William Reading (1674–1744) was an English clergyman and librarian of Sion College, known for his edition of early church historians.
On 15 November 1708 he was appointed, on the recommendation of Henry Compton, bishop of London, library keeper at Sion College.
[1] He was lecturer at the church of St. Alphage between 1712 and 1723, and preached the sermon at Westminster Abbey on the anniversary of the execution of Charles I on 31 January 1714.
His son Thomas was granted on 28 January 1744 the places of ostiary, under librarian, and clerk assistant at Sion College.
In 1724 Reading printed ‘Twenty-three Sermons of Mortification, Holiness, and of the Fear and Love of God’ (London, for the author), dedicated to the archbishop of Canterbury; the writer complained that he was ‘always destitute of any ecclesiastical dignity or revenue.’ On 15 October of the same year he received the additional office of clerk or secretary of Sion College, possibly just after the publication of the compilation ‘Bibliothecæ Cleri Londinensis in Collegio Sionensi Catalogus, duplici forma concinnatus,’ of which the first part gives the titles arranged under subjects, and the second is an alphabetical index.