The earliest known Vicar of Wickhamford was Henry Emms (or Emmes). An entry on a scroll at Evesham Abbey, ‘Grant of next avoidance’ (the right to present to the living at the next vacancy), dated 1539, refers both to Emms and to Thomas James, who was the Vicar of Badsey from 1525-1557:
6 October 1539. For Sir Humphrey Fones and John Peyner, William Badger and John Fyssher, yeomen.
Grant of next donation and induction to the chaplaincy of the parochial chapel or vicarage of Wickhamford. The chaplain to have for life, the altar dues1, the personal and small tithes of the parishioners, the dwelling2 called the priest house3 to be repaired and maintained at the chaplain’s own expense, the tithes of pulse (for which he shall render a quarter of pulse to the abbot annually), the tithes of flax and hemp in the township and fields of Wickhamford, and everything that chaplains Sir Thomas James, Sir Henry Emmes the late chaplain, or any of their predecessors have had.
Comments on the scroll
1 there is a marginal mark like a flower and the numeral ‘I’
2 there is a marginal mark like a flower and the numeral ‘ii’
3 a short marginalium about the house is faded and seems illegible
Henry Emms was succeeded by John Wilkes. Reverend Emms had become rector of Abbots Morton in 1530. He died in 1555.