William Marsh (1775–1864) was a British priest in the Church of England and a writer of theological publications, in the 19th century.
Marsh, third son of Colonel Sir Charles Marsh of Reading, by Catherine, daughter of John Case of Bath, was born on 20 July 1775, and educated under Dr. Valpy at Reading. His intention was to enter the army, but the sudden death in his presence of a young man in a ballroom changed the current of his thoughts. He matriculated from St Edmund Hall, Oxford on 10 October 1797, graduated B.A. 1801, M.A. 1807, and B.D. and D.D. 1839. At Christmas 1800 he was ordained to the curacy of St. Lawrence, Reading, and was soon known as an impressive preacher of evangelical doctrines.
In 1801 Thomas Stonor, father of Thomas, Lord Camoys, gave him the chapelry of Nettlebed in Oxfordshire. His father presented him to the united livings of Basildon and Ashampstead in Berkshire in 1802, when he resigned Nettlebed, but retained the curacy of St. Lawrence, which he served gratuitously for many years. The Rev. Charles Simeon paid a first visit to Basildon in 1807, and was from that time a friend and correspondent of Marsh. In 1809, with the consent of his bishop, he became vicar of St. James's, Brighton, but the vicar of Brighton, Dr. R. C. Carr, afterwards bishop of Worcester, refused his assent to this arrangement, and after some months Marsh resigned. Simeon presented him to St. Peter's, Colchester, in 1814. His attention was early called by Simeon to the subject of the conversion of the Jews, and in 1818 he went with him to Holland to enquire into their condition in that country.
Ill-health obliged him in 1829 to leave Colchester, and in October of the same year he accepted the rectory of St. Thomas, Birmingham, where from the frequent subject of his sermons he came to be known as "Millennial Marsh". Early in 1837 he was appointed principal official and commissary of the royal peculiar of the deanery of Bridgnorth; and in 1839, finally leaving Birmingham, he became incumbent of St. Mary, Leamington.
From 1848 he was an honorary canon of Worcester, and from 1860 to his death rector of Beddington, Surrey. Few men preached a greater number of sermons. His conciliatory manners gained him friends among all denominations. He died at Beddington rectory on 24 August 1864.
