Robert Henry

Robert Henry ( born February 18, 1718, St Ninians, Stirlingshire, † November 24, 1790 in Edinburgh) was a Scottish historian.

Life and work

Robert Henry was the son of a farmer. He attended schools in St Ninians and Stirling and studied at the University of Edinburgh. He then entered the service of the Church of Scotland. He worked from 1738 at Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, received ordination in 1748 and in 1771 the Doctor of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh. In 1774 he was moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

His main work is the six-volume History of Great Britain, which was published from 1771. It deals with the period of the Roman conquest ( 55 BC ) to the end of the reign of Henry VIII ( 1547). Here, Henry pursued a new concept by abhandelte topics such as civil history, military history or social history individually in chronological order. The work was published in several editions with different publishers and has been translated into the French language. It was in 1796 supplemented by James Pettit Andrews to the period until the enthronement of James VI. of Scotland as an English King James I in 1603.

Writings

• The History of Great Britain, from the first invasion of it by the Romans under Julius Caesar. 6 volumes. Printed for the author and sold by T. Cadell, London 1771, 1774, 1777, 1781, 1785, 1793. ( The sixth band was completed by Malcolm Laing and published. )