Charles Gordon Henderson (11 July 1900 – 24 September 1933) was a Cornish historian and

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artefacts, archaeological and historic si ...

Biography

His father, Major J. S. Henderson, was half Scottish and half of the Irish family of Newenham: his mother was a Carus-Wilson from

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland''R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref>) is an area of North West England which was Historic counties of England, historically a county. People of the area ...

. Both, however, were born and bred in Cornwall, and a portion of Cornish ancestry came to him through his mother's mother, one of the Willyamses of Carnanton in Mawgan-in-Pydar.Henderson, Charles (1935) ''Essays in Cornish History''; edited by A. L. Rowse and M. I. Henderson. London: Oxford University Press; emoir p. xvi He was at Wellington College for a short time but left on account of ill-health. For this reason he was frequently sent home from school for rest, and spent a large amount of his time walking over Cornwall and studying Cornish monuments and history. He collected a large number of documents from all over the county. Henderson went to

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

and took his degree with first-class honours in

modern history The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500, ...

in 1922. He was a lecturer at University College, Exeter, and afterwards at

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517 by Richard Fo ...

, where he was elected to an official fellowship as tutor in modern history in 1929. He had settled down at Oxford, and was showing great promise as a teacher and lecturer. In 1928 Henderson published a book on Cornish bridges in collaboration with Henry Coates. Whenever he was able he would return to Cornwall and continue his historical research which in the early years was concerned very largely with the four western hundreds (

Penwith Penwith (; ) is an area of Cornwall, England, located on the peninsula of the same name. It is also the name of a former Non-metropolitan district, local government district, whose council was based in Penzance. The area is named after one ...

, Kerrier, Pydar and

Powder A powder is a dry solid composed of many very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms ''powder'' and ''granular'' are sometimes used to distinguish se ...

) but finally he planned a parochial history of the whole county on a grand scale.

Married life and death

On 19 June 1933, he married (Mary) Isobel Munro, a fellow of

Somerville College Somerville College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The college's liberal tone derives from its f ...

and daughter of J. A. R. Munro, the Rector of

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Flemin ...

; at the end of August, he set out with her for southern Italy. He had been troubled for some months with pains in his chest and they attacked him severely at

Monte Sant'Angelo Monte Sant'Angelo (Neapolitan language, Foggiano: ) is a town and ''comune'' of Apulia, southern Italy, in the province of Foggia, on the southern slopes of Monte Gargano. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of ...

on the Gargano, where he was visiting the shrine of the Cornish patron St Michael. He died in Rome eleven days later, on 24 September, of heart-failure following

pleurisy Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis, is inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs and line the chest cavity (Pulmonary pleurae, pleurae). This can result in a sharp chest pain while breathing. Occasionally the pain may be a constant d ...

. He is buried in the

Protestant Cemetery, Rome The Non-Catholic Cemetery (), also referred to as the Protestant Cemetery () or the English Cemetery (), is a private cemetery in the Rioni of Rome, rione of Testaccio in Rome. It is near Porta San Paolo and adjacent to the Pyramid of Cestius, ...

, between the

Porta San Paolo The Porta San Paolo (English: Saint Paul Gate) is one of the southern gates in the 3rd-century Aurelian Walls of Rome, Italy. The Via Ostiense Museum (') is housed within the gatehouse. It is in the Ostiense quarter; just to the west is the Roma ...

and

Monte Testaccio Monte Testaccio () or Monte Testaceo, also known as Monte dei Cocci, is an artificial mound in Rome composed almost entirely of (), fragments of broken ancient Roman pottery, nearly all discarded amphorae dating from the time of the Roman Empire, ...

, a place that he knew well: also in that cemetery are the graves of

Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tub ...

, Shelley and Edward John Trelawny.

Scholarly work

Henderson's publications included ''Cornwall; A Guide'' in collaboration with J. C. Tregarthen, in 1925; three books on Cornish churches; and another on Cornish coasts, moors, and valleys with notes on antiquities. In 1928 he was made a

Bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is an oral repository and professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's a ...

of the Cornish Gorseth at

Boscawen-Un Boscawen-Ûn () is a Bronze Age stone circle close to St Buryan in Cornwall, UK. It consists of nineteen upright stones in an ellipse with another, leaning, middle stone just south of the centre. There is a west-facing gap in the circle, which ...

, taking the

bardic name A bardic name (, ) is a pseudonym used in Wales, Cornwall, or Brittany by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement. The Welsh language, Welsh term bardd ('poet') originally referred to the Welsh poets of the M ...

