William Levett (dean)

The Very Rev. Dr. William Levett (also spelled William Levet) (ca. 1643-1694) was the Oxford-educated personal chaplain to Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, whom he accompanied into exile in France, then became the rector of two parishes, and subsequently Principal of Magdalen Hall, Oxford (now Hertford College, Oxford) and the Dean of Bristol.

Levett was born in Ashwell, Rutland, where his father Rev. Richard Levett, born in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, and a graduate of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, was vicar from 1646 until 1660. After Rev. Richard Levett was turned out of his parish in Ashwell, he wrote to Edward Heath of London, soliciting the rector's job in Cottesmore, Rutland, which Heath's family owned.

The Anglo-Norman family Levett family had roots in Sussex going back to the Norman Conquest. William Levett himself was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, where he became a fellow, in 1663.

After his graduation from Oxford with a doctorate in divinty, William Levett entered the service of the Earl of Clarendon, English historian and statesman who went into exile in France. Levett accompanied him there. Levett returned to England in 1672 and became rector of Husbands Bosworth in Leicestershire. Four years later he became vicar of Flore, Northamptonshire. Levett held all four positions—his appointments to both parishes, as well as his Magdalen Hall principalship and his Deanship of Bristol—until his death.

In 1681 he was named Principal of Magdalen Hall at Oxford, and in 1685 he became Dean of Bristol. Levett was well-known to many Oxford contemporaries of his day, and remained friends with the Earl of Clarendon and his second son Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester for the rest of his life. Among his fellow churchmen, Levett seems to have been held in high regard.

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