Papers of Rev William Laporte Payne

Personal papers of Rev William Laporte Payne comprising letters from members of his family, including one from his mother, but mostly from his children, some of which are written to their mother; personal and official letters from clerical colleagues and others including one letter of 1878 offering him a place at the London College of Divinity and a letter from the Bishop of Worcester dated 1898; licences, institutions, certificates and associated papers relating to his varied clerical career which included serving in parishes in Birmingham, Gloucestershire, Kent, London and Somerset; official family papers including certificates, and orders of service, in memoriam cards and other miscellaneous family and personal material; and postcards, photographs and illustrations of some of the churches where he served and photographs of group events and individuals. The collection also includes a few letters of Rev Campbell Theophilus Payne, William's brother, which relate to his incumbency of St Andrew, Newington, London, 1899-1911.

William Laporte Payne (d c 1924) was the son of William Michael Payne, a civil servant. He was admitted to the London College of Divinity in 1879 and was ordained as deacon in 1881 and as priest in 1882. The details of his incumbency in the various parishes in which he served are as follows: curate of St Peter's, Highgate Hill, London, 1881-1885; curate of Strood, 1885-1889; rector of All Saints, Birmingham, 1890-1898; vicar of St Luke, South Lyncombe, Bath, 1898-1907; vicar of Herne Bay, 1907-1911; vicar of Christ Church, North Finchley, London, 1911-1921; and rector of Woodchester, Gloucestershire, from 1921 until his death in around 1924.

He married Rachel Aldridge, daughter of Charles Miller Aldridge, a surgeon, in 1885. They had two sons, Archibald Alldridge (b 1887) and Reginald Merac (b 1891) and two daughters, Evelyn and Maudie. He had a brother, Campbell Theophilus Payne, who was also an Anglican clergyman and who also attended the London College of Divinity.

References: Crockford's Clerical Directory 1923; items in the collection

This collection is arranged into two series: professional papers and family papers

Open. Access to all registered researchers.

Received from the Church of England Record Centre, November 2002

Please see full catalogue for more information.

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Director of Special Collections (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk). Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

These papers were rescued from a tip on the death of Archibald Laporte Payne, son of Rev William Laporte Payne, who served in the Royal Artillery in France during the First World War and subsequently became a London solicitor. Archibald's letters written from the trenches were sent by the rescuer to the Imperial War Museum. The papers of Rev William Laporte Payne were offered variously to archive services in Somerset and London including the Church of England Record Centre. The papers were finally deposited in the University of Birmingham Informations Services, Special Collections Department because of Payne's association with the London College of Divinity whose records are held here.

University of Birmingham Information Services, Special Collections Department holds the records of St John's College, Nottingham which include records of its predecessor, the London College of Divinity (GB 0150 SJC). The Special Collections Department holds personal papers of another contemporary Anglican clergyman, Rev Reginald Bartram (GB 0150 MS103).