Henry Danvers

Henry Danvers (died 1687) was an English General Baptist preacher, and radical plotter.

The son of William and Elizabeth Danvers, he attended Trinity College, Oxford. He associated around 1647 with Thomas Harrison and other army radicals. He was a militia colonel by 1650. From 1650 to 1652 he was governor of Stafford. He then embraced the views of the Baptists and of the Fifth monarchy men, though he did not approved of the actions of the latter. In London in 1653, he joined the church of Edmund Chillenden. In 1657, when he held the rank of major, Danvers, with Harrison, Vice-admiral Lawson, Colonel Rich, and other Baptists, was placed under arrest on suspicion of being concerned in a conspiracy against Oliver Cromwell's life.

During the reign of Charles II, Danvers appears to have suffered for his nonconformity. Allegations were made against him, and in June 1661 he and Clement Ireton were rumoured to be planning a rebellion. In 1662 informers linked his name to the "Tong Plot", but he escaped arrest. Around 1663, reports had Danvers in disguise visiting the ejected minister Anthony Palmer, and linked to other radical plotters: the imprisoned John Breman, George Joyce in the Netherlands, and John Toomes. In August 1665 he was in fact arrested, however he was rescued whilst being taken to the Tower of London.

Danvers vested his estate with trustees, to shelter it; and was joint-elder of a Baptist congregation near Aldgate, London. In the late 1670s he supported Algernon Sidney in efforts to be elected a Member of Parliament. In December 1684 he published a seditious libel concerning the death of the Earl of Essex, and the government offered a reward for his apprehension.

In the reign of James II, Danvers attended private meetings planning Monmouth's Rebellion. William Disney briefed John Wildman and Danvers, who was cautious; he may have undertaken to raise the City of London in favour of the Duke of Monmouth. Also involved in the London plotting was Matthew Meade, who lingered in Essex. Then Nathaniel Hooke was sent to London and Danvers, as Monmouth moved into Somerset. At first he said he would not take up arms till the duke was proclaimed king; and when Monmouth had been proclaimed, that republicans were absolved from all engagements to a leader who had broken faith. On 27 July 1687 a royal proclamation was issued commanding Danvers and others to appear before his majesty or to surrender themselves in twenty days. Danvers succeeded in escaping to the Dutch Republic, and died at Utrecht at the end of 1687.

Danvers wrote:

• Certain Queries concerning Liberty of Conscience propounded to those Ministers (so called) of Leicestershire, when they first met to consult that representation … afterwards so publiquely fathered upon that country, London [27 March 1640].
• Theopolis, or the City of God, New Jerusalem, in opposition to the City of the Nations, Great Babylon, being a comment on Revelation, chs. xx. xxi. (anon.), London, 1672.
• A Treatise of Laying on of Hands, with the History thereof, both from the Scripture and Antiquity, London, 1674.
• A Treatise of Baptism: wherein that of Believers and that of Infants is examined by the Scriptures, 2nd edit. London, 1674. This treatise brought upon him a number of adversaries, particularly Obadiah Wills, Richard Blinman, and Richard Baxter. To these he replied in three treatises in 1675. Wills was answered by a group of leading Baptists in The Baptists Answer to Mr Obed. Wills (1675), by Thomas Delaune, Daniel Dyke, Henry Forty, John Gosnold, William Kiffin, and Hanserd Knollys. They conceded some errors by Danvers.
  • Henry Danvers (1675). A Treatise of Baptism: wherein that of believers and that of infants is examined by the Scriptures. With the history of both out of antiquity ... As also, the history of Christianity amongst the ancient Britains and Waldenses. And, a brief answer to Mr. Bunyan about communion with persons unbaptized ... By H. D. i.e. Henry Danvers. Francis Smith.
• Murder will out: or, a clear and full discovery that the Earl of Essex did not feloniously murder himself, but was barbarously murthered by others: both by undeniable circumstances and positive proofs, London, 1689. Danvers, Lawrence Braddon and Robert Ferguson argued that, as part of the Stuart backlash after the Rye House Plot, Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex had been murdered to ensure the conviction of William Russell, Lord Russell, and cover up Catholic activism.
  • Murder will out: or, a Clear and full discovery that the Earl of Essex did not feloniously murder himself, but was barbarously murthered by others: both by undeniable circumstances, and positive proofs. Written ... in the year 1684. and now published for the general information of all Protestants. London: E. R.& J. R. 1689.
• Solomon's Proverbs, English and Latin, alphabetically collected for help of memory. In English by H. D., and since made Latin by S. Perkins, late school-master of Christ Church Hospital, new edit. London, 1689.
  • Henry Danvers (1676). Solomon's Proverbs [from the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes], English and Latin. Alphabetically collected for help of memory. Fitted for the use of schools. By J. R. for William Redmayne.

Books on Danvers:

• Thomas Grantham (1674). The fourth principle of Christs doctrine vindicated, a brief answer to Henry Danvers book, intituled, A Treatise of Laying on of Hands.
• Richard Blinman (1675). A Rejoinder to Mr. Henry Danvers, his brief friendly reply to my answer about infant baptism, etc. London: Thomas Wall, Bristol Bookseller.