Humfrey Wanley was a librarian, palaeographer and scholar of Old English, employed by manuscript collectors such as Robert and Edward Harley

Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer

Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer , styled Lord Harley between 1711 and 1724, was a British politician, bibliophile, collector and patron of the arts.-Background:...

. He was the first keeper of the Harlein Library, now the Harleian Collection.

Life

He was the son of Nathaniel Wanley

Nathaniel Wanley

Nathaniel Wanley was an English clergyman and writer, known for The Wonders of the Little World.-Life:He was born at Leicester in 1634, and baptised on 27 March. His father was a mercer. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. in 1653, M.A. in 1657. His first preferment...

, born on 21 March 1672 at the Vicarage House adjoining Jesus Hall, Coventry

Coventry

Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...

. Starting out as a draper in his home town, he soon tired of this and moved to Oxford University to study in 1695 thanks to his patron William Lloyd, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. There he worked as an assistant at the Bodleian Library

Bodleian Library

The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...

 until 1700, when he moved to London, where he gained temporary jobs as secretary to the SPCK

SPCK

The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge is the oldest Anglican mission organisation. It was founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray , and a small group of friends. The most important early leaders were Anton Wilhelm Boehm and court preacher Friedrich Michael Ziegenhagen...

 and assistant to Hans Sloane

Hans Sloane

Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet, PRS was an Ulster-Scot physician and collector, notable for bequeathing his collection to the British nation which became the foundation of the British Museum...

 (Sloane was secretary to the Royal Society

Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

, and Wanley was elected a Fellow of it in 1706), before landing a settled job with the Harleys which he held to the end of his life.

Wanley, together with John Bagford

John Bagford

John Bagford was a British antiquarian, writer, bibliographer, ballad-collector and bookseller.-Life:...

 and John Talman

John Talman

John Talman was a British antiquary and art collector. He was the eldest son of William Talman and his wife Hannah. From 1709 to 1717 he toured in Italy, collecting antiquities, becoming friends with the antiquarian pope Clement IX and enjoying the freedom to practice his Catholicism...

, was one of three 'founder members' of the reconstituted Society of Antiquaries

Society of Antiquaries of London

The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...

, which first met at the Bear Tavern on the Strand on 5 December 1707.

Wanley married twice. He died of dropsy on 6 July 1726 and was buried at St Marylebone Church.

Importance

Wanley's contribution to the scholarship of Old English literature. His 1705 catalog of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, Antiquae literaturae septentrionalis liber alter. Seu Humphredi Wanleii ... cum totius thesauri linguarum septentrionalium sex indicibus, stands as one of the most influential books on the topic. According to Neil Ripley Ker

Neil Ripley Ker

Neil Ripley Ker, FBA, was a scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature. He is known especially for his Catalogue of manuscripts containing Anglo-Saxon, which is praised as a milestone in Anglo-Saxon manuscript study.-Legacy:...

, Wanley was a "great paleographer....His catalogue of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts is a book which scholars will continue to use, or neglect at their peril."

External links

• Publications by Humfrey Wanley