Henry Wetherby Benchley (February 20, 1822 - February 24, 1867) was an American politician. A state senator and the 22nd Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, he helped found the Republican Party in the 1850s.
Benchley was allegedly jailed for helping run an Underground Railroad station, and died in Houston, Texas, shortly after founding a small township nearby, Benchley, Texas.
His grandson, Robert Benchley, was a famed humorist, and his great-grandson, Nathaniel Benchley, and great-great-grandson, Peter Benchley, were both noted authors.
Famous quotes containing the word benchley:
“A child of three cannot raise its chubby fist to its mouth to remove a piece of carpet which it is through eating, without being made the subject of a psychological seminar of child-welfare experts, and written up, along with five hundred other children of three who have put their hands to their mouths for the same reason.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)