HENRY, EMMA:

English poetess; born Sept. 17, 1788; died Dec. 30, 1870; daughter of the Rev. Solomon Lyon, professor of Hebrew at Cambridge, and wife of Abraham Henry. She enjoyed in early life the advantages of a broad education and the society of cultured university men; and when her father's eyesight failed, she devoted her abilities to the support of the family. Mrs. Henry enjoyed the distinction of being the first English Jewess to engage in authorship. In 1812 she published a volume of verse which met with some success; and she continued to produce occasional poems which were often recited at public celebrations.

She was the mother of Michael Henry.

Bibliography:
  • Jew. Chron. Jan. 6, 1871;
  • Picciotto, Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History, p. 314.
J. G. L.
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