William Preston (bishop)

William Preston, D.D. (1729 (1729)(1789-04-19)19 April 1789) was an Irish Anglican bishop.[1][2][3]

William Preston, by or after Gilbert Stuart

Life

edit

William Preston was the son of John Preston of Hincaster, Westmorland, by his third wife Ann.[3] He was educated at Heversham Grammar School and admitted a sizar at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1749 at the age of 19. He graduated B.A. in 1753, M.A. in 1756. He became a Fellow of Trinity in 1755, and was rector of Ockham, Surrey from 1764 to 1784. He gave up his fellowship in 1765.[2][4]

Preston spent some time as a chaplain to Philip Yonge, the bishop of Norwich. He then went to Vienna, as chaplain to Lord Stormont. He acted as the British chargé d'affaires in Naples, where he had moved for his health, in the absence of Sir William Hamilton.[5] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1778.[6]

After becoming chaplain and secretary to Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland, Preston was nominated as Bishop of Killala and Achonry on 13 October 1784, and consecrated on 11 November that year. Translated to Ferns and Leighlin on 9 November 1787, he died in Dublin on 19 April 1789 and was buried at Ferns Cathedral.[7][8]

References

edit
  1. ^ Fryde, E. B.; et al., eds. (2003). Handbook of British Chronology (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 394. ISBN 978-0-521-56350-5. OCLC 183920684.
  2. ^ a b "Preston, William (PRSN748W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. ^ a b Burke, John (1836). History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. I. London: Henry Colburn. p. 481. OCLC 1046017862.
  4. ^ Atkinson, George (1851). The Worthies of Westmorland: Or, Notable Persons Born in that Country Since the Reformation. London: John Russell Smith. pp. 176–177. OCLC 644543415.
  5. ^ Nichols, John Bowyer (1848). Illustrations Of The Literary History of The Eighteenth Century. Vol. VII. London: J. B. Nichols and Son. p. 462. OCLC 931279632.
  6. ^ The Record of the Royal Society of London (2nd ed.). London: Harrison and Sons. 1901. p. 296.
  7. ^ Cotton, Henry (1801). Fasti Ecclesiæ Hibernicæ: The Succession of the Prelates and Members of the Cathedral Bodies in Ireland. Vol. IV. Dublin: Hodges and Smith. pp. 76–77.
  8. ^ Mant, Richard (1840). History of the Church of Ireland. London: John W. Parker. p. 716. OCLC 1285756.
Church of England titles
Preceded by Bishop of Killala and Achonry
1784–1787
Succeeded by
Preceded by Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin
1787–1789
Succeeded by