Henry Dunckley (24 December 182329 June 1896) was an English Baptist minister, journalist and newspaper editor.

Early life and education

Dunckley was born in

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

. He was educated at the Baptist college at Accrington,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, and at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

Career

Dunckley became in 1848 minister of the Baptist church at

Salford, Lancashire Salford ( ) is a city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former town hall, Salford Cathedral, Salford Lads' Club and St Philip's ...

. He closely investigated the educational needs of the working-classes, and in 1851 he wrote an essay, ''The Glory and the Shame of Britain'', summarizing the results of his inquiries. The essay won a prize offered by the Religious Tract Society. In 1852 he won the Anti-Corn-law Leagues prize with an essay on the results of the free-trade policy, published in 1854 under the title ''The Charter of the Nations''. In 1855 he abandoned the ministry to edit the ''

Manchester Examiner and Times The ''Manchester Examiner'' was a newspaper based in Manchester, England, that was founded around 1845–1846. Initially intended as an organ to promote the idea of Manchester Liberalism, a decline in its later years led to a takeover by a group w ...

'', a prominent Liberal newspaper, in charge of which he remained till 1889. For twenty years he wrote, over the signature Verax, weekly letters to the Manchester papers; those on ''The Crown and the Cabinet'' (1877) and ''The Crown and the Constitution'' (1878) evoked so much enthusiasm that a public subscription was set on foot to present the writer with a handsome testimonial for his public services. In 1878 Dunckley, who had often declined to stand for parliament, was elected a member of the

Reform Club The Reform Club is a private members' club, owned and controlled by its members, on the south side of Pall Mall, London, Pall Mall in central London, England. As with all of London's original gentlemen's clubs, it had an all-male membership for ...

in recognition of his services to the Liberal party, and in 1883 he was made an LL.D. by Glasgow University. He died at Manchester on 29 June 1896.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunckley, Henry 1823 births 1896 deaths People from Warwick Alumni of the University of Glasgow 19th-century English Baptist ministers British newspaper editors 19th-century British journalists English male journalists 19th-century English male writers