Humfrey Wanley

Wanley was born at Coventry on 21 March 1671/2 and baptised on 10 April, the son of Nathaniel Wanley. Around 1687, he was apprenticed to a draper called Wright at Coventry, and remained with him until 1694, but he spent every vacant hour in studying old books and documents and copying the various styles of handwriting. His studies are said to have begun with a transcript of the Anglo-Saxon dictionary of William Somner.

His skill in unravelling ancient writing became known to

Wanley's talents were first publicly shown, when he was twenty-three, in compiling the catalogues of the manuscripts at King Henry VIII School, Coventry and the Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick, which are inserted in Edward Bernard's Catalogue of Manuscript (1697, ii. 33–4, 203–6), and he drew up "the very accurate but too brief" index to that work. In February 1695–6 he obtained, through Charlett's influence, the post of assistant in the Bodleian Library at a salary of £12 per year. At the end of that year, he received a special gift from the library of £10, and, in the beginning of 1700, a donation of £15 "for his pains about Dr. Bernard's books". This second contribution was for selecting from Bernard's printed books such as were suitable for purchase on behalf of the library. The selection led to a disagreement with Thomas Hyde, the head librarian, which was, however, soon reconciled. By 1698 Hyde wished Wanley to be appointed as his successor. But he had no degree, and without one he was ineligible. About 1698, he was preparing a work on diplomacy. The account of the Bodleian Library in Edward Chamberlayne's State of England (1704) is by him.

During 1699 and 1700, Wanley was engaged by George Hickes in searching through various parts of England for Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, and this led to his drawing up the catalogue of such manuscripts published in 1705 as the second volume of the Linguarum Veterum Septentrionalium Thesaurus of Hickes. The dedication (dated 28 August 1704) to Robert Harley, acknowledging the benefits received from him, was written in English and translated into Latin by Edward Thwaites. Wanley had been introduced by Hickes to Harley, on 23 April 1701, with the highest praise for "the best skill in ancient hands and manuscripts of any man, not only of this [...] but of any former age". This introduction and dedication later on procured Wanley's advancement.

Wanley desired in December 1699 to be deputy-librarian to Bentley at the king's library, but this was denied him. The post of assistant to the secretary of the

The manuscript report of Wanley,

Wanley's minutes of the meetings of some antiquaries at a tavern in 1707 are in Harleian MS. 7055. This was the germ of the present

Masses of letters to and from Wanley are in the collections of the British Museum and the Bodleian Library. Many of them are in the

Three portraits of Wanley were painted by Thomas Hill; one, dated 18 December 1711, belongs to the Society of Antiquaries; another, dated September 1717, was transferred in 1879 from the British Museum to the National Portrait Gallery, and the third remains in the students' room in the manuscripts department of the British Museum. A fourth portrait is at the Bodleian, showing a countenance, says Dibdin, "absolutely peppered with variolous indentations". Engravings after Hill were executed by John Smith and Abraham Wivell.

Personal life and death

Wanley often suffered from ill-health, and died of

Legacy

Wanley contributed much to the scholarship of

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Courtney, William Prideaux (1899). "Wanley, Humfrey". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 59. London: Smith, Elder & Co.