William Henry Bateson

William Henry Bateson (3 June 1812, Liverpool – 27 March 1881, Cambridge) was a British academic, who served as Master of St John's College, Cambridge.

The son of Richard Bateson, a Liverpool merchant, Bateson was educated at Shrewsbury School under Samuel Butler, and at St John's College, Cambridge, being admitted in 1829, matriculating in 1831, graduating B.A.

He trained as a lawyer, teacher, and clergyman: he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1836, was second master at the Proprietary School in Leicester in 1837, and was ordained deacon in 1839 and priest in 1840.

[1] He gained a Fellowship at St John's in 1837, and served as Rede Lecturer (1841), Senior Bursar (1846–57), and Public Orator (1848–57).

[1] His wife Anna Bateson, née Aikin, was a founding member of the Cambridge Women's Suffrage Association and encouraged St John's College to give land for the foundation of Newnham College, Cambridge.