William Priestley (Louisiana planter)

William Priestley (7 May 1771 – 1838) was the third child and second son of Dr Joseph Priestley and his wife Mary Wilkinson. He spent some time in France, before migrating to the USA in 1793, taking the oath of citizenship on 8 October 1798. In 1801 he moved to Louisiana, with the intention of establishing a school in Point Coupee Parish. Some time between 1804-7, William purchased a sugar plantation on the west bank of the Mississippi.

William Priestley was born in Basinghall Street, Leeds, in the manse associated with Mill Hill Chapel, where his father was minister. He was educated in Bristol in John Prior Estlin's school, before spending two years at Daventry Academy, his father's alma mater, 1787-89. William Priestley was a mild-tempered and softly-spoken bohemian with long brown hair thrown back over his shoulders, and a passion for nature and music. He was a proficient flautist, who spoke French and German, studied Anglo-Saxon texts, and read Norse mythology. He carved wooden chess-pieces, and sculpted clay models of ancient temples. He was not inclined towards a career in commerce. His father, writing to a friend, regretted that William’s "temper [frame of mind] and high spirit [zest for life], will hardly suit trade." In this, William and his father were very much alike, for, when he was nineteen, Joseph Priestley himself, had rejected a firm offer of a career in commerce; as a minister at Needham Market, his congregation had objected to Priestley's "gay and airy disposition;" and at Nantwich he had a habit of vaulting over the counter of the grocer's shop at which he lodged. Regrettably some modern historians have misunderstood contemporary word-usage, and have read the clause: "William's temper and high spirit, will hardly suit trade," in a twenty-first-century idiom, mistakenly accusing William of being "too high-spirited and hot-tempered;" and erroneously denouncing him as the "black sheep" of the family.

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