Education
Born in Clayton Green, Lancashire on 1 October 1791, he was educated at Ampleforth Abbey, where he took the profession as a Benedictine on 13 October 1807.
Born in Clayton Green, Lancashire on 1 October 1791, he was educated at Ampleforth Abbey, where he took the profession as a Benedictine on 13 October 1807.
Burgess was ordained to the priesthood in 1813 and elected Prior of Ampleforth in July 1818. His next ministry appointments were first to Cannington, then to Portland Chapel, Bath, and finally to Monmouth where he served from 1835 to 1851. His last appointment before elevated to the Episcopate was as Vicar General of Newport.
He was appointed the Bishop of the Diocese of Clifton by the Holy See on 27 June 1851, and consecrated at Street George"s Cathedral, Southwark on 27 July 1851.
The principal consecrator was Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman, Archbishop of Westminster and the principal co-consecrators were Bishop William Wareing of Northampton and Bishop William Bernard Ullathorne of Birmingham. He died in office in Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol on 27 November 1854, aged 63.