Karl Sopwith

The Ven Thomas Karl Sopwith MA (known as Karl; 28 May 1873 – 14 December 1945) was an eminent Anglican clergyman in the first half of the 20th century. He was born on 28 May 1873, the eldest son of Arthur Sopwith of

Chasetown Chasetown is a village in the town of Burntwood in Staffordshire, England. It is split between the civil parishes of Burntwood and Hammerwich. History Chasetown developed in the mid 19th century as a coal mining village. At first the village ...

& his wife Catherine Susan née Shelford. He was a grandson of mining engineer

Thomas Sopwith Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, CBE, Hon FRAeS (18 January 1888 – 27 January 1989) was an English aviation pioneer, businessman and yachtsman. Early life Sopwith was born in Kensington, London, on 18 January 1888. He was the ...

and a nephew of civil engineer William Shelford. He was educated at

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican m ...

, graduating BA with a first-class in the

Theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

tripos in 1895. Ordained in 1897, after

curacies A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

at St Matthew's, Walsall and St Peter's, Cranley Gardens he held incumbencies in

Shoreham, Kent Shoreham is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 5.2 miles north of Sevenoaks. The probable derivation of the name is ''estate at the foot of a steep slope''. Steep slope was from the Saxon word ...