Background
He was son of Thomas Langley, a shoemaker, of Abingdon, Berkshire.
He was son of Thomas Langley, a shoemaker, of Abingdon, Berkshire.
He was elected a chorister of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1627, and on 6 November 1629 matriculated from Pembroke College, of which he subsequently became Fellow, graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1632, and proceeding Master of Arts in 1635, Bachelor of Divinity in 1648, and Doctor of Divinity in 1649. He was appointed rector of Saint Mary, Newington, Surrey, by a parliamentary order of 20 June 1643. On the death, on 10 July 1647, of Thomas Clayton, Master of Pembroke, the fellows elected Henry Wightwick to the vacant post, but their choice was overruled by the parliament.
Langley was nominated on 26 August 1647, and his appointment was confirmed by the parliamentary visitors on 8 October following.
He was nominated a canon of Christ Church by a parliamentary order of 2 March 1648, and held this post with the mastership of Pembroke till his ejection at the Restoration, when he retired to Tubney, near Abingdon. According to Anthony Wood, Langley took boarders)into his house, and taught them logic and philosophy.
On the appearance in March 1671-1672 of the Declaration of Indulgence to dissenters, he was chosen with three others to continue a course of preaching within the city of Oxford, in direct opposition to the will of the university authorities. Wood says that he was a constant preacher at Tom Pun"s house in Broken Hayes.
He died on or about 10 September 1679, and was buried in Saint Helen"s Church, Abingdon.
He became a delegate to the visitors on 30 September in the same year, served as one of the twenty delegates appointed by the proctors (19 May 1648) to answer and act in all things pertaining to the public good of the university, and on 5 July following was constituted member of the committee appointed for the examination of candidates for fellowships and scholarships.