Henry Perry (or Henry Parry) (1560/61–1617) was a Welsh

Anglican priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

and

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

scholar.

Life

Perry was born in

Flintshire Flintshire () is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, the Dee Estuary to the north-east, the English county of Cheshire to the east, Wrexham County Borough to the south, and Denbighshire to the west. ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, and was a descendant of

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd Llywelyn ap Gruffudd ( – 11 December 1282), also known as Llywelyn II and Llywelyn the Last (), was List of rulers of Gwynedd, Prince of Gwynedd, and later was recognised as the Prince of Wales (; ) from 1258 until his death at Cilmeri in 128 ...

(the last Welsh

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

). He was educated at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, initially as a member of

Balliol College Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and ar ...

before moving to Gloucester Hall (which would later become Worcester College) to take his BA degree then

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship ...

for his MA and BTh degrees. In between obtaining his MA (1583) and his BTh (1597), he travelled overseas and got married, before returning to north Wales as the chaplain to Sir Richard Bulkeley, a prominent landowner from near

Beaumaris Beaumaris (; ) is a town and community (Wales), community on the Anglesey, Isle of Anglesey in Wales, of which it is the former county town. It is located at the eastern entrance to the Menai Strait, the tidal waterway separating Anglesey fro ...

Anglesey Anglesey ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...

. He then obtained various parish positions on Anglesey, in Rhoscolyn, Trefdraeth and

Llanfachraeth Llanfachraeth is a village and community (Wales), community in Anglesey, Wales. It is located near the west coast of the island, at the head of the Afon Alaw, Alaw estuary, east of Holyhead, south west of Amlwch and north west of Llangefni. ...

, also becoming a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

and

prebendary A prebendary is a member of the Catholic Church, Catholic or Anglicanism , Anglican clergy, a form of canon (priest) , canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in part ...

Bangor Cathedral Bangor Cathedral () is the cathedral church of Bangor, Gwynedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. It is dedicated to its founder, Deiniol, Saint Deiniol. The site of the present building of Bangor Cathedral has been in use as a place of Christian worship ...

. His date of death is unknown, but was before 30 December 1617 when his prebendary successor was appointed. One of his grandchildren was Henry Maurice, who became Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Oxford. In addition to his parish work, Perry was a skilled linguist; he was highly regarded by the

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary, dictionaries. * The ...

John Davies. He was said by Davies to have worked on the compilation of a

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...

dictionary, although his sole publication was a book on

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

' ("The elucidator of eloquence", 1595). It was the first book of its kind in Welsh, and drew upon the works of contemporary writers in English. A further edition of the work was published in 1807 and the original edition, with critical assessment of Perry's scholarship, was reprinted in 1930.

Publications

* (1595) ', Ioan Danter, Lhundain

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Henry 1560s births 1617 deaths Welsh scholars and academics Linguists from Wales Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Alumni of Gloucester Hall, Oxford 16th-century Welsh writers 16th-century Welsh male writers 17th-century Welsh Anglican priests