Henry Hope Reed

Prof. Henry Reed, LL. D., Class of 1823, Univ of Pennsylvania; Vice-Provost, Prof. Eng Lit. Ink Chalk and cut paper silhouette by Auguste Edouart, 1843

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Henry Hope Reed was born 11 July 1808, the son of Joseph Reed and Maria Watmough. His paternal grandfather was the Revolutionary War politician and general, Joseph Reed. His mother almost certainly inherited significant wealth from her father, who was a ward of Henry Hope, a cousin of his and one of the wealthiest men in Europe during his lifetime. His mother had had a brother, Henry Hope Watmough, named in honor of this benefactor, but the boy died in infancy. Henry Hope Reed was the first of three men over the course of three generations of his family to have this name, all in memory of the original Henry Hope.

Along with his older brother William, Henry Hope Reed was baptized on 7 August 1808 in the Roman Catholic Church of the Transfiguration in Philadelphia. This is somewhat odd since his family is believed to have been Protestant.

Henry graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, class of 1825. Around 1830-1831 he studied law in the office of his uncle (by marriage) John Sergeant.

He went on to become a prominent member of faculty at the University of Pennsylvania. His positions there included Professor of Literature and Moral Philosophy, later Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature, and Vice-Provost.

His chief writings were special courses of lectures of which a collection was published after his death by his brother William B. Reed (Reed-6298), with the titles "Lectures on English History and Tragic Poetry, as illustrated by Shakespeare," "Lectures on English History from Chaucer to Tennyson" and "Lectures on the English Poets." He was a personal friend of William Wordsworth and several other prominent English writers of the time period.

Henry Hope died in the sinking of the steamship "Arctic" on passage between Liverpool, England and New York City. He was traveling with his sister-in-law Ann Bronson, who also died in the accident.