John Merewether

John Merewether (1797 – 4 April 1850) was an English churchman, Dean of Hereford from 1832, known also as an antiquary. Early life The son of John Merewether of Blackland, Wiltshire, he was born at Marshfield, Gloucestershire, in 1797. He matriculated from The Queen's College, Oxford, on 18 October 1814, graduated B.A. in 1818, and B.D. and D.D. in 1832. He was ordained priest in 1820 by the Bishop of Salisbury, and served curacies at Gillingham, Dorset, and Hampton, Middlesex. Preferment While at Hampton Merewether was instrumental in building a chapel of ease at Hampton Wick, and attracted the notice of the Duke of Clarence, from 1830 King William IV, who was then residing at Bushey. He was chaplain to the Duchess of Clarence, the future Queen Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, in 1824. In 1828, he was presented by the Lord Chancellor to the living of New Radnor, and in 1832, on the promotion of the Hon. Edward Grey as bishop, Merewether succeeded him as Dean of Hereford. The Hereford chapter needed much reform; but with a personality described as "arrogant and ambitious", Merewether became embroiled in conflict. On 13 January 1833, William IV appointed Merewether one of the deputy clerks of the closet, and asked Lord Melbourne to have a care for his advancement. In 1836, he was instituted to the vicarage of Madeley, Shropshire, but was then passed over as vacancies.Robert Peel as Prime Minister disregarded, when reminded of it, William IV's dying wish that Merewether should become a bishop.