William Davies Shipley (5 October 1745 (OS) – 7 May 1826) was an Anglican priest who served as Dean of St Asaph for nearly 52 years, from 27 May 1774 until his death. In a legal cause célèbre which became known as the Case of the Dean of St Asaph, he was tried and convicted on a charge of seditious libel in August 1784, but was discharged by the Court of King's Bench a few months later without being punished. Early and private life Shipley was born at Midgham in Berkshire, the only son of Jonathan Shipley. His father was a clergyman who served as Dean of Winchester from 1760 to 1769, as Bishop of Landaff briefly in 1769, and then as Bishop of St Asaph from 1769 to 1789. His uncle, William Shipley, was a founder of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce (which later became the Royal Society of Arts). His mother, Anna-Maria Mordaunt, was a niece of the Earl of Peterborough. He was educated at Westminster School until 1760 and then Winchester College, and he studied at Christ Church, Oxford, where his father had been a canon. He followed his father's vocation to become a priest in the Church of England. He was quickly appointed to several lucrative church offices. His father appointed him as vicar of Ysceifiog in March 1770, and then vicar of Wrexham in 1771 and rector of Llangwn in 1772 (later exchanged for Corwen, and then Llanarmon-yn-Iâl). He became chancellor of the diocese of St Asaph in 1773, and Dean of St Asaph on 27 May 1774. He retained both of these offices until his death in 1826. Trial for seditious libel Shipley was tried for seditious libel in 1784, after he read an anonymous pamphlet at a public meeting in January 1783. The pamphlet, The Principles of Government, in a Dialogue between a Scholar and a Peasant, advocated political reforms. Shipley arranged for a few copies, with his own amendments, to be printed in Wrexham. Shipley's political opponent, the High Sheriff of Flintshire, Thomas FitzMaurice (brother of the former Prime Minister William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne) complained to the public authorities. After they declined to prosecute Shipley, FitzMaurice sought a private prosecution. Meanwhile, William Jones—Shipley's brother-in-law since he married Shipley's eldest sister Anna-Maria in April 1783—had confessed that he was the author of the pamphlet; he was