English musician. 1493-1509: Master of the Children of the Household Chapel. 1480-1509: Gentleman of the King's Chapell. Works in the Fayrfax Boke.
At some date before November 23, 1480 William Newark was granted a corrody (a type of charitable payment) from the priory of St. Mary, Thetford. In the document of this date he is not called master of the children but "one of the gentlemen of the King's Chapel." In the grant (April 6, 1485) of a yearly rent of £20 from King Henry VIIth's manor of Bletchingley, Surrey, he is spoken of only as "the King's servant." On May 23, 1509, he was appointed "gentleman of the Chapel in the royal household and master of the boys of the Chapel, during pleasure." As this was scarcely more than a month after King Henry VIIIth's accession, and as he was already a Gentleman of the chapel in 1480, the appointment, doubtless, was only a renewal of one made in the preceding reign. On November 12, 1509, he is mentioned as lately deceased; but the appointment of his successor seems, for some reason, to have been delayed for several years, for among the "Fees and Annuities Paid by the King in 1516" occurs a record of £26. 13s. 4d. to "W. Cornyshe, Master of the Children of the Chapel, Vice W. Newark, during pleasure."