Anglican Bishops
of Canada

The Diocese of Newfoundland was separated from Nova Scotia, and formed into a separate jurisdiction in 1839. Until 1925 it included Bermuda. The diocese was split into three dioceses in 1975, Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, Central Newfoundland, Western Newfoundland.

Aubrey George Spencer (1793-1872)
Bishop: 1839 - 1843
Edward Feild (1801-1876)
Bishop: 1844 - 1876
James Butler Knill Kelly (1832-1907)
Bishop: 1876 - 1877
Llewellyn Jones (1840-1918)   Bishop: 1878 - 1917
William Charles White (1873-1943)   Bishop: 1918 - 1942
Philip Selwyn Abraham (1897-1955)   Bishop: 1942 - 1955
John Alfred Meaden (-)   Bishop: 1956 - 1965
Robert Lowder Seaborn (1911-1993)   Bishop: 1965-1975
Metropolitan of Canada: 1975-1980

With the splitting of the Diocese into three in 1975, Robert Lowder Seaborn became Archbishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, a position he held until 1980.

Llewellyn Jones was born in Liverpool, England 11 Oct 1840. Mr Jones graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge and studied theology at Wells Theological College. After being ordained he was curate at Broomsgrove for 10 years. He then became rector of Little Hereford where he was when the call came for him to become the fourth Bishop of Newfoundland. He was consecrated May 1, 1878 in St Paul’s Cathedral, London by Dr. Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop Jackson of London and Bishop Atlay of Hereford.

Within 15 months of his arrival in St John’s 4 June 1878, Bishop Jones had visited almost corner of the diocese, making extensive use of the church ship Lavrock. In 1881 he married the daughter of the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia. He continued the construction of the cathedral in St John’s, begun by Bishop Feild, completing the transept and tower in 1885 but further work was suspended because of a lack of funds within the diocese. Newfoundland was almost entirely a mission diocese with 39 of the 55 clergymen being supported by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in England.

On July 8, 1892 a great fire swept St John’s, 10,000 were left homeless, including the bishop and 5 clergy, and the cathedral roof, floor and windows were destroyed. The S.P.G. provided some funds for rebuilding but in 1894 the colony of Newfoundland suffered a complete financial collapse and the S.P.G. provided more funds.

Bishop Llewellyn Jones resigned in 1917 and died the following year.

James Kelly was born February 18, 1832 in Standish, England. He graduated from Clare College, Cambridge in 1854. In 1855 he was curate of Abington, Northamptonshire and the following year made chaplain to Horatio Powys, bishop of Sodor and Man. In addition, in 1860, he was made vicar of Kirkmichael, Isle of Man and served as registrar of the diocese.

On March 18, 1864 Bishop Feild wrote an appeal to England for clergy. James Kelly responded and was appointed incumbent of St John’s, Newfoundland and Archdeacon for the diocese. Bishop Feild had been asking for an adjuctor for some time and in 1867 nominated Archdeacon Kelly who was consecrated on August 25 at the Archiepiscopal Chapel Croyden by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Bishops Feild and Kelly made several trips in the new mission ship The Star and were on board when it wrecked in 1871. Bishop Feild died in Bermuda in 1876 and Bishop Kelly succeeded him. In September of that year Bishop Kelly inaugurated a subscription to finish St John’s Cathedral in memory of his predessor.

Bishop Kelly was a poor sailor. Unable to perform the sea travel necessary and unable to secure a coadjuctor, he resigned the see in 1877. He returned to England becoming vicar of St Chad, then coadjuctor of the Diocese of Chester. In 1885 he became coadjutor of Moray, Ross, and Caithness and bishop the following year. On 29 Aug. 1901 he was unanimously elected primus of the Episcopal Church in Scotland. He resigned in 1904 due to ill-health and died 15 May 1907 in Inverness, Scotland.

Edward Feild was born at Worcester, England and became a priest in 1827. When offered the see of Newfoundland in 1844 he was Rector of Bicknor and Inspector of Schools in the Diocese of Salisbury.

He was a High-Church man and by temperament an uncompromising rigorist and extremist, he battled local polititians, Roman Catholics, Methodists, and Evangelicals of his own church. As part of building an independent Anglican Church he had the S.P.G. reduce missionary salaries by one-half seeking instead support from Newfoundlanders.

One of his first actions in Newfoundland was to make improvements to the theological seminary begun by Bishop Spencer. 2 years after Bishop Feild’s arrival much of St John’s including the church was destroyed by fire. The Bishop went to England where he was able to raise funds for a new Cathedral in St John’s and a mission ship The Hawk

The ship arrived in Newfoundland in 1847 with its hold was fitted out as a long room that could be used as a church. Bishop Feild sailed this ship every other year in and out of the harbours and coves of Newfoundland and was in service for 25 years.

In 1867 Archdecon J.B.Kelly was made coadjutor. In the autumn of 1875 Bishop Feild went to Hamilton, Bermuda for his health but there died 8 June 1876. During his episcopate the number of clergy in the diocese had increased from 12 to 50.

Aubrey George Spencer was born in England in 1795. He came to Newfoundland in 1819 but after a couple years, for health reasons, moved to a parish in Bermuda.

In 1839 Newfoundland and Bermuda were set apart as a separate diocese with Aubrey Spencer as its first bishop. In 1842 there were 27 missionaries and 64 churches in Newfoundland and 9 clergy and 18 churches in Bermuda. Bishop Spencer did visit the northern parts of Newfoundland and Labrador mostly in open boats but his health did not let him continue

In 1843 he became the second Bishop of Jamaica where he worked for 10 years before retiring to England. He died in Torquay, England in 1872.