Ralph Cawley

Ralph Cawley (1720 – 31 August 1777) was an English clergyman and Oxford academic.

Cawley was born at Farnworth (then in Lancashire, now in Cheshire) in 1720, the son of John Cawley, schoolmaster at Farnworth School and later headmaster of Wigan Grammar School.

He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, matriculating in 1738, graduating B.A. 1742, M.A. 1744, B.D. & D.D. 1766. He was a Fellow of Brasenose 1744–1760.

He was appointed Rector of Selham, Sussex, in 1755 (a college nomination), and Rector of St Dunstan's, Stepney in East London in 1759. He built a new parsonage at Stepney in 1763–1764, mostly at his own expense. He resigned at Stepney in 1770, on his election as Principal of Brasenose. in September 1770, holding the office until his death on 31 August 1777.

Towards the end of his life, Cawley suffered from a heart condition, for which he took foxglove root, which greatly reduced the symptoms, relieving his breath and reducing the swelling in his legs. This story came to the attention of the botanist William Withering, who investigated and documented the medicinal use of foxglove. )

Family On 21 April 1768, Cawley married Ann Cooper (1736–1787), daughter of Gislingham Cooper, a London goldsmith and banker resident in Henley-on-Thames. They had no children.