William Worsley (1435?−1499), was a dean of St. Paul's cathedral. He is assumed to have been educated at Cambridge, as he is not mentioned in Wood; he is described as ‘sanctæ theologiæ’ ‘professor,’ but in his epitaph states ‘doctor of laws.’ On 29 April 1449 he was advanced to the prebend of Tachbrook in

Lichfield Cathedral Lichfield Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, one of only three cathedrals in the United Kingdom with three spires (together with Truro Cathedral and St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh), and the only medie ...

, on 30 March 1453 to Norwell Overall in Southwell, and in 1457 to South Cave in York Cathedral. These preferments were apparently conferred on him during his minority by his uncles, for it was not till 20 Sept. 1460 that he was ordained priest. On 19 May 1467 he was moved to the rectory of

Eakring Eakring is a village and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district of Nottinghamshire, England. Its population at the 2011 Census was 419. There was sizeable oil production there in the mid-20th century. Geography The village lies between ...

, Nottinghamshire. On 28 Sept. 1476 he became archdeacon of Nottingham, and on 22 Jan. 1478−9 he was elected dean of St. Paul's in succession to Thomas Winterbourne; he retained with it the archdeaconry of Nottingham and the prebend of Willesden in St. Paul's, and from 1493 to 1496 was also

archdeaconry of Taunton The Archdeacon of Taunton has been, since the twelfth century, the senior ecclesiastical officer in charge of the archdeaconry of Taunton in the Diocese of Bath and Wells (in the Church of England). The archdeaconry includes seven deaneries. Hist ...

. Worsley held the deanery throughout the reigns of Edward V and Richard III, but in 1494 he became involved with the revolutionary movement by Perkin Warbeck. He was arrested in November, confessed before a commission of

Oyer and terminer In English law, oyer and terminer (; a partial translation of the Anglo-French ''oyer et terminer'', which literally means "to hear and to determine") was one of the commissions by which a judge of assize sat. Apart from its Law French name, the ...

, and was found guilty of high treason on the 14th (Rot. Parl. vi. 489b). The lay conspirators were put to death, but Worsley was saved by his order, and on 6 June 1495 he was pardoned ( Gairdner, ''Letters and Papers'', ii. 375). In October following parliament passed an act (11 Henry VII, c. 52) restoring him in blood ( Statutes of the Realm, ii. 619). He had retained his ecclesiastical preferments, and died in possession of them on 14 Aug. 1499, being buried in St. Paul's Cathedral; his epitaph and a very pessimistic copy of Latin verses are printed by Weever (Funerall Monuments, p. 368; Gough, Sepulchral Mon. ii. 337). Fabyan describes Worsley as (Chronicle, p. 685). His will, dated 12 Feb. 1498−9,James Raine, John William Clay, ''Testamenta Eboracensia: Or, Wills Registered at York, Illustrative of the History, Manners, Language, Statistics, &c., of the Province of York, from the Year 1300 Downwards'', Volume 53, Volume 4 of Publications of the Surtees Society, Publisher J. B. Nichols, 1869
page 155
/ref> was proved at Lambeth on 8 Nov. 1499, and at York on 27 March 1500, and is printed in ‘Testamenta Eboracensia,’ iv. 155−6; by it he left money for an obit in St. Paul's.

Personal

Born probably about 1435, is believed to have been the son of Sir Robert Worsley of Booths in Eccles, Lancashire, and his wife Maude, daughter of Sir John Gerard of Bryn, Lancashire. His brother Robert married Margaret, niece of

William Booth William Booth (10 April 182920 August 1912) was an English Methodist preacher who, along with his wife, Catherine, founded the Salvation Army and became its first " General" (1878–1912). His 1890 book In Darkest England and The Way Out o ...

and

Lawrence Booth Lawrence Booth ( – 1480) served as Prince-Bishop of Durham and Lord Chancellor of England, before being appointed Archbishop of York. Life The illegitimate son of John Booth, lord of the manor of Barton, near Eccles, Lancashire, he w ...

, both of them Archbishops of York, to whose influence William owed most of his preferments.

References

The Estate and Household Accounts of William Worsley, Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, 1479–1497
, ''English Historical Review'' (February 2006) CXXI(490): 290

, at The Museum of London
Tomb slabs of Dean William Worsley, Roger Brabazon and Dean Valentine Carey, in St Paul's Cathedral
at the British Museum * Le Neve, John, ''Fasti Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ'', ed. Hardy, passim *Newcourt's Repertorium and Hennessy's Nov. Rep. Eccl. Londin. 1898 *Polydore Vergil, p. 592 *Bacon's Henry VII, ed. 1870, p. 339 *Gairdner's Richard III, p. 352 *Busch's England under the Tudors. i. 95; *Archæologia, xxvii. 165 *Dugdale's St. Paul's; Milman's St. Paul's *Testaments Ebor. (Surtees Soc.) *Notes from Francis Worsley, esq. {{DEFAULTSORT:Worsley, William 1435 births 1499 deaths Deans of St Paul's Archdeacons of Taunton Archdeacons of Nottingham