Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Oxenden, Henry
OXENDEN or OXINDEN, HENRY (1609–1670), poet, eldest son of Richard Oxinden (1588–1629), of Little Maydekin in Barham, Kent, by Katherine, daughter of Sir Adam Sprakeling of Canterbury, was born in the parish of St. Paul's, Canterbury, on 18 Jan. 1609. Sir Henry Oxinden (d. 1620) of Dene in Wingham, in the same county, was his grandfather (Denton Register; cf. Gent. Mag. 1796, i. 466); and Sir Henry Oxenden (d. 1686), who was M.P. for Sandwich in 1660, and who was created a baronet on 8 May 1678, and Sir George Oxenden [q. v.], governor of Bombay, were his first cousins (see Hasted, Kent, iii. 696). He matriculated from Corpus Christi College, Oxford, on 10 Nov. 1626, and graduated B.A. 1 April 1627. He was appointed rector of Radnage in Buckinghamshire in 1663, and held that benefice until his death in June 1670. He was buried on 17 June at Denton in Kent. He married, first, on 28 Dec. 1632, Anne (d. 1640), daughter of Sir Samuel Peyton, by whom he had a son Thomas, baptised on 27 Feb. 1633; secondly, on 15 Sept. 1642, Katherine (d. 1698), daughter of James Cullen, by whom he left no male issue.
Oxinden was author of:
- ‘Religionis Funus et Hypocritæ Finis,’ 1647, 4to. A satirical poem upon the growth of mushroom sects, in Latin hexameters, to which is prefixed an engraved head of the author.
- ‘Jobus Triumphans,’ 1651, sm. 8vo, a poem of similar character to the foregoing, but of much greater merit. It has commendatory verses by Alex Ross, William Nethersole of the Inner Temple, and others. The author was much flattered by a report that this poem was read in foreign schools.
- ‘Εἰκὼν βασιλικὴ; or an Image Royal,’ 1660, 12mo.
- ‘Charles Triumphant: a Poem,’ 1660, 12mo.
He also indited an epitaph in English verse on Sir Anthony and Dame Gertrude Perceval (this is printed from the tombstone in Denton Church in Brydges's ‘Censura Literaria,’ x. 25), and prefixed some commendatory verses to Ross's ‘Muses Interpreter’ (1653).
[Archæologia Cantiana, vi. 276–283, where are given Oxinden's arms and seal, with some directions respecting his funeral, and a pedigree of the family of Oxenden or Oxinden; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 923; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714; Hunter's Chorus Vatum, vi. f. 111, in Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 24492; Brydges's Censura Lit. x. 359; Gent. Mag. 1796, i. 466; Lowndes's Bibliographer's Man. (Bohn), 1756; Granger's Biogr. Hist. of England, 1779, iv. 58.]