Humphrey Humphreys 1648-1712

Humphrey HUMPHREYS 1648-1712

The bookplate of Humphrey Humphreys (British Museum Franks Collection *592)

Biographical Note

Born at Hendre Isa, Merioneth, son of Richard Humphreys, a royalist army officer. BA Jesus College, Oxford 1669, MA and fellow 1673. Rector of Llanfrothen 1669; he held other Welsh livings and became Dean of Bangor in 1680. Bishop of Bangor 1689, of Hereford 1701. He was an exponent of the Welsh language, and a keen student of Welsh antiquities, supporting Welsh bards and writers; he was also a major supporter of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in north Wales.

Books

Humphreys was noted as a collector of early Welsh manuscripts, and for his work on early Welsh pedigrees; his motives seem to have been largely focused on proving the credentials of the early British church. He used an engraved armorial bookplate dated 1702 (Franks *592); the extent and disposition of his library is not known.

Sources

• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903.
• Handley, Stuart."Humphreys, Humphrey (1648–1712), bishop of Hereford." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Jones, P.H. and Rees, E., A nation and its books: a history of the book in Wales, Aberystwyth, 1998, 87, 140.