After assisting at Wakefield grammar school, Lupton was appointed, in 1859, second classical master in the City of London School, then in Milk Street, Cheapside; among his pupils there were Henry Palin Gurney and James Smith Reid. Ordained deacon in 1859 and priest in 1860, he served as curate at St. Paul's Church, Avenue Road, N.W., and afterwards to W. Sparrow Simpson, rector of St Matthew Friday Street. Proceeding M.A. in 1861, Lupton succeeded to the fellowship at St John's College, Cambridge vacated by John Eldon Gorst on 19 March 1861.
