At the same early age (fourteen), he was elected a Gloucestershire scholar of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, on 31 March 1808.
At the time he headed the list of scholars, and, according to a. contemporary at Corpus, accepted the post reluctantly, after several previous refusals (Life of Phelps).
In 1820 he became probationary fellow, and while residing at Oxford as tutor shared with his brother the curacies of East Leach and Burthrop until 1824, when he became curate of Cirencester.
In 1827 he was instituted to the living of Bisley, Gloucestershire, then a scattered parish with a number of outlying hamlets with a poor and neglected population.
He was one of the first in England to revive the daily service in church, both morning and evening— a feature in his parish work which is made the subject of a beautiful poem by his friend Isaac Williams.
As Keble's health was weak, his parish work left him little time for literary labours; but he was highly valued by many friends, and his judgment on spiritual questions was always received with deference by his elder brother.