Richard Hey (1745–1835) was an English academic, essayist and writer against

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

Life

He was born at

Pudsey Pudsey is a market town in the City of Leeds Borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is located midway between Bradford city centre and Leeds city centre. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it has a population of 22,408. History ...

, near

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

, on 22 August 1745, the younger brother of John Hey and William Hey. He became a fellow of

Magdalene College Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

, Cambridge, graduating

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

(BA) in 1768. In 1771 he took the degree of

Cambridge Master of Arts In the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin, Bachelors of Arts are promoted to the degree of Master of Arts or Master in Arts (MA) on application after six or seven years' seniority as members of the university (including years as an ...

(MA Cantab) as fellow of

Sidney Sussex College Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wife ...

, and in 1779

Legum Doctor Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the ear ...

(LLD) '' per lit. reg.'' In 1771 he was called to the bar at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

. He was admitted to

Doctors' Commons Doctors' Commons, also called the College of Civilians, was a society of lawyers practising civil (as opposed to common) law in London, namely ecclesiastical and admiralty law. Like the Inns of Court of the common lawyers, the society had buil ...

, but obtaining no practice retired from the bar. Hey was fellow and tutor of Magdalene College from 1782 till 1796, and was also elected one of the esquire bedells. He died on 7 December 1835, at

Hertingfordbury Hertingfordbury is a small village in Hertfordshire, England, close to the county town of Hertford. It was mentioned in the ''Domesday Book''. Hertingfordbury is also the name of a neighbouring civil parish, which does not contain the village. ...

, near Hertford, at age 90.

Works

In 1776 Hey published ''Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty and the Principles of Government''. His major work was the ''Dissertation on the Pernicious Effects of Gaming'', awarded a prize of fifty guineas from the University of Cambridge. The first edition appeared at Cambridge in 1783, and the third in 1812. Hey in 1784 won a second prize, offered by the same anonymous donor, by his ''Dissertation on Duelling'', which also reached a third edition in 1812. His ''Dissertation on Suicide'' gained him a third prize of 50 guineas. It was first printed in 1785, again in 1812, when the three dissertations were published together. In 1792, Hey's ''Happiness and Rights'' appeared at

York York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

appeared in reply to the ''

Rights of Man ''Rights of Man'' (1791), a book by Thomas Paine, including 31 articles, posits that popular political revolution is permissible when a government does not safeguard the natural rights of its people. Using these points as a base it defends the ...

'' by

Tom Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...

. He also wrote a tragedy in five acts ''The Captive Monarch'' (1794) which was published in 1794 (with a scenario based on the fate of

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was e ...

), and in 1796 ''Edington'', a novel, in two volumes. His last work was ''Some Principles of Civilisation, with detached thoughts on the Promotion of Christianity in British India'', Cambridge, 1815. Hey contributed papers to ''

Philosophical Transactions ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society. In its earliest days, it was a private venture of the Royal Society's secretary. It was established in 1665, making it the first journa ...

'' and other magazines. He assisted in editing a pamphlet on an Egyptian mummy, with anatomical and other details.

Notes

Attribution * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hey, Richard 1745 births 1835 deaths Fellows of Magdalene College, Cambridge Fellows of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge English essayists 18th-century English novelists English barristers British male essayists English male novelists 18th-century essayists People from Pudsey English male non-fiction writers 18th-century English male writers