Joseph Stopford

Joseph Stopford was a Church of England vicar and followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, who were also men of the cloth. Born in Cork, but educated at Trinity College Dublin, Stopford was ordained at Gloucester Cathedral in 1894 and became deacon in the Cotswold Village of Tormarton before taking up parishes at Castle Combe, Wiltshire, and St. Mewan, and St. Ewe, both in Cornwall.

Stopford was a keen angler and chess player and represented Cornwall in the inter-county chess match against Devon in 1915. He was also a fine archer (as was his wife), and while he competed in the Grand National Archery Meeting for the National Championships several times, he had the majority of his successes in the south-west of England, where he also served on the committee of the Grand Western Archery Society