He was the son of William Wilkinson, curate or chaplain of
Adwick le Street,
Yorkshire and born there.
John Wilkinson, Principal of Magdalen Hall and President of
Magdalen College, Oxford, is stated by
Anthony Wood to have been his uncle. After some time at Edward Sylvester's school, Oxford, Henry matriculated from Magdalen Hall on 10 October 1634, aged 17. He graduated B.A. on 28 November 1635, M.A. on 26 May 1638, and became a noted tutor and dean of his house. When the
First English Civil War broke out, Wilkinson left Oxford and joined the parliament, took the
Solemn League and Covenant, and became a preacher in much request. He was appointed lecturer or minister of
Buckminster,
Leicestershire, in 1642, and was instituted vicar of
Epping,
Essex, on 30 October 1643. He was appointed one of the
parliamentary visitors of Oxford University on 1 May 1647. He was created B.D. on 14 April 1648, fellow and vice-president of Magdalen College on 25 May, principal of Magdalen Hall on 12 August 1648, and White's Professor of Moral Philosophy on 24 March 1649. A strong parliamentarian, Wilkinson entertained
Oliver Cromwell,
Thomas Fairfax, and the other commanders at Magdalen Hall on 19 May 1649, and, preaching before them next day, ‘prayed hard for the army’. A salary for preaching regularly at
Carfax was voted him by the
council of state on 27 May 1658. At Oxford Wilkinson was known as ‘Dean Harry’ to distinguish him from his two contemporaries, Henry Wilkinson (1566–1647), and the latter's son
Henry (1610–1675).
Chancellor Hyde, on his visitation in September 1661, addressing him as ‘Mr. Dean,’ chided Wilkinson for the nonconformity of his house, and complained that it contained only ‘factious and debauched persons’; Wood's account adds that the Chancellor declared he was afraid to come to his hall. Wilkinson was ejected from Magdalen Hall by the
1662 Act of Uniformity, although some of the heads of the university desired to keep him there, as a good disciplinarian. After again preaching for a short time at Buckminster he returned to Essex and settled at
Gosfield. There, during an interim in the vicars (1669–72), he seems to have officiated at the parish church. The visitation book of the archdeaconry contains under date of 9 June 1671 an entry of his citation for not reading divine service according to the rubric. On 19 July he was pronounced contumacious and excommunicated. After the second indulgence he took out on 16 May 1672 a license to be a presbyterian teacher at Gosfield, as well as one for his house to be a presbyterian meeting-house. In 1673 he removed to the neighbouring parish of Sible Hedingham, where his library was distrained on his refusing to pay the fine for unlawful preaching. In November 1680 he was living at
Great Cornard in
Suffolk, where he remained until his death on 13 May 1690. He was buried at
Milden, near
Lavenham. ==Works==