Lionel Digby (Leo) Sherley-Price (1911–1998) was a Church of England clergyman and Oblate of Saint Benedict who translated medieval Christian literature for the Penguin Classics series.
Sherley-Price was a student at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1932, and went on to study at Chichester Theological College in 1933.[1] In 1935 he was ordained as an Anglican priest.[2] In 1936 he graduated Master of Arts and was commissioned as a chaplain in the Royal Navy.[3] From 1937 to 1939 he went to China as chaplain aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle,[4] an experience that influenced his 1951 book Confucius and Christ. In November 1942 he was transferred to HMS Unicorn.[5]
From 1963 to 1969 he was rector of Thurlestone and from 1965 to 1969 rural deanofWoodleigh, Devon.[1] In 1969 he became vicar of Dawlish in the same county.[1] From 1974 to 1978 he was incumbent at Manaton and North Bovey. He relinquished his commission as a Royal Navy reserve chaplain in 1977.[6] He retired from full-time ministry in 1978.[2] In 1985 he celebrated 50 years as an Anglican priest.[4] His wife, Nora, passed away on 7 December 1995.[7] He died at Bovey Tracey hospital on 1 November 1998.[8]