ODNB (Article: 28664); AO (Foster); Hannah Yip.
ODNB (Article: 28664); AO (Foster)
Humfrey Wanley was born on 21 March 1672. He was the youngest son of Nathaniel Wanley, vicar of Holy Trinity, Coventry. He was educated at Coventry Free School. Having originally trained as a draper, he moved to Oxford in 1695 under the patronage of William Lloyd, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. Wanley matriculated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford on 7 May 1695 at the age of twenty-three; shortly after, he moved to University College. He served as an assistant in the Bodleian Library from 1695 until 1700. He was also one of the three founding members of the Society of Antiquaries. From c. 1708 until his death on 6 July 1726, he was librarian and secretary to Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford, and his son Edward, 2nd Earl. Wanley was buried in St Marylebone Church. He is remembered today as a pioneering scholar of Old English and for his prominent role in the formation of the Harleian Library.