After being ordained priest in 1850, he became successively parish Rector of Willey, Shropshire 1850–53; Blymhill, Staffordshire in 1853-64 (besides Rural Dean of Brewood in 1863); and of Wigan, Lancashire from 1864 until his death. While at Wigan he also became Honorary Canon of Chester Cathedral in 1872, then of Liverpool Cathedral following the creation of the latter diocese in 1880, which incorporated his parish. He was also chaplain to Queen Victoria from 1872.[2]
He began to study his family history, and contributed several articles to Archaeologia Cambrensis. The outcome of his research into genealogy was History of the Princes of South Wales (1876).
He died at The Hall, Wigan, in 1895, aged seventy-two.[2]