William Bingley

William Bingley (January 1774 – 11 March 1823) was an English cleric, naturalist and writer. Life Bingley was born at Doncaster, and left an orphan at an early age. In 1795 he entered Peterhouse, Cambridge, and took the degree of B.A. in 1799, and of M.A. in 1803. Whilst an undergraduate he travelled in Wales in 1798. He made the first rock climb there of Clogwyn Du'r Arddu, with Peter Bailey Williams, the first British and documented climb of its kind. For many years after ordination Bingham served the curacy of Christchurch, Hampshire. In 1816 he was the minister of the Fitzroy Chapel, Charlotte Street, London; he was engaged in its ministry at the time of his death. He died in Charlotte Street, 11 March 1823, and was buried in a vault under the middle aisle of Bloomsbury Church. He was a fellow of the Linnean Society, and led a quiet life. Works Bingley was a prolific writer, and several of his works were popular. His Tour round North Wales, the result of his college vacation of 1798, was published in 1800 in two volumes. He revisited the district in 1801, and in 1804 issued North Wales ... delineated from two excursions. A second edition appeared in 1814, and a third, with corrections and additions by his son, William Richard Bingley, in 1839. As a companion to these works there appeared a volume entitled Sixty of the most admired Welsh Airs, collected by W. Bingley, arranged for the piano by William Russell in 1803, and again in 1810.