This Blog is mainly concerned with people who bear the Hiley (or Highley) surname, or who are related to a Hiley (or Highley). But there have been several instances over the years where Hiley has been used as a forename. One of these was William Hiley Bathurst, 1796-1877, an Anglican clergyman and writer of hymns.
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| William Hiley Bathurst |
There were some notable people amongst William's ancestry. He was the son of Charles Bathurst and Charlotte Addington and the grandson of Anthony Addington, a Royal Physician, and Mary Hiley - from where his second forename came. Charlotte's brother Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, was the U.K. Prime Minister from 1801 to 1804. Mary Hiley was the great great granddaughter of William Hiley, Rector of Poole at the start of the 1600s, and Eleanor Haviland, a member of a prominent family with a history going back to Norman times.
William was born near Bristol and educated at Winchester and Oxford. He was ordained a priest in 1820 and served as rector of Barwick-in-Elmet in Yorkshire until 1852, leaving the ministry due to being unable to reconcile his doctrinal views with the Book of Common Prayer. For some time he was M.P. for Bristol. He retired into private life occupying himself with literary pursuits, firstly in Derbyshire and later in Lydney in Gloucestershire.
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He wrote a number of works and volumes of poems, and was one of the early Church of England hymn writers and compilers, producing many hymns and versions of psalms.
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| One of W H Bathurst's most popular hymns |
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| W H Bathurst Christmas Card |
