He was educated at The King's School, Worcester, and at Trinity College, Oxford, where he took a First in Jurisprudence in 1936 (MA 1940).
He was assistant curate of Brighouse (1940–42) before entering the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as a chaplain and serving in the Far East.
In 1946 he was appointed chaplain of Cuddesdon College and he was briefly a member of the Oratory of the Good Shepherd.
In 1960 he went to South Africa, where he had been elected Bishop of Pretoria (he had been offered the post several times before eventually taking it up).
[2] His sub-deanship coincided with a long vacancy in the deanery itself and he was therefore responsible for organising the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson on 23 July 1986.