Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Osbaldeston, William
OSBALDESTON or OSBOLSTON, WILLIAM (1577–1645), divinity professor at Gresham College, eldest son of Lambert Osbaldeston, haberdasher, of London, and brother of Lambert Osbaldeston [q. v.], was born in 1577, and, after attending Westminster School, was elected from that school to Christ Church, Oxford, whence he matriculated in February 1597-8, graduating B.A. on 24 Oct. 1601, M.A. on 24 July 1604, B.D. on 19 June 1611, and D.D. in May 1617. His name appears in the list of admissions to Gray's Inn on 1 Aug. 1619. He resided at Oxford for some years after taking his batchelor's degree, and contributed to the poems written at Christ Church on the visit of James I to that college in 1605. On 13 Dec. 1610 he succeeded George Montaigne [q. v.] as divinity professor at Gresham College. This post he resigned in the following year; but in 161 2, when desirous of returning to the college as rhetoric professor, he was unsuccessful in obtaining the post. In 1616 he became rector of Parndon Magna in Essex, and of East Hanningfield in the same county. Both livings he retained until about December 1643, when he was deprived, and his benefices were sequestered by the House of Commons. He died early in 1645. A Robert Osbalston, supposed to be his son, was rector of Parndon Magna from 1662 to 1679.
[Ward's Gresham Professors, 1740, p. 52; Walker's Sufferings, pt. ii. p. 322 ; Newcourt s Repertorium, ii. 307» 462; Welch's Alumni Westmon. 1852, pp. 66, 139; Clark's Reg. of Univ. of Oxford (Oxf. Hist. Soc.); Foster's Alumni Oxon. iii. 1093; Gray's Inn Adm. Reg. p. 154.]