The son of John Coates, a watchmaker in the City of London, he was born at Reading, Berkshire in or about 1746.
[1] Coates went into the church as his profession, and was for some years, between 1775 and 1797, curate to Charles Sturges, at that time vicar of Ealing.
In 1780 he also became vicar of Preston, Dorset, a preferment he owed to Spicer; and early in 1788 he was presented to the neighbouring vicarage of Osmington by Shute Barrington, Bishop of Salisbury.
[1] In 1791 Coates issued proposals for The History and Antiquities of Reading; it appeared in 1802, and was followed, seven years later, by a Supplement with corrections.
[2] He also collected material for a continuation of John Le Neve's Lives of the Protestant Bishops, which he presented to Alexander Chalmers for use in his General Biographical Dictionary.