Thomas Henry (26 October 1734 – 18 June 1816) was a surgeon and apothecary. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, and also the father of William Henry, the chemist who formulated Henry's Law.
Background Henry was born in Wrexham, Wales training as a surgeon-apothecary in that town. He later moved to Manchester in England.Craig Thornber, "Thomas Henry, FRS and his son, William Henry, MD, FRS, GS", Cheshire Antiquities
Career He invented a process for preparing magnesia alba in 1771 and became known as "Magnesia" Henry. He was a founder and afterwards president of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society.The Book of Manchester and Salford; for the British Medical Association. Manchester: George Falkner & Sons, 1929; pp. 34-35 being Elected to membership on 20 April 1827Complete List of the Members & Officers of the Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society. From its institution on February 28th 1781 to April, 1896.
In 1776, Thomas Henry speculated tongue in cheek that Joseph Priestley’s newly discovered dephlogisticated air (now called oxygen) might become “as fashionable as French wine at the fashionable taverns”. He did not expect, however, that tavern goers would “relish calling for a bottle of Air, instead of Claret”.Thomas Henry F. R. S. “Essays Physical and Chemical by M. Lavoisier – Translated from the French, with Notes, and an Appendix, by Thomas Henry”, note from The London Review of English and Foreign Literature by W. Kenrick, Vol IV, T. Evans, Pater-Noster-Row, 1776, p 214
After Priestley's publication of a method to make carbonated water, Henry manufactured "artificial Pyrmont and Seltzer waters" for sale in the late 1770s, imitating the famous sparkling mineral waters, e.g. from Selters.
On 28 February 1781 he was elected to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society,Complete List of the Members & Officers of the Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society.From its institution on February 28th 1781 to April, 1896. and in 1786, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.
Legacy The Thomas Henry mixer company was launched in Berlin in 2010, taking its name and inspiration from Thomas Henry.https://www.diffordsguide.com/producer/1101/thomas-henry/story
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