John Harley

John Harley (died 1558) was an English bishop of Hereford. A strong Protestant, he was praised in verse by John Leland.

Life He was probably born at Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, according to Browne Willis. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, of which he was probationer-fellow from 1537 to 1542. He graduated B.A. on 5 July 1536, and M.A. on 4 June 1540.

He was master of Magdalen School from 1542 to August 1548, when he became chaplain to John Dudley, 1st Earl of Warwick, and tutor to his children. During Lent 1547 he preached at St. Peter's-in-the-East, Oxford, a sermon against the pope. It alarmed the university authorities, and Harley was hastily summoned to London to be examined on a charge of heresy; but when the king's views became known he was speedily liberated. and died in 1558.