William Wirt Henry

{{short description|American politician, lawyer, and historian from Virginia (1831-1900)}}

{{infobox officeholder

| name = William Wirt Henry

| image = William Wirt Henry.jpg

| office = 9th President of the Virginia Bar Association

| term_start = July 16, 1896

| term_end = August 5, 1897

| preceded = Robert M. Hughes

| succeeded = William B. Pettit

| state_senate2 = Virginia

| district2 = 35th

| term_start2 = December 3, 1879

| term_end2 = December 7, 1881

| preceded2 =

| succeeded2 = William Lovenstein

| office3 = Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Richmond City

| term_start3 = December 5, 1877

| term_end3 = December 3, 1879

| preceded3 = W. S. Gilman

| succeeded3 = S. B. Witt

| birth_name = William Wirt Henry

| birth_date = {{birth date|1831|02|14}}

| birth_place = Red Hill, Charlotte, Virginia, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1900|12|05|1831|02|14}}

| death_place = Richmond, Virginia, U.S.

| resting_place = Hollywood Cemetery

| party = Democratic

| spouse = {{marriage|Lucy Gray Marshall|1854}}

| education = University of Virginia

| allegiance = Confederate States

| branch = Confederate States Army

| battles = American Civil War

| signature = Signature of William Wirt Henry (1831–1900).png

}}

William Wirt Henry (February 14, 1831 – December 5, 1900) was a Virginia lawyer, politician, historian, writer, and a biographer of his grandfather Patrick Henry. Henry served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly and as president of The Virginia Bar Association and the American Historical Association.

Biography

Born at Red Hill in Charlotte County, Virginia, Henry graduated from the University of Virginia, and was admitted to the bar in 1853. He served in the Confederate Army. After the War, he moved his practice to Richmond in 1873, and specialized in appellate advocacy, and was elected two terms in the Virginia House of Delegates and a term in the Senate of Virginia.{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/09/19/109266468.pdf |title=The Orator of the Day.; Character and Tastes of William Wirt Henry of Virginia |newspaper=The New York Times |page=2 |date=September 19, 1893 |access-date=2022-04-20}} He was a charter member of the Virginia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and served as its first president from 1890 to 1897.{{cite web|url=http://www.virginia-sar.org/vassar/docs/VASSAR-Administrative/vassar-hdbk-vol-1-2016.pdf|title= Official Handbook of the Virginia Society Sons of the American Revolution|publisher=Virginia Society Sons of the American Revolution, vol. 1, p. 3|access-date=December 4, 2016}}

Henry served as president of the American Historical Association in 1891,{{cite web|url=http://www.historians.org/info/AHA_history/wwhenry.htm|title= Presidential address of William Wirt Henry, 1891|publisher=The American Historical Association|access-date=March 7, 2008}} and was president of the Virginia Historical Society for 1891–1892.{{cite web|url=http://www.vahistorical.org/about/annualreport06.pdf|title=Annual Report, 2006|publisher=Virginia Historical Society|access-date=March 7, 2008}} Henry collected and wrote a three-volume work, Patrick Henry: Life, Correspondence and Speeches,{{cite book

| last = Henry

| first = William Wirt

| title = Patrick Henry: Life, Correspondence and Speeches, vol. 1

| year = 2006

| isbn = 978-1-4286-3115-1}} of which the first volume was first published in 1891. Henry also wrote on the trials of Aaron Burr and Jefferson Davis.{{cite book

| last = Henry

| first = William Wirt| title = The Trial of Aaron Burr and the Trials of Jefferson Davis

| year = 2006

| isbn = 978-1-4286-5761-8|display-authors=etal}} He also wrote widely cited articles about Captain John Smith{{cite web|url=http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1958/6/1958_6_28.shtml|title= Was John Smith a Liar?|publisher=American Heritage, October 1958 (citing Wirt)|access-date=March 7, 2008}} and Sir Walter Raleigh. Henry was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1893.[http://www.americanantiquarian.org/memberlisth American Antiquarian Society Members Directory]

Henry served as president of The Virginia Bar Association in 1896–1897,{{cite web|url=http://www.vba.org/history.htm|title= VBA History and Heritage|publisher=The Virginia Bar Association|access-date=March 7, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927142907/http://www.vba.org/history.htm |archive-date = September 27, 2007}} and was a vice-president of the American Bar Association, which included his obituary in its annual report for 1900.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Hs8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA632 |title=Report of the Twenty-Third Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association |publisher=Dando Printing and Publishing Company |location=Philadelphia |pages=632–634 |year=1900 |access-date=2022-04-20 |via=Google Books}} Henry received honorary law degrees from both the College of William & Mary{{cite web|url=http://swem.wm.edu/departments/special-collections/exhibits/degrees.pdf|title= Honorary degree recipients|publisher=Swem Library, College of William & Mary|access-date=March 7, 2008}} and Washington & Lee University.{{cite web|url=http://ir.wlu.edu/factbook/academicaffairs/honors/honorarydegrees/alphabeticallist.htm|title= Honorary degrees conferred|publisher=Washington & Lee University|access-date=March 7, 2008}}

He died at his home in Richmond on December 5, 1900. He was buried in Hollywood Cemetery.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/richmond-times-dispatch-hon-w-w-henry/165972921/ |title=Hon. W. W. Henry Passes Away |date=1900-12-06 |newspaper=Richmond Times-Dispatch |page=6 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2025-02-17}}{{Open access}}