Calvert was born in 1775; educated at Kirkham Grammar School and St John's College, Cambridge; and ordained in 1800.

The last-named degree was taken in the name of Calvert, which he assumed on the death of a friend belonging to an old Lancashire family, who, although unconnected by blood, left him about 1819 a large fortune.

[4] He was fellow of his college in 1798, tutor in 1814, and Norrisian Professor of Divinity from 1814 to 1824, in which year he resigned the post of Lady Margaret's preacher, which he had held since 1819.

Calvert had his consolation in the college living of Holme, Yorkshire, in 1822, and in the wardenship of the Collegiate Church of Manchester, conferred unsolicited on the recommendation of his admirer, Lord Liverpool.

He married Juliana, daughter of Sir Charles Watson of Wratting Park, Cambridgeshire, and had three sons.