He was educated at the public schools of Newport, Rhode Island and Salem, Massachusetts, before attending Harvard University to study at the Episcopal Theological School, from where he graduated in 1891 with a Bachelor of Divinity.

[1] Babcock was ordained deacon on January 13, 1877, and priest on September 28, 1891, by Bishop Thomas M. Clark of Rhode Island.

[2] During his diaconate he was active in local missionary work and served as assistant at Christ Church in Westerly, Rhode Island.

After ordination to the priesthood, he served as curate of Grace Church in Providence, Rhode Island between 1891 and 1892, rector of Christ Church in Hyde Park, Massachusetts between 1892 and 1903, Archdeacon of New Bedford between 1899 and 1903, and then Archdeacon of Massachusetts from 1903 to 1913.

His funeral was held in St Paul's Cathedra, Boston, where Bishop Henry Knox Sherrill was celebrant.