Figure 1. Microscope slide that was prepared by Henry P. Mallory, ca. early-mid 1880s.
Henry Pierce Mallory, 1850 - 1906
by Brian Stevenson
last updated February, 2026
H.P. Mallory was an accountant and active amateur microscopist during the early-mid 1880s. He was a founding member of the Oneida (New York) Microscopical Society, and served as the group’s Treasurer. He was also a member of the American Microscopical Society. Mallory’s known microscope slides are of selected and arranged diatoms, and are of very fine quality.
Figure 1.
Microscope slide that was prepared by Henry P. Mallory, ca. early-mid 1880s.
Figure 2.
Actinodiscus berkleyi from Australia, selected and arranged by Henry P. Mallory (see Figure 1). Imaged with a 10x objective lens and C-mounted digital SLR camera on a Leitz Ortholux II microscope.
Henry Pierce Mallory was born on December 2, 1850 in Albany, New York. He was the elder of two children of James H. and Sarah Bloom (née Pierce) Mallory.
Shortly after Henry’s birth, the family moved to Brooklyn, New York, where father James worked as a “forwarding merchant”, i.e. a freight broker. In 1865, the family moved to Utica, New York, where James worked in a similar role for the A.E. Culver canal barge company. The Mallorys were relatively well-off, and consistently enjoyed the comforts of domestic servants.
Henry entered Yale College in 1867. He evidently took the next year off school, and graduated with the class of 1872. A later report on his college days recalled that his nickname was "Pud", and was “a leader of the ‘North College Gang’, instigator and co-participant in most of the mischief which could be fairly charged to '72”.
Henry moved back to Utica after graduation, working as a teller in the Oneida National Bank. His father died in October of that year. Henry remained at the family home, taking care of his mother.
On “Friday evening, January 25th (1881), sixteen gentlemen of (Utica) and vicinity, who are interested in microscopy, met and formed an organization, to be known as the ‘Oneida Co. Microscopical Society’.” Henry Mallory was one of those sixteen men, and served as its first Treasurer.
Henry Mallor was elected to membership in the American Microscopical Society on August 15, 1882, at the group’s annual meeting. He remained a member through at least 1886, but is not on the 1893 list of members.
I have not identified any publications of exchange offers from Mallory, suggesting that slides such as those shown in Figure 1 were spread around through personal contacts among his societies. Dates of membership in microscopical societies suggest that Mallory’s microscope slides date from ca. 1880 until the mid-1880s.
During 1883, Henry and his widowed mother moved to Holyoke, Massachusetts, where he worked as a clerk for the Carew paper manufacturing business in nearby South Hadley.
Around 1888, he moved to Newton, Massachusetts, working as treasurer of the Bay State Brick Company, Boston. He and William Urquhart received a patent in 1892 for a “machine for crushing clay”.
Yale University kept up on the lives of its graduates, and periodically published books on their doings. The 1892 Record of the Class of 1872 included these comments from Henry Mallory: “Since graduation I have been engaged in banking business, and am now engaged in the manufacture of brick. Have filled no judicial or executive positions, and no Legislative positions unless you call the position of drinking while seated, because forced to do so by the Legislature of Massachusetts, a Legislative position which all the inhabitants of Boston were forced to fill in 1890, of unhappy memory. Your question as to what political offices I have filled is beneath contempt. Not being married, I can safely say that, without rambling in the pleasant fields of fiction, I have nothing to communicate in that direction. The only honorary degrees I have received have been from men who had axes to grind, and in all cases the degrees were declined with thanks. Have written a few bank books, but all were editions de luxe, or words to that effect." An additional note stated, “Mallory is treasurer of the Bay State Brick Company, of Boston, Mass., and his annual output of bricks is larger than that of all the striking car-drivers in the country.”
The 1902 Record of the Class of 1872 included, “Pud writes about three pages in which there is much guying of the humble secretary and some vituperation. He tells of what has not happened to him. He has not been in jail, he has not married, he has not got very rich, he has not been caught in any reform movement. With these exceptions the secretary infers that he has been guilty of all. Till quite recently he was treasurer of the Bay State Brick Co., but now he has retired from business and lives at 29 Summit Avenue, Winthrop Highlands, Mass."
Henry Mallory died of “apoplexy” on August 4, 1906, at the age of 55 years.
Resources
Abstract of Proceedings of the Supreme Council (Freemasons) (1880) Ya-Nun-Dah-Sis Lodge of Perfection – Utica, “H.P. Mallory, Treasurer”, pages 237-238
American Journal of Microscopy and Popular Science (1881) Note on the formation of the Oneida County Microscopical Society, page 43
The American Monthly Microscopical Journal (1881) Note on the formation of the Oneida County Microscopical Society, page 60
Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents (1895) “Urquhart, William S., Cambridge, and H.P. Mallory, Newton, Mass. Machine for crushing clay”, page 378
Biographical Record of the Class of 1872, Yale College, Part Fourth: 1902-1912 (1913) Henry Pierce Mallory, page 58
Chelsea City Directory (1901) “Mallory Henry, treas. (189 Dev. B.) h. 29 Summit ave.”, page 689
The College Courant (Yale) (1867) Freshman class, “H.P. Mallory, Utica, N.Y.; 100 York”, page 38
Death record of Henry P. Mallory (1906) accessed through ancestry.com
Holyoke City Directory (1884) “Mallory Henry P., clerk Carew Mfg Co., bds Windsor Hotel, Holyoke”, page 282
The Newton Directory (1889) “Mallory Henry P. boards 75 Pleasant”, “Mallory Sarah B. widow of James H. boards 75 Pleasant”, page 306
The Newton Directory (1895) “Mallory Henry P. treasurer (29 Pemberton sq. Boston), boards at C.W. Gardner’s”, page 396
Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University (1910) Henry Pierce Mallory, page 752
Proceedings of the American Society of Microscopists (1886) Members, “H.P. Mallory, South Hadley Falls, Mass.”
Proceedings of the National Microscopical Congress and of the American Society of Microscopists (1882) New members, page 9
The Record of the Class of 1872, Yale: For Twenty Years After Graduation (1892) Henry Pierce Mallory, pages 58-59
Record of the Class of 1872, Yale (1902) Henry Pierce Mallory, page 29
US census and other records, accessed through ancestry.com
Utica City Directory (1866) “Mallory James H., of A.E. Culver & Co., h 32 Fayette”, page 133
Utica City Directory (1869) “Mallory Henry P., student, house 32 Fayette”, page 208
Utica City Directory (1873) “Mallory Henry P clerk Oneida National Bank, r 48 Fayette”, page 208
Utica City Directory (1878) “Mallory H.P. ass’t teller Oneida National Bank, r 135 John”, page 255
Utica City Directory (1883) “Mallory H.P. discount clerk Oneida Nat. Bank, r 135 John”, page 334
The Yale Alumni Weekly (1907) Henry Pierce Mallory, ’72, page 452