Educated at the dissenting academies at Daventry and the New College, Hackney, he was a Unitarian minister and schoolmaster at Gateacre near Liverpool, a political radical, and member of William Roscoe's literary circle.

REFERENCES TO William Shepherd:

Henry Fuseli to William Roscoe, [1797] in The Life of William Roscoe 2 vols (London: T. Cadell, 1833)

William Roscoe to Sir James Edward Smith, [1 January 1804] in The Life of William Roscoe 2 vols (London: T. Cadell, 1833)

Joseph Cooper Walker to William Roscoe, [July? 1805] in The Life of William Roscoe 2 vols (London: T. Cadell, 1833)

William Hazlitt to Sarah Stoddart [Hazlitt]; [January 1808] in Memoirs of William Hazlitt. With Portions of his Correspondence 2 vols (London: Richard Bentley, 1867)

Samuel Parr to William Roscoe, 5 September 1815 in Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Opinions of the Rev. Samuel Parr, LL.D.; with Biographical Notices of many of his Friends, Pupils, and Contemporaries. 2 vols (London: Henry Colburn, 1828)

Samuel Parr to William Roscoe, [Autumn 1815] in The Life of William Roscoe 2 vols (London: T. Cadell, 1833)

Samuel Parr to William Roscoe, 20 November 1815 in Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Opinions of the Rev. Samuel Parr, LL.D.; with Biographical Notices of many of his Friends, Pupils, and Contemporaries. 2 vols (London: Henry Colburn, 1828)

Samuel Parr to William Roscoe, 11 November 1818 in Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Opinions of the Rev. Samuel Parr, LL.D.; with Biographical Notices of many of his Friends, Pupils, and Contemporaries. 2 vols (London: Henry Colburn, 1828)

Sir William Jackson Hooker to William Roscoe, [1828] in The Life of William Roscoe 2 vols (London: T. Cadell, 1833)