William Cleaver was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 churchman and academic, Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford

Brasenose College, Oxford

Brasenose College, originally Brazen Nose College , is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. As of 2006, it has an estimated financial endowment of £98m...

 and bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of three sees.

Life

He was the eldest son of the Rev. W. Cleaver, master of a private school at Twyford

Twyford, Buckinghamshire

For other places of the same name, see Twyford.Twyford is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. It is about two miles west of Steeple Claydon and four miles north east of Bicester in Oxfordshire....

 in Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

, and brother of Archbishop Euseby Cleaver

Euseby Cleaver

Euseby Cleaver was the Church of Ireland Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin in Ireland and subsequently Archbishop of Dublin .Of Buckinghamshire origin, he was educated at Christ Church, Oxford....

. He was at Magdalen College, Oxford

Magdalen College, Oxford

Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...

, and after taking his B.A. degree, 1761, was a fellow of Brasenose College; he became M.A. on 2 May 1764.

In 1768 was a candidate for the Bodleian librarianship. The votes between him and his competitor John Price

John Price (librarian)

John Price was a Welsh librarian and Anglican priest, who was in charge of the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford for 45 years.-Life:...

 were equal, and the latter was appointed on account of being a few months the senior. Cleaver became tutor to George Nugent-Temple-Grenville

George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham

George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham, KG, PC was a British statesman. He was the second son of George Grenville and a brother of the 1st Baron Grenville.-Career:...

. He was successively made vicar of Northop

Northop

Northop is a small village situated in Flintshire, Wales, approximately 12 miles west of the city of Chester, mid-way between Mold and Flint, and situated just off junction 33 of the A55 North Wales Expressway. At the 2001 Census, the population of Northop was 2,983.The village is home to two...

 in Flintshire

Flintshire

Flintshire is a county in north-east Wales. It borders Denbighshire, Wrexham and the English county of Cheshire. It is named after the historic county of Flintshire, which had notably different borders...

, prebendary of Westminster (1784), Principal of Brasenose College (1785), bishop of Chester

Bishop of Chester

The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York.The diocese expands across most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula and has its see in the City of Chester where the seat is located at the Cathedral...

 (1787), bishop of Bangor

Bishop of Bangor

The Bishop of Bangor is the Ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Bangor.The diocese covers the counties of Anglesey, most of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire and a small part of Montgomeryshire...

 (1800), and bishop of St Asaph

Bishop of St Asaph

The Bishop of St Asaph heads the Church in Wales diocese of St Asaph.The diocese covers the counties of Conwy and Flintshire, Wrexham county borough, the eastern part of Merioneth in Gwynedd and part of northern Powys. The Episcopal seat is located in the Cathedral Church of St Asaph in the town of...

 (1806). He retained the headship of Brasenose until 1809, and almost constantly lived there.

At Bangor in 1802, he cautioned an old servant who let apartments against a stray lodger who the bishop thought might be no better than a swindler. This suspicious personage was Thomas De Quincey

Thomas de Quincey

Thomas Penson de Quincey was an English esssayist, best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater .-Child and student:...

, who mentioned the incident in his English Opium-eater. Cleaver died 15 May 1815 in Bruton Street, London. He was interested in the higher education of women.

Works

Aming his writings were De Rhythmo Graecorum, 1775, and Directions to the Clergy of the Diocese of Chester on the Choice of Books, 1789. He also edited the edition of Homer

Homer

In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...

printed at Oxford by the Grenville family.