He graduated in 1884 as third wrangler, and in 1885 was awarded a "first" in the mathematical tripos.
He left Cambridge the following year, not having sat the mathematical tripos because of his delicate health, and became a barrister of the Inner Temple.
A number of them went on to achieve high distinction in the mathematical tripos, and subsequently in the hierarchies of university and church.
Undergraduates competing for honors at Cambridge University take a set of examinations termed the "mathematical tripos" (after the three-legged chair the participants once sat on).
Rote learning, called bookwork, was used in mathematics at Cambridge University in preparation for mathematical tripos:
In that time, high wranglers of one year became the examiners of the mathematical tripos three or four years afterwards.
He graduated in 1864 with a BA in the mathematical tripos.
He went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1940 and read parts I and II of the mathematical tripos as a compressed two-year course.
Taking part 2 of the mathematical tripos in his third year, he was placed in the second division of the first class.
He was a brilliant scholar, though only a senior optime in the mathematical tripos.