William Day (bishop)

This article is about the sixteenth-century bishop. For other people with the same name, see William Day (disambiguation).

The Right Reverend William Day
Bishop of Winchester
Diocese	Diocese of Winchester
Elected	3 November 1595
Term ended	20 September 1596
Predecessor	William Wickham
Successor	Thomas Bilson
Other post(s)	Dean of Windsor (1572–1595) Provost of Eton College (1561–1595) Archdeacon of Nottingham (1560–1565)
Orders
Ordination	31 March 1560 by Richard Davies on behalf of Edmund Grindal
Consecration	25 January 1596 by John Whitgift
Personal details
Born	1529 Shropshire, England
Died	(1596-09-20)20 September 1596 (aged 66–67)
Denomination	Anglican
Spouse	Elizabeth Barlow
Children	6^[citation needed]
Education	Eton College
Alma mater	King's College, Cambridge

William Day (1529 – 20 September 1596) was Bishop of Winchester (1595–96), Dean of Windsor (1572–95), and Provost of Eton College (1561–95).

Early life

William Day was born in Shropshire to Richard Day & Elizabeth Osborne.^[1][2] He was educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge, where he became a scholar in 1545 and a fellow in 1548, before graduating BA in 1550 and MA in 1553.^[2][3]

Early career (1559–1572)

He became Archdeacon of Nottingham in 1561 and a canon of St George's Chapel, Windsor in 1565, resigning from his position in Nottingham later that year.^[2]

He became a fellow of Eton College in 1560, and in 1561, after Richard Bruerne resigned, he was elected to be Provost, a position he held until 1595.^[2][4]

Dean of Windsor (1572–1595)

He was appointed Dean of the Chapel Royal (although since George Carew had not actually resigned this position, he was unable to take up this role) and Dean of Windsor in 1572. He remained Dean of Windsor for 24 years.^[2]

Day was recommended to be a bishop by numerous figures, including Matthew Parker, William Cecil, John Aylmer, and John Whitgift, from as early as 1568. However, he did not become a bishop until 1596.^[2]

Bishop of Winchester (1596)

He was elected unchallenged as Bishop of Winchester on 3 November 1595, and was consecrated as a bishop on 25 January 1596. He died later that year, on 20 September.^[2]

Personal life

George Day, Bishop of Chichester, was his elder brother. William had converted to Protestantism, but George remained Catholic, which caused a rift between the two brothers.^[2] His brother died in 1556.

He married Elizabeth Barlow (daughter of William Barlow, who was like Day's brother Bishop of Chichester) in around 1565.^[2]

William Day was probably the grandfather of Francis Day of Madras, through his son William Day of Bray.^[5]

References

1. Cassan, Stephen Hyde (1827). The Lives of the Bishops of Winchester: From Birinus, the First Bishop of the West Saxons, to the Present Time : in Two Volumes. Containing the lives of the Protestant Bishops. Rivington. pp. 59–64.
2. "Day, William (1529–1596), bishop of Winchester". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7373. Retrieved 15 July 2023. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
3. "Day, William (DY545W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
4. "Provosts Of Eton Since 1440". Eton College. Archived from the original on 5 November 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
5. "Metro Plus Chennai / Madras Miscellany : A look back at Madras's founders". The Hindu. 21 November 2005. Archived from the original on 7 August 2010. Retrieved 12 April 2014.

Church of England titles
Preceded by Robert Pursglove	Archdeacon of Nottingham 1560–1565	Succeeded by John Louth
Preceded by George Carew	Dean of Windsor 1572–1595	Succeeded by Robert Bennet
Preceded by William Wickham	Bishop of Winchester 1595–1596	Succeeded by Thomas Bilson
Academic offices
Preceded by Richard Bruerne William Bill	Provost of Eton 1561–1595	Succeeded by Henry Savile