He attended Magdalen College, Oxford.
Henderson was a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, his alma mater and a Tutor at Durham University. He was Master of Hatfield College, Durham, from 1851 to 1852. Henderson was ordained in 1859.
He was then Headmaster of Victoria College, Jersey, and Leeds Grammar School before his appointment to the Carlisle Deanery.
He died on 24 September 1905.