After his early schooling under the direction of the Franciscans in Baddesley Green, Warwickshire, he was educated at St. Edmund's College, old Hall, which he entered in 1810 and where he was ordained priest, 19 Sept., 1818.
He then served as assistant priest in Warwick Street, London, and afterwards at Lincoln's Inn Fields until his ill-health necessitated his removal to the country mission of Slindon in Sussex.
In 1824 he was appointed chaplain to the Duke of Norfolk at Arundel, where he spent the rest of his life, devoting himself to historical and antiquarian studies.
His chief object was to bring out a new edition of Dodd's Church History of England, which was to incorporate documents collected by himself and John Kirk.
After the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales, he became the first Canon Penitentiary of the Diocese of Southwark, having long been a member of the Old Chapter.