William Jane

William Jane (1645–1707) was an English academic and clergyman, Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford from 1680.

The son of Joseph Jane, he was born at Liskeard, Cornwall, where he was baptised on 22 October 1645. He was educated at Westminster School, elected student of Christ Church, Oxford, in 1660, and graduated B.A. in June 1664, M.A. in 1667, and D.D. in November 1674. After his ordination he was appointed lecturer at Carfax Church, Oxford.

He attracted the notice of Henry Compton, who became canon of Christ Church in 1669, and when Compton was created bishop of Oxford in 1674 he chose Jane to preach the sermon at his consecration, and appointed him one of his chaplains. In 1678 he was made canon of Christ Church, and was further presented by Compton, then bishop of London, to the rectory of Wennington, Essex. In 1679 the prebendal stall of Chamberlainswood in St. Paul's Cathedral and the archdeaconry of Middlesex were conferred on him. In May 1680 he was made regius professor of divinity at Oxford. In July 1683 he framed the Oxford declaration in favour of passive obedience.

He received the deanery of Gloucester, in which he was installed on 6 June 1685. He resigned the archdeaconry of Middlesex in 1686, but kept his canonries of Christ Church and St. Paul's till his death. In November 1686 Jane was summoned to represent the Church of England in a discussion which was held with some Roman Catholic divines in the presence of James II, with a view to the conversion of the Earl of Rochester. Jane did not take much part in the disputation, which was mostly left to Rochester himself. He shortly changed his opinion about passive obedience, and when James II's cause was hopeless, Jane sought William of Orange at Hungerford, and assured him of the support of the university of Oxford, hinting at his willingness to accept the vacant bishopric of Oxford. The fact that the framer of the Oxford declaration should be so ready to disown its principles occasioned a number of epigrams.

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