a man of humble position. His education was slight, but he sedulously cultivated every opportunity for self-improvement. When very young he served in a British man-of-war, and began versifying for the amusement of his messmates before he was twelve years old. After spending several years at sea he lived at Plymouth Dock, now Devonport, and in London, engaged in literary pursuits, but his work brought him very little profit. He was of a mechanical disposition, and in 1804 competed for the gold medal of the Royal Humane Society for the best essay ‘On the Means of preventing Shipwreck.’ Through a change of dates on the part of the society the essay arrived after the distribution of the prizes, but he claimed to have anticipated the invention of George William Manby [q. v.] He applied to the admiralty, the navy commissioners, and the corporation of Trinity House for aid in furthering his scheme, but could not obtain any assistance. His address to Dr. Hawes (Gent. Mag. 1807, ii. 1051–2) is dated from Dover.
In 1808 Woodley left London for his health's sake, and soon afterwards settled at Truro as editor of the ‘Royal Cornwall Gazette,’ the tory paper of the county. Here he employed himself in writing several volumes of poetry, and in competing for prize essays on theological and social subjects. About June 1820 he was ordained by the then bishop of Exeter, and he at once proceeded to the Scilly Islands as the missionary, at a salary of 150l. per annum, of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, in the islands of St. Martin and St. Agnes. He was ordained priest by Bishop Carey in Exeter Cathedral on 15 July 1821. At Scilly he remained until June 1842, and during that time rebuilt the church on St. Martin's, and restored that on St. Agnes. At that date he retired with a gratuity of 100l. and a pension of 75l. per annum. He was appointed on 12 Feb. 1843 to the perpetual curacy of Martindale in Westmorland, and held it until his death on 24 Dec. 1846. His wife, Mary Fabian, whom he married at Stoke Damerel, died at Taunton in August 1856. Their only son, William Augustus Woodley, was the proprietor of the ‘Somerset County Gazette’ (Taunton) and other papers; he died at 3 Worcester Terrace, Clifton, Bristol, on 11 March 1891, and was buried in St. Mary's cemetery, Taunton.
Woodley was the author of 1. ‘Mount Edgcumbe,’ with the ‘Shipwreck’ and miscellaneous verses, 1804; preface signed G. W. (cf. Halkett and Laing, Anon. Lit. ii. 1670). 2. ‘The Churchyard and other Poems,’ 1808. 3. ‘Britain's Bulwarks, or the British Seaman,’ 1811 (composed for the most part in 1803). 4. ‘Portugal Delivered: a Poem in five books,’ 1812. 5. ‘Redemption: a Poem in twenty books,’ 1816. 6. ‘Cornubia: a Poem in five cantos,’ 1819. 7. ‘The Divinity of Christ proved,’ 1819; 2nd edit. 1821. For this essay he received a prize of 50l. from the St. David's diocese branch of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. He was the author of similar essays ‘On the Succession of the Christian Priesthood’ and on ‘the Means of employing the Poor.’ 8. ‘Devonia: a Poem,’ five cantos, 1820. 9. ‘View of the present State of the Scilly Isles,’ 1822; the best work on that district which had been published. 10. ‘Narrative of the Loss of the Steamer Thames on the Scilly Rocks’ on 4 Jan. 1841.
Woodley was a contributor to the chief periodicals, and the ‘Gazetteer of the County of Cornwall,’ published at Truro about 1817, has been attributed to him.
[Boase and Courtney's Bibl. Cornub. ii. 902–903, 951, 1362–3; Allen and McClure's S.P.C.K. 1898, pp. 400–1; British Lady's Mag. February 1818, p. 93; Gent. Mag. 1847, i. 444; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. iii. 399; postscript to Portugal Delivered; information from Mr. Arthur Burch, F.S.A., Diocesan Registry, Exeter.]
WOODMAN, RICHARD (1524?–1557), protestant martyr, born about 1524 at Buxted, Sussex, was by trade an ‘iron-maker,’ living in the parish of Warbleton, East Sussex, and keeping a hundred workmen in his employ. He became known as a protestant at the beginning of 1554 by ‘admonishing’ George Fairebanke, the rector of Warbleton, when in the pulpit. Woodman was arrested for this infringement of the ‘act of 1553 against offenders of preachers and other ministers in the churche’ (1 Mary st. 2. c. 3). He was taken before the local magistrates, and twice brought up before quarter sessions to give security for good behaviour. For contumacious refusal to do this he was imprisoned during two periods of three months (‘two more sessions’) under the act. During this time he was twice examined before the bishop of Chichester, George Day [q. v.], and five times before Cardinal Pole's ‘commissioners.’ In June 1554 he was committed by the Sussex magistrates to the queen's bench prison, London, a measure of doubtful legality; there he remained a prisoner nearly eighteen months. In November 1555 Woodman was sent by Dr. John Story [q. v.], Bonner's persecuting chancellor, to that bishop's notorious ‘coal-
