The only son of Walter Augustus Shirley, bishop of Sodor and Man, he was born at Shirley, Derbyshire, on 24 July 1828. In 1837 he became pupil no. 2, second only to the headmaster's son, at Lieutenant C.R. Malden's preparatory school (now known as Windlesham House School) founded in that year at Newport, Isle of Wight. He left in 1839 for Rugby School under Thomas Arnold. His closest friend at Rugby and throughout his life was his cousin, William Henry Waddington, later in French politics.
