View source for William Alexander Ayton

{{Short description|British Anglican clergyman}}
{{Redirect|William Ayton|people named ''William Aiton''|William Aiton (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Alexayton.jpg|thumb|William Alexander Ayton]]
'''William Alexander Ayton''' (28 April 1816 – 1 January 1909) was a British Anglican clergyman with an interest in [[alchemy]]. He was Vicar of [[Chacombe]] (in [[Northamptonshire]]) from 1873 to 1894. In 1894 he retired on a small pension, and he died at [[Saffron Walden]] (in [[Hertfordshire]]) in 1909.<ref>Ronald Decker and [[Michael Dummett]], ''A History of the Occult Tarot 1870-1970'' (2003) p.62, 'a clergyman of the Church of England and well known in occult circles as an alchemist'.</ref><ref>''The Reverend William Alexander Ayton was one of the oldest initiates of the original Golden Dawn, joining (along with his wife Anne) among [[William Wynn Westcott]]'s earliest recruits just a few months after the founding of the Hermetic Order in 1888. As G. H. Frater Virtute Orta Occidunt Rarius (those rising by virtue rarely decline), Ayton achieved the grade of 5= 6 a year later, at the age of 74. He was at the time still active as a priest, and as the Vicar of [[Chacombe]] in Oxfordshire; he had been a freemason for twenty years, and was also associated with the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light. He retired on a pension in 1894 and lived into his 92nd year, dying in 1909 in Hertfordshire.''[http://www.billheidrick.com/tlc2003/tlc0603.htm]</ref><ref>''William Alexander Ayton (1816-1909), Vicar of Chacombe, Northamptonshire. He had an alchemical laboratory in his cellar and was afraid that his Bishop would learn of its existence''[http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/aqc/fringe/notes.html#85]</ref> He translated from Latin the life of [[John Dee (mathematician)|John Dee]] written by [[Thomas Smith (scholar)|Thomas Smith]].<ref>First published 1908.</ref>

He is generally thought to have been a member of the shadowy ''Society of Eight'' founded in 1883.<ref>Founded by [[Frederick Holland]], or [[Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie|Kenneth Mackenzie]]. Decker-Dummett p.45 makes Holland the founder, and members F. G. Irwin, Benjamin Cox, [[Frederick Hockley]], Mackenzie, [[John Yarker]], [[William Wynn Westcott]], as well as Ayton.</ref> He became a member of the successor [[Order of the Golden Dawn]].<ref>In July 1888, as ''Virtute orta, occidunt rarius''. R. A. Gilbert, ''The Golden Dawn Companion'' (1986), p.140.</ref> He was a supporter of the reforms of [[Arthur Edward Waite]], which split the Order as the [[Holy Order of the Golden Dawn]] and the [[Stella Matutina]].

Ayton became a [[Vegetarianism|vegetarian]] in 1868 after visiting the family of his friend [[Joseph Wallace (vegetarian)|Joseph Wallace]]. Ayton converted to Wallace's dietary system.<ref>Gregory, James. (2002). [https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/467032/2/886115_v.2.pdf "The Vegetarian Movement in Britain c. 1840-1901"]. eprints.soton.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 October 2022.</ref>

==References==

*''The Alchemist of the Golden Dawn, The Letters of Revd. W. A. Ayton to [[F. L. Gardner]] and Others 1886-1905'' (1985) edited Ellic Howe

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.alchemywebsite.com/rosi_grp.html Modern Rosicrucian groups<!-- bot-generated title -->] at www.alchemywebsite.com

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[[Category:1816 births]]
[[Category:1909 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century alchemists]]
[[Category:19th-century English Anglican priests]]
[[Category:20th-century alchemists]]
[[Category:English alchemists]]
[[Category:Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn]]