He was the third son of
Gilbert Ironside the elder, born at
Winterbourne Abbas. On 14 November 1650, he
matriculated at Wadham College, Oxford, where he graduated
BA on 4 February 1653,
MA on 22 June 1655,
BD on 12 October 1664, and
DD on 30 June 1666. He became scholar of his college in 1651,
fellow in 1656, and was appointed public reader in grammar in 1659, bursar in 1659 and 1661, sub-warden in 1660, and librarian in 1662. He was presented in 1663 to the rectory of
Winterbourne Faringdon by Sir John Miller, with which he held from 1666, in succession to his father, the rectory of
Winterbourne Steepleton. On the promotion of
Walter Blandford to the
See of Oxford, he was elected
Warden of Wadham College on 7 December 1665, an office which he held for 25 years until his resignation on 7 October 1689. According to
Anthony Wood, he was strongly opposed to the high-handed
John Fell, and refused to serve as Vice-Chancellor of the
University of Oxford during Fell's lifetime. After Fell's death in 1686, he filled the office from 1687 to 1689. When
King James II made his visit to
Oxford in September 1687 with the aim of compelling
Magdalen College to admit his nominee
Anthony Farmer as
President, in a discussion with the King, Ironside insisted on the fellows' rights. He declined in November an invitation to dine with the King's special commissioners on the evening after they had expelled the fellows of Magdalen. After the
Glorious Revolution, Ironside was rewarded for his resistance by being appointed bishop of
Bristol; the diocese was poor, and Ironside was consecrated, 13 October 1689, on the understanding that he should be translated to a more lucrative see when opportunity offered. On the death of
Herbert Croft, he was transferred to the see of Hereford in July 1691. Near the turn of the century when he was about sixty years of age, according to Wood, Ironside married a widow of Bristol, née Robinson. He died on 27 August 1701, and was buried in the church of
St. Mary Somerset, Thames Street, London. On the
demolition of that church in 1867, the bishop's remains were transferred to
Hereford Cathedral. ==Works==