He was the seventh son of
Thomas Butterworth Bayley, of Hope Hall, near
Manchester, where he was born 6 December 1777; his mother was Mary, only child of Vincent Leggatt.
Butterworth Bayley was an elder brother. In 1803 Bayley was ordained by
Henry Majendie,
Bishop of Chester, who appointed him his chaplain. Then he accepted the tutorship of Bishop
George Pretyman Tomline's eldest son
William Edward; and was appointed examining chaplain to the bishop. Tomline preferred him to the rectory of
Stilton, Huntingdonshire, and to the sub-deanery of Lincoln, vacant by the death of
William Paley in May 1805. He made improvements in the minster, worked to open the minster library to the public, and took part in the establishment of a public library in Lincoln. In 1810 he was presented to the united vicarages of
Messingham and
Bottesford, where he renovated the parish church, mostly at his own expense; and in 1812 to the vicarage of
Great Carlton, near
Louth, which he rarely visited, although he retained the benefice till his death. Later he was preferred to the
archdeaconry of Stow with the prebend of Liddington (1823); to the rectory of
Westmeon with Privet, in
Hampshire (1826); and to the twelfth stall in
Westminster Abbey (1828), when he resigned his subdeanery and canonry at Lincoln. In 1824 Bayley proceeded to his degree of D.D. at Cambridge. In 1827, in bad health, Bayley declined to stand for the
Regius Professorship of Divinity at Cambridge. His last days were passed mainly at
Westmeon, his Hampshire rectory. He repaired the church of the hamlet of Privet, and the rebuilding of the church of Westmeon was started 9 August 1843. When blind he recited the prayers from memory. He died 12 August 1844. He was buried in the same vault with his wife, who had died at Westmeon 17 June 1839, and the new church was consecrated by the Bishop of Winchester on 5 May 1846. ==Works==