Rev Henry Soames, 1785-1860, Rector of Stapleford Tawney (Part 1)

Ecclesiastical historian, Soames was the son of Nathaniel Soames, shoemaker, of Ludgate Street, London. He was educated at St Paul's School, and at Wadham College, Oxford, where he matriculated on 21 February 1803, and graduated BA in 1807, and MA in 1809.

He became deacon in 1808 and was ordained by the bishop of London in 1809. He held the post of assistant to the high-master of St Paul's School from 1809 to 1814. In 1812 he was made rector of Shelley, and in 1821 rector of the neighbouring parish of Little Laver. From 1831 to 1839 he was vicar of Brent with Furneaux Pelham, Hertfordshire.

In 1839 he became rector of Stapleford Tawney with Theydon Mount, Essex, where he lived, apparently with his sister, until his death. He was Bampton lecturer in 1830, and was appointed chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral by Bishop Blomfield in 1842.

He died on 21 October 1860 at Stapleford Tawney.

He wrote a number of books but he concentrated his labour and learning on English ecclesiastical history in Anglo-Saxon times and in the sixteenth century.