| 1 | Name: | William Henry | |
| Year Elected: | |||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Deceased | ||
| Birth Date: | 5/19/1729 | ||
| Death Date: | 12/15/1786 | ||
William Henry (19 May 1729–15 December 1786) was a gunsmith, inventor, mechanic, and public official, and a member of the American Society, elected in 1767. Born in West Caln Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, he was apprenticed to a gunsmith in Lancaster at age fifteen. In 1750, he formed a firearm manufacturing concern, quickly gaining a reputation for the quality of his work. Thereafter, he became the principal armorer of provincial troops during the French and Indian War. Deeply interested in natural science, Henry built a laboratory inside his factory where he conducted experiments on electricity, magnetism, and steam. He compared notes on steam engines with James Watt during a 1761 visit to England and built a steamboat prototype of his own. Henry produced several other inventions, including a wind-powered carriage, a screw auger, and an improvement to furnace systems, publishing a description of the latter in the APS Transactions. He was also a subscriber to the Silk Society, a member of the survey for a proposed Delaware-Susquehanna canal, and a founding director, treasurer, and librarian of Lancaster’s Juliana Library Company, which housed scientific instruments and natural specimens as well as books. Henry held a number of public offices, including justice of the peace, assistant burgess, assistant justice of the county courts, delegate to the state assembly, and treasurer of Lancaster County. During the American Revolution, he served in the Continental Congress, on the Council of Safety, and as superintendent of arms and assistant commissary general for the district of Lancaster, overseeing the production of shoes, firearms, and other supplies for Continental troops. He was a patron of the painter and APS member Benjamin West and a close friend of APS member David Rittenhouse, whom he boarded along with APS member Thomas Paine during the British occupation of Philadelphia. (PI, DAB) | |||