeches and sermons. (T. Gi.; D. Mn.)
HENDERSON, EBENEZER (1784–1858), a Scottish divine, was
born at the Linn near Dunfermline on the 17th of November
1784, and died at Mortlake on the 17th of May 1858. He was the
youngest son of an agricultural labourer, and after three years’
schooling spent some time at watchmaking and as a shoemaker’s
apprentice. In 1803 he joined Robert Haldane’s theological
seminary, and in 1805 was selected to accompany the Rev. John
Paterson to India; but as the East India Company would not
allow British vessels to convey missionaries to India, Henderson
and his colleague went to Denmark to await the chance of a
passage to Serampur, then a Danish port. Being unexpectedly
delayed, and having begun to preach in Copenhagen, they
ultimately decided to settle in Denmark, and in 1806 Henderson
became pastor at Elsinore. From this time till about 1817 he
was engaged in encouraging the distribution of Bibles in the
Scandinavian countries, and in the course of his labours he
visited Sweden and Lapland (1807–1808), Iceland (1814–1815)
and the mainland of Denmark and part of Germany (1816).
During most of this time he was an agent of the British and
Foreign Bible Society. On the 6th of October 1811 he formed the
first Congregational church in Sweden. In 1818, after a visit to
England, he travelled in company with Paterson through Russia
as far south as Tiflis, but, instead of settling as was proposed at
Astrakhan, he retraced his steps, having resigned his connexion
with the Bible Society owing to his disapproval of a translation
of the Scriptures which had been made in Turkish. In 1822 he
was invited by Prince Alexander (Galitzin) to assist the Russian
Bible Society in translating the Scriptures into various languages
spoken in the Russian empire. After twenty years of foreign
labour Henderson returned to England, and in 1825 was appointed
tutor of the Mission College, Gosport. In 1830 he succeeded Dr
William Harrison as theological lecturer and professor of Oriental
languages in Highbury Congregational College. In 1850, on the
amalgamation of the colleges of Homerton, Coward and Highbury,
he retired on a pension. In 1852–1853 he was pastor of Sheen
Vale chapel at Mortlake. His last work was a translation of the
book of Ezekiel. Henderson was a man of great linguistic attainment.
He made himself more or less acquainted, not only with the
ordinary languages of scholarly accomplishment and the various
members of the Scandinavian group, but also with Hebrew,
Syriac, Ethiopic, Russian, Arabic, Tatar, Persian, Turkish,
Armenian, Manchu, Mongolian and Coptic. He organized the
first Bible Society in Denmark (1814), and paved the way for
several others. In 1817 he was nominated by the Scandinavian
Literary Society a corresponding member; and in 1840 he was
made D.D. by the university of Copenhagen. He was honorary
secretary for life of the Religious Tract Society, and one of the
first promoters of the British Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel among the Jews. The records of his travels in Iceland
(1818) were valuable contributions to our knowledge of that
island. His other principal works are: Iceland, or the Journal
of a Residence in that Island (2 vols., 1818); Biblical Researches
and Travels in Russia (1826); Elements of Biblical Criticism and
Interpretation (1830); The Vaudois, a Tour of the Valleys of
Piedmont (1845).
See Memoirs of Ebenezer Henderson, by Thulia S. Henderson (his daughter) (London, 1859); Congregational Year Book (1859).
HENDERSON, GEORGE FRANCIS ROBERT (1854–1903),
British soldier and military writer, was born in Jersey in 1854.
Educated at Leeds Grammar School, of which his father, afterwards
Dean of Carlisle, was headmaster, he was early attracted
to the study of history, and obtained a scholarship at St John’s
College, Oxford. But he soon left the University for Sandhurst,
whence he obtained his first commission in 1878. One year
later, after a few months’ service in India, he was promoted
lieutenant and returned to England, and in 1882 he went on
active service with his regiment, the York and Lancaster (65th/84th)
to Egypt. He was present at Tell-el-Mahuta and Kassassin,
and at Tell-el-Kebir was the first man of his regiment to enter the
enemy’s works. His conduct attracted the notice of Sir Garnet
(afterwards Lord) Wolseley, and he received the 5th class of the
Medjidieh order. His name was, further, noted for a brevet-majority,
which he did not receive till he became captain in
1886. During these years he had been quietly studying military
art and history at Gibraltar, in Bermuda and in Nova Scotia,
in spite of the difficulties of research, and in 1889 appeared
