William Wake

Born in Blandford, Dorset, in 1657, William Wake studied at Christ Church, Oxford, and built his career in the Church of England during a period of intense political and religious change. He later became bishop of Lincoln and, in 1716, Archbishop of Canterbury, a post he held until his death in 1737.

Wake was known not only as a senior church leader but also as a writer and controversialist. He took part in major religious arguments of his day and was especially interested in relations between Protestant churches across Europe, which gave him a wider reputation beyond England.

Today he is remembered as an important figure in the Church of England under the early Hanoverians: learned, active in public life, and closely involved in the religious questions that shaped his era.