Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Heale, William
HEALE, WILLIAM (1581?–1627), divine, was a native of South Heal in the county of Devon, where he was born about 1581. On 14 March 1600 he was admitted as a commoner at Exeter College, Oxford, and thence graduated B.A. 1603, and M.A. (Broadgates Hall) 1606. Subsequently he entered into holy orders, and was appointed chaplain-fellow of Exeter College 22 Aug. 1608, but was expelled 7 May 1610 for absence. He then became vicar of Bishop's Teignton 1 Dec. 1610, and died early in 1627 (Oliver, Eccl. Antiq. Devon. i. 121). He published ‘An Apologie for Women, or An Opposition to Mr. Doctor G[ager] his assertion, who held in the Act at Oxforde Anno 1608 that it was lawfull for husbands to beat their wives,’ printed by Joseph Barnes at Oxford in 1609 [see Gager, William]. Wood says of Heale that ‘he was always esteemed an ingenious man, but weak as being too much devoted to the female sex.’
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), ii. 89; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Boase's Register of Exeter College, pp. 56–7; Reg. Univ. Oxf. (Clark) (Oxf. Hist. Soc. 1888).]