John Vaughan was born on 24th January 1853, the youngest of the thirteen children of Herbert and Eliza Vaughan. He was ordained priest by his brother, Bishop Herbert Vaughan, on 4th June 1876 in St John’s Cathedral, Salford. He was one of the first professors at the newly-opened St Bede’s College, but his health failed and he was ordered abroad. For some years his priestly ministry alternated between Rome and Westminster. In Rome he was attached to San Silvestro in Capite, a church frequented by English residents in Rome.

Pope Leo XIII made Bisop Vaughan a Domestic Prelate in 1898. Pope St Pius X appointed him auxiliary Bishop of Salford and titular Bishop of Sebastopolis in Cappadocia, Asia Minor, in 1909 to assist Bishop Casartelli.

Bishop Vaughan resided first with the Xaverian Brothers. Then, from 1912 to 1915, he was rector of St Bede’s College. After a time at Upholland and elsewhere he became in 1920 parish priest of Our Lady and St Hubert, Great Harwood. He survived Bishop Casartelli only by a few months. He died on 4th December 1925 and is buried at Great Harwood.