William Hartley was an English Catholic priest born around 1557 in Derbyshire. After studying at St John's College, Oxford, he was removed from his position as chaplain due to his religious leanings. He traveled to France to be ordained in 1580, subsequently returning to England to assist in the distribution of Catholic literature. Following several periods of imprisonment and a brief exile in Normandy, he was eventually arrested in London. He was executed in Shoreditch on October 5, 1588, during the period of persecution following the Spanish Armada.