SHIPLEY, WILLIAM DAVIES (1745-1826), cleric;
b. at Midgeham, Berks., 5 Oct. 1745, son of Jonathan Shipley (below) and Anna Maria his wife. He was educated at Westminster and Winchester, and matriculated 21 Dec. 1763 at Christ Church, Oxford, graduating B.A. in 1769 and M.A. in 1771. He was ordained deacon 11 March 1770 by bishop Yonge of Norwich, and priest by his father 18 March; one day later he was appointed vicar of Ysgeifiog, Flints. His subsequent preferments included the vicariate of Wrexham (6 Feb. 1771), the sinecure rectory of Llangwm (11 April 1772), which he exchanged for Corwen (8 Jan. 1774) and Llanarmon-yn-Iâl (10 Jan. 1782), the chancellorship of the diocese (19 Nov. 1773), and the deanery (27 May 1774). These he held till his death at Botryddan, near Rhuddlan, Flints., on 7 May 1826. He was buried at Rhuddlan, and a life-size statue of him, with a laudatory inscription, stands in the chapter-house of S. Asaph cathedral. He published a tract written by his brother-in-law, Sir William Jones (q.v.), on the principles of government, and after a protracted trial on a charge of seditious libel was ultimately discharged.
His father,
JONATHAN (1714-1788),
son of Jonathan Shipley of Leeds and Martha his wife, was born at Twyford, and educated at Reading and S. John's College and Christ Church, Oxford. He took his B.A. in 1735 and his M.A. in 1738, and after holding various ecclesiastical preferments became bishop of Llandaff early in 1769, being translated to S. Asaph in the same year. He used to reside in his diocese for about a month annually.
Bibliography:
- D.N.B.;
- Thomas, S. Asaph, i, 238, 255, 323, ii, 84, 149, 166, 213;
- S. Asaph episcopal registers, N.L.W.;
- A. G. Edwards, Memories, 63-5.
Author:
Thomas Iorwerth Ellis, M.A., (1899-1970), Aberystwyth
