The son of the Rev. Charles Worsley, he was educated at Highgate School, where he made a lasting impression on Gerard Manley Hopkins, a fellow pupil in his boarding house,^[1] and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he won the Newdigate prize in 1857 with a poem on The Temple of Janus. In 1861 he published a translation of the Odyssey, followed in 1865 by a translation of the first twelve books of the Iliad, in both of which he employed the Spenserian stanza with success.

In 1863, he published a volume of Poems and Translations.

He died at 30 of tuberculosis.^[2]

His unfinished translation of the Iliad was completed after his death by John Conington.

•   This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Worsley, Philip Stanhope". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
•   This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Garnett, Richard (1900). "Worsley, Philip Stanhope". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 63. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• Garnett, Richard; Stephan, Megan A. "Worsley, Philip Stanhope (1835–1866)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/29985. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)