Born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, Soley graduated from Harvard College in 1870. He was appointed Assistant Professor of Ethics and English at the United States Naval Academy on 1 October 1871. Only two years later, he became Head of the Department of English Studies, History, and Law. In 1884, Commodore Stephen B. Luce appointed Soley instructor in International Law at the newly established United States Naval War College, thereby becoming that institution's first civilian faculty member. Soley died in New York City on 11 September 1911.