HENDERSON, CHARLES RICHMOND: 1848-1915.
" Charles Richmond Henderson (Dec. 17, 1848-Mar. 29, 1915), Baptist clergyman, sociologist, was born in Covington, Ind., the son of Albert and Loranna [probably Larainne] (Richmond) Henderson. His education was received at the old University of Chicago (A.B., 1870) and at the Baptist Union Theological Seminary (B.D., 1873). In 1901 he received the degree of Ph.D. from the University of Leipzig. He was ordained to the Baptist ministry and became pastor of the First Baptist Church of Terre Haute, Ind., in page: 143[View Page 143] 1873, and was married the same year to Ella Levering of Lafayette, Ind. In 1882 he accepted a call to the pastorate of the Woodward Avenue Baptist Church, Detroit , where he remained until 1892 when he was invited to join the faculty of the new University of Chicago as university chaplain, assistant professor of sociology, and university recorder. from 1894 to 1897 he was associate professor of sociology, and from the latter date to his death, professor of sociology, becoming head of the department of practical sociology in 1904. Throughout these years he remained the chaplain of the University.
"As a student he served a small church back of the stockyards in Chicago , and from this experience dates his interest in social problems. At Terre Haute he was the first president of the local charity organization, and on going to Detroit he at once allied himself with the charitable organizations of that city. While still a pastor he made a study of prisons and prison management and became a recognized authority in that field. He took an active interest in labor problems, and when a strike on the Detroit street car lines was imminent he was largely responsible for settling the differences between the contending parties. At the University of Chicago he found opportunity to give himself more freely to social studies and during his service there he published sixteen books and more than one hundred articles. Many of these publications are of pioneer importance in the field of penology, industrial insurance, and industrial legislation … Besides contributing frequently to sociological and religious journals, he served for many years as associate editor of the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY; THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY, and the JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CRIMINAL LAW AND CRIMINOLOGY. He was president of the National Conference of Charities, 1898-99 … president of the United Charities of Chicago, 1913 … president of the National Prison Association, 1901-02. "As a teacher and investigator he was a pioneer in a new field… He was characterized, by those who knew him and his work, as both academic and practical, respected both by scientists and men of practical affairs. Overwork was responsible for his sudden death, which occurred at Charleston, S. C., to which place he had gone with Mrs. Henderson in March 1915, expecting to recover his health …"
Condensed from W. W. S., Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. VIII.
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Delinquent Classes. Boston, 1893.
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Boston, 1894.
- The Development of the Doctrine in the Epistles.
Philadelphia, 1896.
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Chicago, 1903.
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Chicago, 1909.
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Chicago, 1909.
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Philadelphia, 1909.
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Philadelphia, 1912.
- Social Programmes in the West: Lectures Delivered in the Far
East. Chicago, 1913.
- The Cause and Cure of Crime.
Chicago, 1914.
- Citizens in Industry. New York,
1915.
