William Ormond Sutcliffe was the son of Joseph Sutcliffe and Mary Ellen Furness and was born in Halifax, 24 October 1856. He was educated at Shrewsbury School (1870-75) and St John's College, Cambridge (1876-80), taking a First in the Classical Tripos. At some point shortly after 1882 he was received into the Catholic Church and on 25 February, 1888, he was ordained priest for the Diocese of Westminster from St Thomas's Seminary, Hammersmith. For the next two years he was on the staff of the Seminary. In 1890 he was appointed Diocesan Inspector of Schools, to the duties of which office he added, in 1893 or 1894, the duties of Chaplain to the Sisters of St Veronica at St Veronica's Retreat in Chiswick. In 1896 he was sent as parish priest to Hampton Wick, but was there for no more than one year. On 11 March, 1897, he took up residence at St Edmund's House, Cambridge, as its first Master. When he left Cambridge in 1904, William Sutcliffe was no more than 47 years old and he had another 41 years to live. But he never returned to parochial life. He was re-appointed to the Diocesan Inspectorate of Schools and in 1906 became Chief Inspector. Three years after this he was nominated a canon of the Westminster Chapter. He died 16 November, 1944, at Mayfield, Sussex and was buried there four days later by the 7th Master of St Edmund's House, John Petit. [Notes courtesy of Garrett Sweeney, 'St Edmund's House, Cambridge: The First Eighty Years'.]