Born on 12 December 1828 at Hermitage House, near Dublin, Ireland, the fifth son of Commander Edward Handfield, R.N., and his wife Louisa, nee Cokely. Childhood at Wigan, Lancashire, England. Educated at Uppingham School and at the Collegiate Institution, Liverpool. Arrived at Melbourne with Bishop Perry on 24 January 1848 per "Stag" from London, England. Assistant master in the Melbourne Diocesan Grammar School. Ordained deacon on 21 December 1851 by Bishop Perry, and priest in 1852. At St. Peter's, Eastern Hill, firstly as curate and from 1854 as incumbent. Visited England in 1855. He married on 10 November 1853 at St. Peter's, Eastern Hill, Melbourne, Vic., to Mary Leigh Tripp, eldest daughter of William Upton Tripp of Collingwood, Vic. Canon of St. Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, from the 1870's. Died on 8 August 1900 at St. Peter's Vicarage, Eastern Hill, Melbourne, Victoria, and was buried on 10 August 1900 at the Melbourne General Cemetery, Carlton, Vic.

[death certificate; Australian Dictionary of Biography (Vol. 4); Heaton Men of the Time]

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