William Hiley Bathurst

Who was William Hiley Bathurst?

William H. Bathurst was an Anglican clergyman and hymnist.

William Hiley Bathurst was the son of the Rt. Hon. Charles Bragge. He was born at Clevadale, near Bristol, August 28, 1796. His mother was Charlotte Addington and his maternal grandmother's was Hiley, thus his middle name. He married Mary Anne Rhodes, in 1828 and had 4 children.

Bathurst was educated at Winchester at Christ Church, Oxford, graduating as B. A. in 1818. In 1819 he was ordained deacon and in the following year he was ordained a priest. In 1820 he was presented by his kinsman, Henry, Third Earl of Bathurst, to the Rectory of Barwick-in-Elmet, Yorkshire, and continued there as rector for thirty-two years. In 1852 he resigned the rectory because of conscientious scruples in relation to parts of the baptismal and burial services in the Book of Common Prayer.

He retired into private life and first lived at Darley Dale, near Matlock, Derbyshire, where for eleven years he gave himself to literary pursuits. In May, 1863, he came into possession of his father’s estate when his elder brother died without heirs. He moved to Lydney Park soon afterward and died there on November 25, 1877.