''Map Hendra'' ('Son of Antiquity'). His collection of documents is held at the

Courtney Library The Courtney Library is the library of the Royal Institution of Cornwall. It is housed in the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro, Cornwall. The library holds the collection of the Museum as well as around 30,000 documents relating to Cornish famil ...

of the

Royal Institution of Cornwall The Royal Institution of Cornwall (RIC) is a Learned society in Truro, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It was founded in Truro on 5 February 1818 as the Cornwall Literary and Philosophical Institution. The Institution was one of the earliest ...

Truro Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...

. The collection includes 16,000 ancient documents, many hundreds of transcripts in Henderson's hand, and his own writings either in published form or in manuscript. After completing his book on Cornish bridges, Henderson prepared notes for a similar book on the bridges of

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

. After his death the civil engineer Edwyn Jervoise completed the book and it was published in 1938.

Selected works

* ''The Cornish Church Guide'' (only in part by Henderson) 1925
on GoogleBooks
* (co-authored with Henry Coates) * ''Records of the Church and Priory of St. Germans in Cornwall''; with a preface by the Rt Rev the Lord Bishop of Truro. 1929 * ''Cornwall: a Survey of its Coast, Moors, and Valleys'' 1930 * '' St. Columb Major Church & Parish'' 1930 * '' Mabe Church and Parish, Cornwall'' 1931 * ''Essays in Cornish History'' edited by

A. L. Rowse Alfred Leslie Rowse (4 December 1903 – 3 October 1997) was a British historian and writer, best known for his work on Elizabethan England and books relating to Cornwall. Born in Cornwall and raised in modest circumstances, he was encourag ...

and M. I. Henderson (his wife) 1935 – Contents include: essays on Truro, the origin of towns, Fowey, Lostwithiel, Restormel Castle, Mitchell, Luxulyan, Helston, St Ives, the Deanery of Buryan, the Hundreds of Pydar and Powder, Twelve Men's Moor, Black-more, woodlands, and shorter pieces * ''Some Notes on the Parish of Goran, otherwise St. Goronus'' 1936 * ''A History of the Parish of

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I * Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine g ...

in Cornwall''; edited by the Rev G. H. Doble. 1937 * ''A History of the Parish and Church of Saint Euny-Lelant'' with

Gilbert Hunter Doble Gilbert Hunter Doble (26 November 1880 – 15 April 1945) was an Anglican priest and Cornish historian and hagiographer. Early life G. H. Doble was born in Penzance, Cornwall, on 26 November 1880. His father, John Medley Doble, shared his enthu ...

and R. Morton Nance, and a description of the Church by M. H. N. C. Atchley. 1939 * ''A History of the Parish of Crowan ... with explanations of place-names'' by R. Morton Nance, 1939 * (completed by Edwyn Jervoise after Henderson's death) * ''The 109 Ancient Parishes of the Four Western Hundreds of Cornwall'' 1955 (in ''Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall'') * ''The Ecclesiastical History of Western Cornwall''. 2 vols Truro: Royal Institution of Cornwall; D. Bradford Barton, 1962 * ''The Cornish Church Guide and Parochial History of Cornwall''. Truro: D. Bradford Barton, 1964 (a reissue of the Parochial history section only from ''The Cornish Church Guide'', to which illustrations are added)

Cornish saints

* ''Cornish Saints''; with

1927 * ''Four Saints of the Fal: St Gluvias, St. Kea, St. Fili, St Rumon'' 1929 * ''Saint Carantoc'' 1928 * ''Saint Clether'' 1930 * ''Saint Cuby'' 1929 * ''Saint Day'' 1933 * ''Saint Euny'' 1933 * ''Saint Gerent, Gerendus, Gerens'' 1938 * ''Saint Gudwal or Gurval'' 1933 * ''Saint Mawgan'' 1936 * ''Saint Melor'' 1927 * ''Saint Nectan, S. Keyne and the Children of Brychan in Cornwall'' 1930 * ''Saint Neot'' 1929 * ''Saint Nonna'' 1928 * ''Saint Perran, Saint Keverne, & Saint Kerrian'' 1931 * ''Saint Petrock'' 1938 * ''Saint Rumon and Saint Ronan'' 1939 * ''Saint Selevan'' 1928 * ''Saint Senan'' 1928 * ''Saint Sezni'' 1928 * ''Saint Tudy'' 1929 * ''Saint Winnoc'' 1940 * '' St. Constantine, King and Monk, and St Mervyn'' 1930

References

* Obituary ''The Times'' newspaper, 26 September 1933. * Article written by

''The Times'', 2 October 1933 * Memoir introductory to Charles Henderson's ''Essays in Cornish History'' published in 1935.

External links

* Samples of Henderson's Cornish writing: ** ** ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Charles Gordon 1900 births 1933 deaths Alumni of New College, Oxford Bards of Gorsedh Kernow British antiquarians Burials in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Oxford Historians of Cornwall People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire 20th-century British historians 20th-century antiquarians Historians of the University of Oxford