He was born on 30 May 1797 in
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 age of nine, Shirley was placed under the care of the Rev.
Legh Richmond but was soon moved to a school at Linton in
Essex. He became a scholar of
Winchester College in 1809, and six years later was elected to a scholarship at
New College, Oxford, where he became a Fellow in 1818. After his ordination on 7 August 1820, he took charge of the parish of
Woodford, Northamptonshire, one of the livings held by his father. In 1821 he became curate of
Parwich in
Derbyshire. In 1822 he was appointed assistant lecturer of
Ashbourne and curate of
Atlow and was awarded the prize for the English essay at Oxford, the subject being
the Study of Moral Evidence. He acted as chaplain at Rome in the winter of 1826–7, and during his residence there he became intimately acquainted with
Christian Karl Josias von Bunsen and
Thomas Erskine, as well as with
Charles Lock Eastlake and
David Wilkie. In the autumn of 1827 he was married at Paris to Maria, daughter of William Waddington, and at the same time, his father resigned the living of
St Michael's Church, 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, which he held jointly with Shirley. He gave up the former cure two years later when he was appointed to the incumbency of
Brailsford, a parish adjoining that of Shirley. In 1829 he alienated some of his friends by his outspoken advocacy of
Catholic emancipation; in later years he estranged others by refusing to support measures against the
Tractarians. His own upbringing and views were
evangelical. He was made
Archdeacon of Derby by the bishop of Lichfield on 21 December 1840. In November 1846 he was appointed Bishop of Sodor and Man by
Lord John Russell; but because of a serious illness, he was not consecrated until 10 January 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. His only son was
Walter Waddington Shirley. Among his pupils were
Stafford Henry Northcote and his nephew,
William Henry Waddington, the French minister. ==Works==