William Howley (1766-1848) was born at Ropley, Hampshire. He was a Scholar of Winchester College, 1779-83; Fellow of New College, Oxford, 1783-94; Fellow of Winchester College, 1794-1813; Bishop of London, 1813-1828; Archbishop of Canterbury, 1828-48.

This portrait was reproduced in mezzotint by Charles Turner in 1817. There is a copy by Thomas Kirkby at New College, Oxford, and by an unknown artist at Christ Church, Oxford.

Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1816 (no. 25, Portrait of Bishop of London)

Literature: R.S. Gower, Sir Thomas Lawrence (London, 1900), p. 137; W. Armstrong, Lawrence (London, 1913), p. 140; R.E. Poole, Catalogue of Portraits in the Possession of the University, Colleges, City and County of Oxford, 3 vols (Oxford, 1935), ii, p. 167; K. Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence (London, 1954), p. 43; K. Garlick, ‘A catalogue of the paintings, drawings, and pastels of Sir Thomas Lawrence’, Walpole Society, XXXIX (1964), p. 109; J. Ingamells, The English Episcopal Portrait 1559-1835: a Catalogue (London, 1981), p. 234 (no. B1), pl. 139; K. Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence (Oxford, 1989), p. 210 (no. 421, illustrated); J.R. Garrard, ‘Howley, William (1766-1848)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004)

Provenance: Commissioned by Winchester College in 1816 for 200 gns

Location: College Hall