 He was educated at the Charterhouse as a day boy, and St John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1831 as fourth senior optime.He had intended studying law, but about the time of his father's death in 1832 he decided to enter the Church, and was ordained deacon in September 1832 and priest a year later.He was curate at Aylestone, near Leicester for about six years, was for a few months at Burnham, near Maidenhead, and in 1839 became rector of Beaulieu in Hampshire.