Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Marshall, Thomas William
MARSHALL, THOMAS WILLIAM (1818–1877), catholic controversialist, son of John Marshall, who in the time of Sir Robert Peel was government agent for colonising New South Wales, was born in 1818, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1840. Taking orders he was appointed curate of Swallowcliffe and Anstey, Wiltshire. In 1844 he published a bulky work entitled 'Notes on the Episcopal Polity of the Holy Catholic Church: with some Account of the Development of the Modern Religious Systems,' London, 1844, 8vo. In 1845 he joined the Roman catholic church, and resigned his curacy. He subsequently became an inspector of schools and published 'Tabulated Reports on Roman Catholic Schools, inspected in the South and East of England and in South Wales,' 1859. A later work by him, 'Christian Missions; their Agents, their Method, and their Results,' 3 vols. London, 1862, 8vo, embodied extensive research, and passed through several editions in this country and the United States; it has been translated into French and other European languages, and Pope Pius IX acknowledged its value by bestowing on the author the cross of the order of St. Gregory. Among his other works are: 'Church Defence;' 'Christianity in China: a fragment,' London, 1858, 8vo; 'Catholic Missions in Southern India,' London, 1865, 8vo, in conjunction with the Rev. W. Strickland, S.J.; and 'My Clerical Friends and their Relation to Modern Thought,' London, 1873, 8vo. About 1873 he visited the United States and lectured in most of the large towns on subjects connected with the catholic religion; and he received the degree of LL.D. from the college of Georgetown. After his return to England Marshall published 'Protestant Journalism' (anon.), London, 1874, 8vo; and contributed to the 'Tablet' a series of articles on 'Religious Contrasts,' 1875–6, on 'The Protestant Tradition,' June–Dec. 1876, and on 'Ritualism,' 1877 (incomplete). Marshall died at Surbiton, Surrey, on 14 Dec. 1877, and was buried at Mortlake.
[Gondon's Motifs de Conversion de dix Ministry s Anglicans, pp. 20–37; Gondon's Conversion de Cent Cinquante Ministres Anglicans, pp. 100–102; Gibbon's Bibl. Dict. of the Eng. Catholics, vol. iv. (M.S.); Browne's Annals of the Tractarian Movement, 1861, p. 100; Tablet, December 1877, pp. 775, 822.]