[1] Born in Greystones, County Wicklow, Ireland on 8 October 1858,[2] he was educated at Sherborne School and Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
[3] Ordained in 1886, his first post was a curacy at Preston Parish Church,[4] after which he returned to his old college as its Dean.
He moved back to Lancashire, at first as Vicar of St Paul’s in Preston, then he became Rural Dean of St Peter's, Bolton on 21 January 1902.
[5] During his incumbency at Bolton, he was appointed an honorary canon of Manchester Cathedral in 1903.
[5] In 1909, he was ordained to the episcopate, becoming the suffragan Bishop of Burnley.