Lily, William (c. 1468-1522)

English teacher and humanist. Returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem he learned Greek in Rhodes, where he was taught by refuges from Constantinople, and then spent several years studying Greek and Latin in Rome and Venice. He became the first teacher of Greek in London, and in 1512 was appointed headmaster of John Colet's foundation St Paul's School in London.

Born at Odiham, Hampshire, Lily was the godson of the scholar William Grocyn. He studied at Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating in 1486 and setting off on his pilgrimage soon after.

He was a friend of Thomas More, with whom he collaborated in the translation of Greek epigrams into Latin elegiacs (Progymnasmata, 1518), and John Colet, for whom he produced his Latin syntax with rules in English, Grammatices Rudimenta/Simple Grammar, which was published with Colet's Aeditio in 1527. He also published a book of Latin verses attacking a rival schoolmaster.