Born in either Waterford or Ardmore in Ireland,[1] by 1881 he gives his place of birth as Ramsgate in Kent;[2] this was either done for social reasons or represents a genuine error.

In 1854 he helped to establish St Mary's Training College in Hammersmith and became its vice-principal where he remained until 1858 when ill health forced him to resign and go to France to recover.

The identification of Thomas Capel as Catesby was fairly widespread as a letter of John Cashel Hoey to Archbishop Manning of 2 May 1870, the day of the book's publication, shows.

The College was established to provide higher education to Catholics who were forbidden by Papal Decree to attend Oxford or Cambridge.

[10] In March Mr Rutherford-Smith formally charged Fr Robinson with breach of the confessional and in April the matter was placed into the hands of the Holy Office of the Inquisition and the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide.

[13] By July a pamphlet had appeared giving the version of the case that condemned Fr Robinson; a copy was sent to the editor of the Weekly Register (an ultramontane Catholic paper based at 44 Catherine Street, Strand).

Mgr Capel had appealed his condemnation in England to Propaganda Fide in Rome; this gave him advantages over Cardinal Manning.

Despite Manning's influence in Rome and the work of his agents there it was not possible to secure a conviction, although, despite Mgr Capel's various protestations to friends and supporters, he was not found innocent either.

Mgr Capel returned and Manning provided a large sum to settle his debts; the New York Times reports on the auction[16] at Cedar Villas.

A later article[19] suggests that the American clerical authorities had believed that Mgr Capel's problems in England were a result of financial mismanagement with the possibility of peculation but that they had "never before heard of his being connected with a woman".