The third son of Sir Charles Oakeley, 1st Baronet, he was born in Madras on 10 February 1791, and brought to England in 1794 by his family.
He was presented by Howley to the vicarage of Ealing in 1822, and to the prebendal stall of Wenlock's Barn in St Paul's Cathedral.
Both at Ealing and at Bocking, Oakeley was one of the first to carry out the system of parochial organisation by means of district visitors, weekday services, and Sunday-schools.
[1] In 1841 Oakeley succeeded William Lyall in the archdeaconry of Colchester; and when the bishopric of Gibraltar was founded in 1842, it was offered to him, though he declined it.
They left four sons, of whom the eldest, Charles William, succeeded to the baronetcy, and the second, Herbert (1830–1903), was Reid Professor of Music at Edinburgh; and three daughters.