William Rowe Lyall (11 February 1788 – 17 February 1857) was an English churchman,[1] Dean of Canterbury from 1845 to 1857.[2]
He was born in Stepney, Middlesex, the fifth son of John Lyall and Jane Comyn.[3] He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (M.A. 1816). In 1817 he married Catherine Brandreth (1792–1863), daughter of Dr. Brandreth of Liverpool.[4]
Lyall was editor of the British Critic 1816–17 and associated with the Hackney Phalanx, the high-church group.[5] He became editor of the Theological Library (1832–46).[6] He early recognized a Catholic tendency in John Henry Newman's writing.[7] His appointment as Warburton Lecturer led to a major work, Propædia Prophetica (1840).[8] Lyall's abilities and potential came to the attention of William Howley, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who shaped his career.[9]
Lyall became Archdeacon of Colchester (1824–1842),[10] Archdeacon of Maidstone (1842–1845), simultaneously Canon of the Ninth Prebend, Canterbury Cathedral (1841–1845),[11] and finally Dean of Canterbury (1845[12] –1857).[13] He died at Canterbury, Kent. There is a monumental tomb in the north aisle of the nave at Canterbury, said to be designed after a model by the sculptor John Birnie Philip (1824–1875),[14] but his remains are in fact buried at the parish church of St Michael in the nearby village of Harbledown, alongside his wife's.[15]
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 Propædia Prophetica (Preparation of Prophesy), in 1840.[16] 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 Encyclopædia 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 and Michael Russell.[17]
His eldest brother was George Lyall, Snr, sometime MP for the City of London (UK Parliament constituency), and Chairman of the East India Company.[18] One of his famous nephews was Alfred Comyn Lyall, the Indian civil servant (1835–1911).[19] Another was James Broadwood Lyall (1838–1916), also an Indian civil servant, who became Governor of the Punjab.[20]