 He was educated at Lincoln Grammar School and Shrewsbury before entering St. John's College, Cambridge, where he held a scholarship, in 1860.In 1862, two years after his arrival, he was elected the Craven University scholar, and in 1864 he gained his BA as Senior Classic and was appointed a Fellow and Lecturer of St. John's.He was ordained a Church of England priest in 1866 and graduated M.A.