MARSHALL, THOMAS WILLIAM. – Catholic controversialist, born on 19 June 1818 at Greenwich, died on 14 December 1877 at Surbiton (Surrey). An Anglican, he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, then took orders and was appointed curate at Swallowcliffe and Anstey (Wiltshire).
In 1844 he published Notes on the episcopal polity of the holy catholic Church. The following year he converted to the Catholic faith. From 1847 to 1860 he was inspector of English Catholic schools, an office that enabled him to publish in 1859 the work Tabulated reports on roman catholic schools, inspected in the south and Cast of England and in South Wales. M. devoted himself chiefly to the history of Catholic missions, and his most important work is the three-volume Christian mission (1862), which went through various editions and translations. Also remembered are Christianity in China (1858) and Catholic missions in southern India (1865), written in collaboration with the Jesuit W. Strickland. In 1873 he delivered various lectures on the Catholic religion in the United States. On returning to his homeland, he published Protestant journalism (1874), and contributed to the Tablet a series of writings on various religious subjects (Religious contrasts, 1875–76; The protestant tradition, 1876; Ritualism, 1877, unfinished).