He was born at
Burton-Overy,
Leicestershire, about 1505, and educated at
Balliol College, Oxford, migrating to
Lincoln College. He graduated B.A. on 18 July 1530, M.A. on 14 January 1533, B.M. on 30 May 1537, B.D. on 2 May 1539, and D.D. in July 1540, being incorporated D.D. at
Cambridge in 1554. On 16 July 1533, he was elected as one of the officials of
Oxford market, and in 1537 was proctor. On 8 January 1538, he was elected Rector of Lincoln College, and in 1540 was appointed
Lady Margaret professor of divinity. On 15 September 1541, he was collated rector of St. Nicholas Olave, and on 19 May 1544, rector of
St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate. On 17 October 1547, he was appointed
Archdeacon of Cornwall, and in the same year he became rector of Burton-Overy. Early in 1549, his Catholic views brought him into collision with the university visitors; he was ejected from his professorship, and on 11 September following Alexander Seymour was paid for arresting Weston in Leicestershire and conveying him to the
Fleet prison. How long he remained in confinement is uncertain, but he retained all his offices except his professorship, and received further preferment on
Queen Mary's accession. On 18 September 1553 he was installed dean of Westminster, and on 22 January 1554 was collated to the
archdeaconry of Colchester; he also received the living of
Cliff-at-Hoo,
Kent, on 2 April 1554, resigning the rectorship of Lincoln in 1555. His services as a controversialist were in great demand. He acted as confessor to
Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk and
Sir Thomas Wyatt at their execution, was prolocutor of the convocation that met on 16 October 1553, and preached at
St. Paul's Cross four days later, and before the queen on
Ash Wednesday (7 February 1553–4) during
Wyatt's rebellion. He examined
Thomas Philpot, had disputations with
Nicholas Ridley and
John Bradford, and presided over
Thomas Cranmer's trial in
St. Mary's, Oxford, on the 14th, and over the disputation between Latimer and
Richard Smith on 18 April 1554. In 1556, when it was decided to restore
Westminster Abbey to its monastic character, Weston was induced to resign his deanery in favour of
John de Feckenham, receiving instead the deanery of Windsor. In August 1557, he was deprived by
Cardinal Pole of his deanery and the archdeaconry of Colchester for gross immorality, but retained, through
Edmund Bonner's complaisance, his parochial preferments; his moral delinquencies (he was caught committing adultery) are detailed by various Protestant writers of the time, and especially in "Michael Wood"'s preface to the 1553 edition of
Stephen Gardiner's 'De Vera Obedientia'. He determined to appeal against Pole's decision to the
Roman curia, but was arrested at
Gravesend when setting out, and lodged in the
Tower of London. He was released on plea of sickness on 3 December 1558, and died at the house of one Winter in
Fleet Street on 8 December, being buried in the Savoy. By his will, dated 26 November 1558, he provided for masses for his soul at Balliol and Lincoln Colleges, at St. Mary's, Oxford, at Burton-Overy, and at
Islip, of which he is said to have been rector. His
Oratio coram Patribus et Clero habita 16 October 1553 was published in that year (London), and disputations are printed in
John Foxe's
Actes and Monuments.
Edward Weston was his great-nephew. ==References==