Matthew Henry (18 October 1662 – 22 June 1714) was a British Nonconformist minister and author who was born in Wales but spent much of his life in England.

He was born prematurely at his mother's family estate, Broad Oak, a farmhouse on the borders of Flintshire and Shropshire.

[3] Unlike most of those who had been ejected, Philip Henry possessed some private means, and was able to provide his son a good education.

Henry practiced writing by copying his father's sermons and as a child he exhibited a natural public speaking ability.

In 1680, at eighteen, his father sent him to a school in Islington, London to be tutored by the Nonconformist minister Thomas Doolittle.

[6] In 1686, he was offered an invitation by a local Nonconformist minister to move to Chester, Cheshire and establish a congregation.

"[6] After moving to Chester, he married Kathrine Hardware on 19 July 1687, after her mother initially objected to the marriage.

His approach to teaching was "Choose for your pulpit subjects the plainest, and most needful truths; and endeavor to make them plainer.

On the trip to London, he made speaking stops in Nantwich, Newcastle, Lichfield and other towns on the way.

He would also travel to Wapping, Rotherhithe and other surrounding areas and give evening lectures before returning to the duties of the Hackney congregation.

[1] His Exposition of the Old and New Testaments was nearing the publication stage and was a contributing motive to the move to Hackney, close to the publisher.

While en route, he was thrown off his horse but denied injury and insisted on making it to Nantwich where he was scheduled to speak.

[14] Henry's Commentary identifies the "man of sin", the focus of latter day apostasy, and the Antichrist as the papacy in his interpretation of 2 Thessalonians 2:3.

"[15][16] This anti-papist passage in the Commentary was not directly authored by Henry, but occurs in the sixth volume on Romans to Revelation, completed posthumously by his 13 friends.

"[17] John Wesley published an abbreviated edition of the Commentary and wrote of Henry: He is allowed by all competent judges, to have been a person of strong understanding, of various learning, of solid piety, and much experience in the ways of God.

And his exposition is generally clear and intelligible, the thoughts being expressed in plain words: It is also found, agreeable to the tenor of scripture, and to the analogy of faith.

It does not entertain us with vain speculations, but is practical throughout: and usually spiritual too teaching us how to worship God, not in form only, but in spirit and in truth.

Perhaps his best-known quotation is about the relationship between men and women, from the story of the creation of Eve, in the Book of Genesis:The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.

[19] The quote is inspired by the words of Peter Lombard in his book Sentences:She {Eve} was formed not from just any part of his body {Adam’s body}, but from his side, so that it should be shown that she was created for the partnership of love, lest, if perhaps she had been made from his head, she should be perceived as set over man in domination; or if from his feet, as if subject to him in servitude.

This consists of an obelisk designed by Thomas Harrison that incorporates a bronze medallion by Matthew Noble.

The obelisk originally stood in the churchyard of St Bridget's Church, and was moved in the 1960s to stand on a roundabout opposite the entrance to Chester Castle.