Life

The only son of Walter Augustus Shirley

Walter Augustus Shirley

Walter Augustus Shirley was an English churchman, bishop of Sodor and Man from 1846.-Life:He was born on 30 May 1797 at Westport, Ireland, where his father held a curacy, the only son of Walter Shirley, by his wife Alicia, daughter of Sir Edward Newenham. His grandfather was Walter Shirley. At the...

, bishop of Sodor and Man

Bishop of Sodor and Man

The Bishop of Sodor and Man is the Ordinary of the Diocese of Sodor and Man in the Province of York in the Church of England. The diocese covers the Isle of Man. The see is in the town of Peel where the bishop's seat is located at the Cathedral Church of St German, elevated to cathedral status on 1...

, he was born at Shirley, Derbyshire

Shirley, Derbyshire

Shirley is a small village in Derbyshire, close to the town of Ashbourne. It is situated in the countryside on top of a small hill.-History:Shirley was mentioned in the Domesday book as belonging to Henry de Ferrers and being worth forty shillings.....

, on 24 July 1828. He was educated at Rugby School

Rugby School

Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...

 under Thomas Arnold

Thomas Arnold

Dr Thomas Arnold was a British educator and historian. Arnold was an early supporter of the Broad Church Anglican movement...

. His closest friend at school and throughout his life was his cousin, William Henry Waddington

William Henry Waddington

William Henry Waddington was a French statesman who was Prime Minister of France in 1879.-Early life and education:...

, later in French politics.

In June 1846 Shirley matriculated at University College, Oxford

University College, Oxford

.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...

, but in the following year he migrated to Wadham College, where he had gained a scholarship. He obtained a first class in the honour school of mathematics in 1851, and in 1852 was elected a Fellow of his college. He had to vacate his fellowship three years later, on his mother's death, when he inherited a small landed property. From 1855 to 1863 he was tutor and mathematical lecturer of Wadham. It was during this period that he began historical study.

His theological views underwent considerable change; the position which Shirley occupied at the time of his death was still a provisional one. Having been in his early days a disciple of Arnold, he ultimately came to regard ‘undogmatic Christianity’ as a contradiction in terms. In May 1863, he preached in the university church a sermon on the unreasonableness of Arnold's teaching. Later that year he was made regius professor of ecclesiastical history

Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History

The Regius Chair of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Oxford was founded by Queen Victoria in 1842. Previous Holders of the Chair include John McManners, Peter Hinchliff and Henry Mayr-Harting....

 and canon of Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...

. He was one of the pioneers of the university extension movement, and played a part in the founding of Keble College. His career was cut short at the age of thirty-eight. He died on 20 November 1866.

Works

In 1858 his edition of Fasciculi Zizaniorum Magistri Johannis Wyclif was published in the Rolls Series

Rolls Series

The Rolls Series, official title The Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages, is a major collection of British and Irish historical materials and primary sources, published in the second half of the 19th century. Some 255 volumes, representing 99 separate...

. He began a life of John Wiclif, which he did not live to complete, though in 1865 he published ‘Catalogue of the Original Works of John Wiclif,’ Oxford. In 1862 he edited for the Rolls Series ‘Royal and other Historical Letters illustrative of the Reign of Henry III.’

He also published a lecture on ‘Scholasticism,’ delivered before the university of Oxford, 1866. After his death a small volume by him, entitled ‘Some Account of the Church in the Apostolic Age,’ was published by the Clarendon Press.

Family

By his wife Philippa, daughter of Samuel Knight of Impington, Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...

, whom he married on 4 July 1855, Shirley had issue three daughters and two sons, of whom the elder became Walter Knight Shirley, 11th Earl Ferrers.