Ian Shevill was the son of Ebson James Shevill, a mining engineer, and Gertrude Allnutt. He was educated at Scots College, Sydney and at the University of Sydney, gaining a B.A. in 1939 as an evening student and an M.A. in 1945. He studied for a B.D. and was ordained at Moore Theological College. Shevill was a postgraduate student in Japanese history at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1948-1950. He worked for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (S.P.C.K.) before returning to Australia and was awarded a Th. D.in 1953. Shevill was attracted to a catholic tradition in the Church of England.
Shevill took up his first position in the Church of England as curate, St. Paul's Church, Burwood 1940-1945. He was secretary of the Australian Board of Missions, Queensland 1946-47 and was appointed Bishop of North Queensland on 19 April 1953 at the age of thirty-five. He married June Stephenson in 1959 and, following her death in 1970, Margaret Ann Brabazon in 1974. Shevill became Assistant Bishop of London 1970-1973 and Bishop of Newcastle in 1973.
(Source: Back Cover, Going It-With God : Prayers in Prose and Poetry, Sydney: Reed, 1968; Ian Shevill Half Time (1966))
