Joseph Masterson was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 clergyman who held high office in the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

.

He was born on 29 January 1899 in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, England. He was ordained a priest on 27 July 1924. In 1947 he was appointed as Vicar General of the Diocese of Salford

Diocese of Salford

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford is a Latin Rite Roman Catholic diocese centred around Salford Cathedral in the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England....

 and a priest in parish of St. Mary’s of The Angels and St.Clare. He was elevated to the episcopy on 8 Frbruary 1947. His principal consecrator was Cardinal Bernard Griffin

Bernard Griffin

Bernard William Griffin was an English Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Westminster from 1943 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1946 by Pope Pius XII.-Biography:...

, co-consecrators Bishop of Salford

Bishop of Salford

The Bishop of Salford is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford in the Province of Liverpool, England.With the gradual abolition of the legal restrictions on the activities of Catholics in England and Wales in the early 19th century, Rome decided to proceed to bridge the gap of the...

 Henry Vincent Marshall

Henry Vincent Marshall

Henry Vincent Marshall was the sixth Bishop of Salford, a Roman Catholic diocese in the north-west of England.He was born on 19 July 1884, and ordained priest on 24 June 1908....

 and Bishop of Soli Humphrey Bright. On 19 March 1947, he was appointed Archbishop of Birmingham

Archbishop of Birmingham

The Archbishop of Birmingham heads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham in England. As such he is the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Province of Birmingham....

, a post he held until his death on 30 November 1953.