Reverend Robert Price BA vicar of Shoreham

Transcription of a parish register can become arduous if the person making original entries was unfamilar with the concept of knib and ink. The Reverend Robert Price on the other hand was the transcriber's dream. He is the only person to enter Shoreham burials from 1817 until his death;the remainder of burials in the register that preceded his entries are also meticulously and neatly inscribed by a curate; after Robert's death sadly penmanship is a stranger! My transcript of the 1813-1850 Shoreham Burial Register is now  available at the Kent Online Parish Clerks Shoreham page Shoreham Burials 1813-1850. A second register of Shoreham burials is also available online Shoreham Burials 1850-1889.
Robert Price was born in London the only son of James Price a London merchant according to Diocese of Rochester records and Cambridge University Alumni information. He gained his BA at Cambridge in 1796 and the same year became Curate at Saint Martin Outwich where he married Grace Ross. He served from 1796-1810 at Saint Martin Outwich London.
Robert Price was ordained a Deacon by the Bishop of London on 14 August 1796 and a priest by the Bishop of Rochester on 19 September 1802. He became a prebend of Durham in 1804 and one of three Canons nominated in 1807 to have episcopal oversight of Salisbury Diocese.
He served from 1802-1816 as curate of Croydon until he was appointed Vicar of Shoreham and instituted there on 8 June 1816 by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster who gave him the living. He served for 29 years until his death on 21 December 1842. His wife Grace entered Bromley College established for the widows of clergy and remained resident there until her death on 22 February 1862 aged 78. I have previously transcribed Grace's funeral account from Dunns undertaking business at Bromley Market Square which was paid by her son James  and details her coffin and conveyance to Shoreham for burial see two items for Grace Price funeral. In Bromley the surgeon who attended her was outfitted for attendance at the funeral and the parish church bell was tolled as the hearse and attendant coach and pair left Bromley for Shoreham.
The family burial plot at Shoreham also includes their son James Price a landscape painter who died 24 June 1879 aged 74. On 16 December 1817 the Shoreham register records the baptism of William Price to Robert and Grace;Robert baptises his own son.
The family appear in the 1841 census as resident at the Vicarage Shoreham. James Price aged 30 is unmarried and still lives with his parents;his sister Grace is aged 25 and William is aged 20. The 1841 census records that neither James or Grace were born in Kent. Grace married in 1863 at Sealkote India Thomas Wilson BA.
It appears likely that both elder children were born  in London or Croydon,during their father's ministry in those parishes.

© Henry Mantell Downe and Farnborough Online Parish Clerk 2013-2020