Henry Morley (1822 - 1894), writer on English literature, son of an apothecary, was born in London, educated at a Moravian school in Germany, and at King's College, London, and after practising medicine and keeping schools at various places, went in 1850 to London, and adopted literature as his profession. He wrote in periodicals, and from 1859-64 edited the Examiner. From 1865-89 he was Professor of English Literature at University College. He was the author of various biographies, including Lives of Palissy, Cornelius Agrippa, and Clement Marot. His principal work, however, was English Writers (10 volumes 1864-94), coming down to Shakespeare. His First Sketch of English Literature--the study for the larger work--had reached at his death a circulation of 34,000 copies.

This article is originally from A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.