William Parr Greswell, he was born at Denton near Manchester, on 3 August 1797.
He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford, on 5 April 1815, and was elected scholar in the same year.
Early in 1816 he obtained the Lancashire scholarship at Corpus Christi College and graduated B.A.
He was ordained deacon in 1825, and priest in 1826, and held the office of college tutor from 1822 to 1834.
Greswell took part in the disputes at Oxford about 1836 in connection with Renn Hampden's appointment as Regius Professor of Divinity, and published a Letter to his Grace the Duke of Wellington, Chancellor of the University, on the subject (Oxford, 1837).