[2] He clashed though in public debate with Robert Carter Nicholas, Sr. and John Page, and failed to become rector of Bruton Parish Church.
[3][4][5][6] In 1775 he went back to England, as a Loyalist taking leave from the college but never returning; he was a supporter of John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, Virginia's governor, and with his colleague Thomas Gwatkin had been subject to intimidation by armed men.
[10] Henley maintained an extensive correspondence on antiquarian and classical subjects with Michael Tyson, Richard Gough, Dawson Turner, Thomas Percy, and other scholars of the time.
Stephen Weston stated in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1784 that Vathek had been composed by Henley himself as a text "for the purpose of giving to the public the information contained in the notes".
Beckford, in the preface to the French version of 1815, mentions that the appearance of the English translation before his original was not his intention, and only attributes it to circumstances "peu intéressantes pour le public".