Introduction

Biography

William was the son of Dr. Da­vid Mac­La­gan and Jane White­side.

In ear­ly life, he en­tered the ar­my, and served for some time in In­dia.

Retiring with the rank of lieu­ten­ant, he en­tered St. Pe­ter’s Col­lege, Cam­bridge (BA 1856, MA 1860).

Taking Ho­ly Or­ders, he served in nu­mer­ous po­si­tions, in­clud­ing:

• Curate of St. Sav­iour’s, Pad­ding­ton (1856–58)
• Curate of St. Ste­phen’s, Ma­ry­le­bone (1858–60)
• Secretary to the Lond­on Dio­ces­an Church Build­ing So­ci­ety (1860–65)
• Curate of En­field (1865–69)
• Rector of St. Ma­ry’s, New­ing­ton (1869–75)
• Vicar of Ken­sing­ton (1875–78)
• Bishop of Lich­field (1878)
• Archbishop of York (1891). In this of­fice, he crowned Queen Al­ex­an­dra at the co­ro­na­tion of Ed­ward VII.

He was al­so Hon. Chap­lain to the Queen, and pre­ben­da­ry of Re­cul­ver­land in St. Paul’s Ca­thed­ral, Lon­don.

He re­tired in 1909.