# Richard Hey

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**Richard Hey** (1745–1835) was an English academic, essayist and writer against [gambling](/source/Gambling).

## Life

He was born at [Pudsey](/source/Pudsey), near [Leeds](/source/Leeds), on 22 August 1745, the younger brother of [John Hey](/source/John_Hey) and [William Hey](/source/William_Hey_(surgeon)). He became a fellow of [Magdalene College](/source/Magdalene_College), Cambridge, graduating [Bachelor of Arts](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts) (BA) in 1768. In 1771 he took the degree of [Cambridge Master of Arts](/source/Master_of_Arts_(Oxbridge_and_Dublin)) (MA Cantab) as fellow of [Sidney Sussex College](/source/Sidney_Sussex_College), and in 1779 [Legum Doctor](/source/Legum_Doctor) (LLD) *[per lit. reg.](/source/Per_lit._reg.)* In 1771 he was [called to the bar](/source/Called_to_the_bar) at the [Middle Temple](/source/Middle_Temple). He was admitted to [Doctors' Commons](/source/Doctors'_Commons), but obtaining no practice retired from the bar.[1][2]

Hey was fellow and tutor of Magdalene College from 1782 till 1796, and was also elected one of the [esquire bedells](/source/Esquire_bedell). He died on 7 December 1835, at [Hertingfordbury](/source/Hertingfordbury), near Hertford, at age 90.[1]

## Works

In 1776 Hey published *Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty and the Principles of Government*. His major work was the *Dissertation on the Pernicious Effects of Gaming*, awarded a prize of fifty guineas from the University of Cambridge. The first edition appeared at Cambridge in 1783, and the third in 1812. Hey in 1784 won a second prize, offered by the same anonymous donor, by his *Dissertation on Duelling*, which also reached a third edition in 1812. His *Dissertation on Suicide* gained him a third prize of 50 guineas. It was first printed in 1785, again in 1812, when the three dissertations were published together.

In 1792, Hey's *Happiness and Rights* appeared at [York](/source/York) appeared in reply to the *[Rights of Man](/source/Rights_of_Man)* by [Tom Paine](/source/Tom_Paine). He also wrote a tragedy in five acts *The Captive Monarch* (1794) which was published in 1794 (with a scenario based on the fate of [Louis XVI](/source/Louis_XVI)),[3] and in 1796 *Edington*, a novel, in two volumes. His last work was *Some Principles of Civilisation, with detached thoughts on the Promotion of Christianity in British India*, Cambridge, 1815.[1]

Hey contributed papers to *[Philosophical Transactions](/source/Philosophical_Transactions)* and other magazines. He assisted in editing a pamphlet on an [Egyptian mummy](/source/Egyptian_mummy), with anatomical and other details.[1]

## Notes

1. Vol. 26.

1. Terence Allan Hoagwood & Daniel P. Watkins (1998). [*British Romantic Drama: Historical and Critical Essays*](https://books.google.com/books?id=pgv-YQVyZn0C&pg=PA85). Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-8386-3743-2.

**Attribution**

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