Name Henry Danvers | Role Baptist | |
Henry Danvers (died 1687) was an English General Baptist preacher, and radical plotter.
Contents
Life
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.
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.
Works
Danvers wrote: