BINHAM or BYNHAM, SIMON (fl. 1335), chronicler, a monk of the priory of Binham, Norfolk, one of the cells belonging to the abbey of St. Albans, upheld his prior, William Somerton, in resisting the unjust exactions of Hugh, abbot of St. Albans (1308–1326). The cause of the Binham monks was taken up by the gentry of the neighbourhood, and Sir Robert Walkefare, the patron of the cell, prevailed on Thomas, earl of Lancaster, to uphold them. Emboldened by this support, the prior and his monks refused to admit the visitation of the abbot, and the gentlemen of their party garrisoned the priory against him. The abbot, however, appealed to the king, Edward II, who ordered the prior's supporters to return to their homes. Simon and the other rebellious monks were brought to St. Albans and imprisoned. After a while they were released and admitted into the brotherhood, but as a mark of disgrace were sentenced to walk in fetters in all processions of the convent. Simon lived to become an influential member of the house, for in the time of Abbot Michael (1336–1349) he was chosen by the chapter as one of the three receivers or treasurers of the collections made for the support of scholars and needy brethren. In a notice of the historians of St. Albans, he is said to have written after Henry Blankfrount or Blaneforde [q. v.], and before Richard Savage. The works of Binham and Savage are lost, or at least are unidentified. It has, however, been suggested that Binham may have written some of the fragments published in the Rolls edition of the 'Chronicle of Rishanger.'
[Gesta Abbatum Mon. S. Albani, ii. 131, 305, Rolls ser.; Joh. Amundesham Ann. Introd. lxvi, 303, Rolls ser.; Tanner's Bibl. Brit. 144.]
BINHAM or BYNHAM, WILLIAM (fl. 1370), theologian, was a native of Binham in Norfolk, where there was a Benedictine priory dependent on the abbey of St. Albans. Doubtless through this connection he entered the monastic profession at the abbey, and became ultimately prior of Wallingford, which was also a cell belonging to St. Albans. He had been a student at Oxford, of which university he is described as doctor of divinity, and had there come into close intimacy with John Wycliffe. Binham, however, remained true to the traditions of the church, and after a while separated himself from his friend, with whom at length he engaged in controversy, and proved, as the catholic Leland confesses, no match for his antagonist. His only recorded work was written on this occasion, 'Contra Positiones Wiclevi.' It is not known to be extant, but Wyclif's reply ('Contra Willelmum Vynham monachum S. Albani Determinatio') is preserved in a Paris manuscript, Lat. 3184, ff. 49–52 (Shirley, Catal. of the original Works of Wyclif, p. 20). The last notice of Binham's life occurs in 1396, when he, as prior of Wallingford, was detained by illness from attending the election of an abbot of St. Albans on 9 Oct. (Gesta Abbatum Monasterii S. Albani, iii. 426, ed. H. T. Riley, 1869).
[Leland's Comm. de Script. Brit. dcxxviii. p. 381; Bale's Script, Brit. Cat. vi. 5, p. 456; Tanner's Bibl. Brit. p. 101.]
BINNEMAN, HENRY. [See Bynnneman, Henry.]
BINNEY, EDWARD WILLIAM (1812–1881), geologist, was born at Morton in Nottinghamshire in 1812. Little is known of his early education; he appears, however, to have acquired strong scientific tastes, which continually betrayed themselves during his apprenticeship to a solicitor. He became a resident in Manchester in 1836; his legal knowledge and strong common sense soon gained for him many clients, and his practice as a lawyer was favourably established in that city. The interesting coal-field of Lancashire soon claimed his attention, and he directed most of his leisure to the study of the geological phenomena of the district around Manchester, Similar tastes soon drew together a circle of students, many of whom had been trained in experimental science by John Dalton, and others in mechanical and physical research by William Fairbairn. Out of these, principally by Binney's influence, a small select band was formed, and in October 1838 they founded the Manchester Geological Society, Lord Francis Egerton being the first president, and J. F. Bateman and Binney the first honorary secretaries.
The second article in the 'Transactions' of this society, after the president's address, was a 'Sketch of the Geology of Manchester and its Vicinity,' illustrated by coloured sections, contributed by Binney. The first volume of the 'Transactions' affords evidence of his industry, four papers connected with the geology of the Lancashire and Cheshire coal-field having been contributed by him. Binney was president of the Manchester Geological Society in 1857–9, and again in 1865–7. In 1853 he was elected a member of the Geological Society of London, and in 1856 a fellow of the Royal Society.
In 1858 Binney communicated to the local geological society a paper 'On Sigillaria and
