Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 25.djvu/405

Henderson . For some years prior to his death he was chairman both of the London Equitable Gas Company and of the Southampton Gas Company.

 HENDERSON, JAMES (1783?–1848), writer on Brazil, born about 1783, was a native of Cumberland or Westmoreland. On 11 March 1819 he sailed from England to Rio de Janeiro, where he waited upon Henry Chamberlaine, the British representative, with a letter of introduction from ‘a nobleman,’ presumably Viscount Lowther. Finding that he was not likely to obtain a public situation, he determined to learn what he could ‘regarding the vast regions of the Brazil.’ He was received into the house of a merchant to whom he brought a letter of introduction, and upon his return published ‘A History of the Brazil; comprising its Geography, Commerce, Colonization, Aboriginal Inhabitants, &c. Illustrated with twenty-seven plates and two maps,’ 4to, London, 1821. The following year he printed an address to the South Americans and Mexicans entitled ‘Representacion á los Americanos del Sud y Mexicanos; para disuadirles de que concedan Ventajas Comerciales á otras Naciones, en Perjuicio de Inglaterra, por causa de su Retardo en reconocer su Independencia; … con un Exámen Rápido de varios Acontecimientos importantes, y Rasgos patrióticos que han distinguido sus respectivas Revoluciones,’ 8vo, London, 1822. Henderson was ultimately appointed commissioner and consul-general for Columbia, and resided at Bogota. He resigned his post about 1836 and eventually settled at Madrid. He was elected F.R.S. on 28 April 1831, but had withdrawn in 1836. In 1842 he published ‘A Review of the Commercial Code and Tariffs of Spain, with reference to their Influence on the general interests, credit, and finances of that country,’ 8vo, London. He died at Madrid on 18 Sept. 1848, aged 65 (Gent. Mag. new ser. xxx. 559).

Henderson was also author of: 1. ‘Observations on the Expediency of entering into Treaties of Commerce with the South American States.’ 2. ‘Remarks on the Warehousing Bill.’ 3. ‘Suggestions relative to the Consular System.’ 4. ‘The State and Prospects of Spain.’

 HENDERSON, JOHN (1747–1785), actor, known as the ‘Bath Roscius,’ the son of an Irish factor in London, was born in Goldsmith Street, Cheapside, and was baptised on 8 March 1746–7. His family was originally Scottish, and he claimed descent from the Hendersons of Fordel with which Alexander Henderson [q. v.] was connected. After his father's death in 1748 his mother retired with her two sons to Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, and began herself the task of his education. At about eleven he went to school at Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, and subsequently learned drawing of Daniel Fournier [q. v.] He then lived with a relative of his mother, a Mr. Cripps, a working jeweller, in St. James's Street. He is said to have made his first attempt at acting in a room in the Old Parr's Head, Islington. In convivial circles he was known as Shandy, on account of his great admiration for Sterne. He wrote a not very brilliant ode intended to be spoken at the tomb of Sterne. He also imitated Garrick's delivery of the ‘Ode upon dedicating a Building and erecting a Statue to Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon,’ and was in the habit of reciting from Milton, Gray, Prior, and other poets. At the advice of Garrick, who in common with others had no great opinion of his capacities, he went to Bath, where Palmer, the manager, engaged him for three years at a salary rising from one guinea to two guineas a week. On 6 Oct. 1772, at Bath, he made, as Hamlet, and under the name of Courtney, his first appearance on any stage. His reception was favourable, and the performance was repeated on the 13th. On the 20th he appeared as Richard III, on 5 Nov. as Benedict, on the 12th as Macbeth, on the 21st as Bobadill, on the 28th as Bayes, on 12 Dec. as Don Felix in the ‘Wonder,’ and on the 15th as Essex, when he spoke an address. On the 26th, as Hotspur, he played for the first time under his own name, to which he subsequently kept. Fribble in ‘Miss in her Teens,’ King Lear, Hastings, Alonzo, and Alzuma were played during the season, and he also recited Garrick's ode. An experience such as this was necessarily far beyond his strength. His representations were followed, however, and he speedily acquired the name of the Bath Roscius, and won the friendship of John Beard [q. v.], Paul Whitehead [q. v.], and Thomas Gainsborough [q. v.] Besides painting his portrait and being a firm friend, Gainsborough wrote wisely warning him against his natural tendency to over-eating and conviviality [see a quotation from this letter in art. ].

At the close of both the first and second seasons Henderson went to London. Garrick, Foote, Harris, and Leake heard him rehearse, and refused him an engagement. Colman would not even hear him. He had accordingly