[2] He was educated at the public school of Bampton, was ordained in 1773, apparently without graduating at a university, and became chaplain to the Earl of Ancaster.
From 1784 to 1833 he was head master of the endowed school at Stonham Aspel in Suffolk, which post he resigned in 1833, on being presented to the rectory of Stoke Lacy, in the Diocese of Hereford.
Sir William II Betham, born in 1779, was his eldest surviving son who became an antiquarian and herald.
Their daughter Mary Matilda Betham was a painter and a poet.
[1] Media related to William Betham (1749–1839) at Wikimedia Commons