William Rowe Lyall

William Rowe Lyall (February 11 1788 - February 17 1857) was Dean of Canterbury from 1845 to 1857. He was born in Stepney, Middlesex, the fifth son of John Lyall and Jane Comyns. He died at Canterbury, Kent. His career is describe Clive Dewey in his book "The Passing of Barchester", published by Hambledon Press, London, in 1991. His eldest brother was George Lyall, 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.

Literary works:

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', a hugely ambitious enterprise to disseminate knowledge undertaken by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in the mid 1800's. 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.