Roger Combes

Roger Matthew Combes (born 12 June 1947) is a retired Archdeacon of Horsham.^[1]

The Venerable Roger Combes
Archdeacon of Horsham
Combes visiting Sele Priory Church at Upper Beeding in 2006.
Church	Church of England
Diocese	Diocese of Chichester
In office	2003 until 2014
Predecessor	William Filby
Successor	Fiona Windsor
Orders
Ordination	1974 (deacon) 1975 (priest)
Personal details
Born	Roger Matthew Combes (1947-06-12) 12 June 1947 (age 78)
Nationality	British
Denomination	Anglicanism
Spouse	Christine Keiller
Alma mater	King's College London Ridley Hall, Cambridge

Birth and education

Combes was educated at King's College London,^[2] and Ridley Hall, Cambridge.^[3]

Church career

Combes was ordained in 1974 and was a curate at St Paul's, Onslow Square, Holy Trinity Brompton, and Holy Sepulchre with All Saints, Cambridge.^[4] He became Rector of Silverhill, East Sussex, in 1983 and was the Archdeacon of Horsham from 2003 until his retirement in 2014.^[5]

Combes was associated with the running of the Iwerne camps, evangelical Christian holiday camps aimed at children from British public schools. He was one of the eight people to be circulated the Ruston Report in 1982, detailing the abuse of children at Winchester College and elsewhere by chairman of the Iwerne Trust John Smyth. Combes later stated to a 2020s Church of England Independent Review that realising the nature of the report, he chose not to read it as he felt that victims would be embarrassed if he knew the details, so he did not know just how serious the allegations were until the details became public in 2017.^[6][7]

Personal life

In 1983 he married Christine Mary Keiller.