Rokeby, William

Rokeby, William an Irish prelate, was a native of Rokeby, in Yorkshire, and a doctor of the canon law. He was a brother to Sir Richard Rokeby, lord treasurer of Ireland. He received his early education at Rotheram and finished at Oxford, when he was presented by the monks of Lewes, in 1487, to the rectory of Sandal, near Doncaster. At the close of the 15th century he was nominated to the vicarage of Halifax, in Yorkshirei in 1498 was constituted lord chancellor of Ireland, and afterwards advanced to the see of Meath, in 1507. On February 5, 1511, he was translated by pope Julius II to the see of Dublin, the temporalities of which were accorded to him in June following. In 1514 this prelate confirmed the establishment of a college of clerks, founded at Maynooth by Gerald, earl of Kildare, which was subsequently remodelled. In 1520 he was despatched by the lord deputy and council to Waterford for the purpose of pacifying such discords and debates as existed between the earl of Desmond and sir Piers Butler. Archbishop Rokeby died November 29, 1521. See D'Alton, Memoirs of the Archbishops of Dublin, page 178.