Henry Gally

Born in Beckenham, Kent, in August 1696, he was the son of the Rev. Peter Gally, a French Protestant refugee. He studied at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, earning his B.A. in 1717 and M.A. in 1721, and later received the degree of D.D. during George II's visit to Cambridge in 1728.

His career combined church service with scholarship. He became lecturer at St. Paul's, Covent Garden, held a series of church appointments including the rectories of Wavendon, Ashton, and St. Giles-in-the-Fields, and was appointed one of the king's chaplains in ordinary in 1735. He died on August 7, 1769.

His best-known books include The Moral Characters of Theophrastus, translated from the Greek with notes and introduced by his Critical Essay on Characteristic-Writings, as well as works on church property, clandestine marriages, and the pronunciation of Greek. Although little is widely remembered about his life today, his writings show a learned and practical mind engaged with both classical literature and the public questions of his time.