Vaughan was born at Courtfield, near Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel John Francis Vaughan, of an old recusant family, the Vaughans of Courtfield, Herefordshire. His mother, Eliza Rolls from The Hendre, Monmouthshire, was a Catholic convert and intensely religious. All five of the Vaughan daughters became nuns, while six of the eight sons took Holy Orders and became priests. John Vaughan studied at St. Gregory's College, and at the English CollegeBruges, then finally at Rome, before being ordained priest 4 June 1876 at Salford Cathedral by his brother Bishop Herbert Vaughan.
Career
Immediately after ordination Fr Vaughan was appointed to the staff of the recently opened St. Bede's College as Professor of Mathematics, however he resigned in November of that same year following a breakdown in health and was invited by his brother Bishop Roger Vaughan to come and undertake Missionary work in Australia. He returned to England in July 1879 and rejoined the staff of St Bede's in his former role as Professor of Mathematics, where he remained until July 1886. In 1886, Fr Vaughan was invited by his brother Fr Kenelm Vaughan to join him at his new venture 'The House of Expiation' in Chelsea, London. In 1896, he was appointed domestic prelate to the Papal Court with the title Monsignor and in 1898 became Canon of Westminster. Between 1890 and 1903, he organized free Catholic lectures in various public halls in London. He resided in Rome 1904-07, and then undertook a preaching tour in the United States and Canada. In 1909, Monsignor Vaughan returned to England and was sent back to the Diocese of Salford to assist Bishop Louis Charles Casartelli as his auxiliary bishop, he took the title of Titular Bishop of Sebastopolis and was consecrated in Westminster Cathedral on the 5 August 1909. Coming to Manchester he initially resided at Xaverian College until 1912 when he returned to St. Bede's College as Rector. In 1915 he took up residence at St Joseph's College, Upholland near Wigan. In 1920 became Parish Priest at St Hubert's Church in Great Harwood where he died five years later on 4 December 1925 at the age of seventy-two.
