The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Addis, William E.
Addis, William E., B.A., son of the late Rev. Thomas Addis, of Edinburgh, minister of the Free Church, was born in 1844, and was Snell Exhibitioner to Balliol College, Oxford. He matriculated on Oct. 12th, 1861, and took a first class in Classical Moderations in 1863, and a first class in the final classical schools in 1865. He took his B.A. degree in 1866, and very shortly afterwards became a convert to the Roman Catholic Church, and a member of the congregation of St. Philip Neri at the Brompton Oratory. He left the Oratory, and became priest in charge of Lower Sydenham. In 1888 he resigned the priesthood, after issuing a circular to his parishioners announcing his abjuration of Roman Catholic doctrines, and was married, at St. John's, Notting Hill, to Miss Flood. At the end of the year he accepted the post of assistant to the Rev. Charles Strong, of the Australian Church, Melbourne. Mr. Addis is the author of "Anglicanism and the Fathers," "Anglican Misrepresentation," and of the "Catholic Dictionary," compiled in conjunction with Thomas Arnold (q.v.), which was published in 1884. Since his residence in Melbourne Mr. Addis has published some articles on Biblical criticism, displaying an acquaintance with the more advanced school of German theologians.