Philip Henry, nonconformist divine and diarist, was the godson of Philip Herbert, fourth earl of Pembroke and childhood playmate of the princes Charles and James. Educated at Christ Church, Oxford, he preached his first sermon on 9 January 1653 and was ordained in 1657. The only work published in his lifetime was Musarum Oxoniensium in 1654, although several volumes of sermons were published by Sir John Bickerstaff Williams in the first half of the 19th century. His diaries were published in 1882. Like his manuscripts for the pulpit they throw invaluable light on the inner life of the earlier nonconformity, exhibiting no humour, little evidence of learning or literature but much curiosity about natural wonders.
His second son, Matthew Henry, followed in his father's footsteps as a nonconformist preacher. In 1700, a meeting house was opened for him in Crook Lane in Chester which, by 1706, had 350 communicants. In 1712 he moved to Mare Street, Hackney, but died two years later. His Exposition of the Old and New Testament was published 1708-10 and the Epistles and Revelation were prepared by thirteen nonconformist divines after his death. The complete edition of 1811 has additional matter from his manuscripts.