He was the son of Canon James Bardsley, once a Bradford curate.

[1] He continued his education at Manchester Grammar School[2] and Trinity College, Dublin.

[5] From 1880 to 1886 he was Archdeacon of Warrington and then Archdeacon of Liverpool for a year before his ordination to the episcopate as Bishop of Sodor and Man in 1887.

In 1891 he was translated to Carlisle,[6] a post he held until his death on 14 March 1914.

Whilst at Bootle he had married Mary Powell with whom he had five children.