People of Note
Walter Augustus Shirley (1797–1847)
Walter Augustus Shirley, Bishop of Sodor and Man, was born on 30th May 1797 at Westport, Ireland, where his father held a curacy. He was the only son of Walter Shirley(1768-1858), and Alicia Newenham
His father was a great-grandson of Robert, 1st Earl Ferrers; first cousin to Robert, 7th Earl Ferrers (1756-1827) and of Shirley Washington (1760-1842) later 8th Earl Ferrers; who held livings of Woodford, Northants., and Shirley, Derbys.; His mother Alicia Newenham, daughter of Sir Edward Newenham(1734–1814), politician and Grace Anna Burton. His grandparents were Walter Shirley (1725–1786), the Methodist preacher and hymn writer and Henrietta Phillips d.1792
At a young age, Shirley was tutored by Rev. Legh Richmond, A.M. of Trinity College, Cambridge ( chaplain to the Rt. Hon. the Duke of Kent) until he was moved to a school in Linton, Essex. He became a scholar of Winchester College in 1809, and six years later was elected to a scholarship at New College, Oxford, of which society he became a fellow in 1818. Immediately after his ordination on 7th August, 1820, he took charge of the parish of Woodford, one of the livings held by his father. In 1821 he became curate of Parwich, Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, and in 1822 he was appointed assistant lecturer of Ashbourne and curate of Atlow . He was awarded the prize for the English essay at Oxford in 1822, the subject being the Study of Moral Evidence.
He toured the continent during 1826-1827 staying at Paris, where he visited the Maturins (his aunt and uncle), Genoa, Alexandria, and acted as chaplain at Rome in the winter of 1826-7, where he received a mixed reception of a sermon he gave about behaviour of Protestants in Roman Catholic churches. During his residence there he became acquainted with the Bunsens and Thomas Erskine, as well as with Sir Charles Lock Eastlake(1793–1865) , and Sir David Wilkie(1785–1841) the artist.
On Sept. 4th 1827 he was married at the British Embassy Chapel, Paris to Maria, daughter of William Waddington of Impington Hall, Cambridgeshire - a British manufacturer with a spinning factory at St.Remy near Nonancourt in France.
At this time his father resigned the living of Shirley in his favour. He took possession of his new home in January 1828.
After nine years' residence at Shirley he accepted the living of Whiston, near Rotherham in January 1837. In February, letters to his family tell of his plans for the Whiston church and congregation. The brick chancel arch was removed; iron arches replaced the stone arches between the nave and the north aisle; the aisle roof was raised; the west gallery was demolished and replaced with the north gallery; the organ was moved and repaired and a stove was installed at a total cost of £450. On November 10th 1837 the church was re-opened after repair.
During his time in Whiston he was involved along with Charlotte, Countess of Effingham, Henry, Lord Howard, Hon. Charles Howard and Hon. William Howard (sons of the Earl of Effingham), Rev. Thomas Richard Ryder of Ecclesfield,Rev. John Lowe of Swinton, Henry Walker of Clifton House, in the establishment of a church and school at Thorpe Hesley for the education of poor children. The school was under the management of the Countess of Effingham during her life and thereafter of the minister of Thorpe Hesley Church.
He gave up Whiston, only two years later, when he was appointed to the incumbency of Brailsford, a parish adjoining that of Shirley. He was made Archdeacon of Derby by the bishop of Lichfield on 21st December, 1840. In November 1846 he was appointed Bishop of Sodor and Man by Lord John Russell; but in consequence of a serious illness he was not consecrated until 10 Jan. 1847. He had been elected Bampton lecturer for that year, but lived only long enough to deliver two of the lectures of his course. He died at Bishop's Court, Isle of Man, on 21 April 1847 and eight days later was buried in the family vault of the church at Shirley. His wife Maria died in 1854
After his continental tour, his views were somewhat modified by the influence of Bunsen and Arnold, although he continued faithful to the teaching of his early years. In 1829 he alienated some of his friends by his outspoken advocacy of catholic emancipation. In politics Shirley was a constitutional whig. A man of wide reading, possessed of a keen sense of humour, he exerted great influence over young men. He helped to mould the character of two distinguished statesmen, his pupil, Stafford H. Northcote (afterwards Earl of Iddesleigh), and his nephew, W. H. Waddington, the French minister, who was accustomed to speak of Bishop Shirley as his second father, having spend a lot of his childhood with Maria, while his parents were abroad.
In addition to the Oxford prize essay already mentioned, Bishop Shirley published A Charge to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Derby, 1846. The two Bampton lectures that he had delivered, together with two others which he had completed before he died, were published in 1847 under the title of The Supremacy of the Holy Scripture.
His son was Rev.Walter Waddington Shirley (1828-1866),educated at Rugby and Wadham College, Oxford; elected a Fellow 1852,his son Walter Knight Shirley (1864-1937) became 11th Earl Ferrers, and the present (13th) Earl is a great-grandson of Walter Waddington Shirley.
His only daughter was Alicia Maria Shirley (later Alicia Harris) was born on May 22nd 1833. (1833-c.1900?)
Letters and Memoir of the late Walter Augustus Shirley D.D. 1849 - Offsite Link
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