William Rowe Lyall (11 February 1788 - 17 February 1857) was an English churchman, Dean of Canterbury from 1845 to 1857.
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He was born in Stepney, Middlesex, the fifth son of John Lyall and Jane Comyns. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (M.A. 1816). In 1817 he married Catherine Brandreth (1792–1863), daughter of Dr. Brandreth of Liverpool. Lyall was Editor of the British Critic 1816-17; a Member of the Hackney Phalanx, the high-church equivalent of the Clapham Sect, and became Editor of the Theological Library (1832–46). He had a keen interest in philosophical criticism, and early recognized the Catholic tendency in Newman's writing. His principal literary work was Propaedia Prophetica, a View of the Use and Design of the Old Testament (1840). Lyall's abilities and potential came to the attention of Bishop Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury and one of the most influential religious figures in Victorian England. Howley took Lyall under his wing at Lambeth Palace, shaping his career and destiny.
Lyall became Archdeacon of Colchester (1824–1842), Archdeacon of Maidstone (1842–1845), simultaneously Canon of the Ninth Prebend, Canterbury Cathedral (1841–1845), and finally Dean of Canterbury (1845–1857).[1] He died at Canterbury, Kent. There is a monumental tomb i8n the north aisle of the nave at Cathedral, said to be designed after a model by the sculptor John Birnie Philip (1824–1875),[2] but his remains are in fact buried at the parish church of St Michael in the nearby village of Harbledown, alongside his wife's. Lyall's career is described by Clive Dewey.[3]
Further Information: DNB; Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae, 1541-1857.
He wrote a number of dissertations on religious topics, and was a regular contributor to the Quarterly Review, albeit anonymously. His major published work was Propaedia Prophetica (Preparation of Prophesy), in 1840. It was re-published in 1854 and again posthumously in 1885, this time with a preface by his nephew George C. Pearson. He also contributed to the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, an ambitious enterprise to disseminate knowledge. He was invited to write sections of the History Division, in particular: History of Greece, Macedonia and Syria. Co-authors of this work were Jacob Henry Brooke Mountain, George Cecil Renouard, E. Pococke and Michael Russell.
His eldest brother was George Lyall, Snr, sometime MP for London, and Chairman of the East India Company. One of his famous nephews was Alfred Comyn Lyall, the Indian civil servant (1835–1911). Another was James Broadwood Lyall (1838–1916), also an Indian civil servant, who became Governor of the Punjab.
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| Preceded by Richard Bagot |
Dean of Canterbury 1845–1857 |
Succeeded by Henry Alford |