In 1271, on the death of Fulk Basset, Corner was nominated as Archbishop of Dublin, but faced a rival candidate in Fromund Le Brun, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland: the result was a long and bitter struggle for the office, which required the personal intervention of the Pope, and ended in 1279 with both candidates being disqualified in favour of John de Derlington (although Derlington, detained in England on official business, died in 1284 without reaching Ireland).[2]
Corner was an unsuccessful candidate for the bishopric of Salisbury in March 1288, losing out to Lawrence de Awkeburne.[1] After Lawrence's death, William was elected on 24 November 1288 and consecrated on 8 May 1289.
Corner died in October 1291, probably on the 10th.[3]
^D'Alton, John Memoirs of the Archbishops of Dublin Hodges and Smith Dublin 1838 p.103
^Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 270
Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-56350-X.