Anglican Bishops
of Canada

The Diocese of Nova Scotia became the first Anglican bishopric in British North America in 1787, encompassing the whole of Nova Scotia, Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, Prince Edward’s Island, Newfoundland, and Bermuda. In 1793 the Diocese of Quebec was founded covering Upper and Lower Canada. The Diocese of Newfoundland, which included Bermuda, was established in 1839. The Diocese of Fredericton was founded in 1845 leaving the Diocese of Nova Scotia with its present boundaries.

Charles Inglis   Bishop: 1787 – 1816
Robert Stanser   Bishop: 1816 – 1825
John Inglis   Bishop: 1825 – 1850
Hibbert Binney   Bishop: 1851 – 1887
Frederick Courtney
Bishop: 1888 – 1904
Clarendon Lamb Worrell
Bishop: 1904 – 1934
Metropolitan of Canada: 1915 – 1934
Primate of all Canada. 1931 - 1934
John HacKenley   Bishop: 1935 – 1943
Metropolitan of Canada: 1939 - 1943
George Frederick Kingston
Bishop: 1944 – 1950
Bishop of Algoma: 1940 - 1944
Primate of all Canada: 1947 - 1950
Robert Harold Waterman   Bishop: 1950 – 1963
William Wallace Davis   Bishop: 1963 – 1975
Metropolitan of Canada: 1972 - 1975
George Feversham Arnold   Bishop: 1975 – 1980
Leonard Fraser Hatfield   Bishop: 1980 – 1984
Arthur Gordon Peters   Bishop: 1984 – 2002
Metropolitan of Canada: 1997 – 2002
Fred Hiltz   Bishop: 2002 – 2007
Primate of Canada: 2007 – present

Clarendon Lamb Worrell was born at Smith’s Falls, Ontario on July 20, 1853. He graduated from Trinity College, Toronto in 1873. He taught mathematics first at Bishop’s College School, Lennoxville, then Hellmuth College, London, Wentworth School, Hamilton and Collegiate Institute, Cobourg.

He entered the Divintiy School, Trinity College in 1878 and was ordained deacon in 1881 and priest in 1883. He was curate at Christ Church, Gananoque and Holy Trinity Church, Brockville then rector first at St. James’, Morrisburg followed by St. Mark’s, Barriefield. During his years as rector he acted as Professor of English Literature at the Royal Military College, Kingston.

Trinity College conferred the D.C.L. degree upon him in 1902. Dr. Worrell was Rector of St. Luke’s Church, Kingston, when he waselected Bishop of Nova Scotia. He was consecrated bishop in Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal, on St. Luke’s Day, October 18, 1904, by Archbishop William B. Bond, Primate of the Church

In Nova Scotia he visited every parish and seen every Church, parish hall and rectory in the Diocese, and talked with every rector before he met the Synod in 1906. Every part of the Church’s work moved forward under his leadership; King’s Collegiate School; the University of King’s College, and its removal to Halifax; "Edgehill", Church School for Girls; the Diocesan Mission Board; the great Church Congress held in 1910 in connection with the opening of All Saints Cathedral; the visit of the Bishop of London to Canada; and the Bicentenary of the Church in Nova Scotia and Canada, a landmark in Canadian Church history; the Laymen’s Missionary Movement, the Anglican Forward Movement; the work of the Woman’s Auxiliary; the revival of the Provincial Synod of "Canada "; and the work of the General Synod and its departments.

Bishop Worrell waslected on February 10, 1915, as Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada. In 1919 he turned down becoming Bishop of Bermuda but did give Bermuda episcopal oversight for a number of years.

At age 78 Archbishop Worrell was unanimously elected on September 23, 1931, Primate of All Canada. He was almost immediately faced with the misappropriation of some $750,000 of the endowment funds of the five missionary dioceses in Western Canada. He travelled throughout Canada on a campaign to restore of the endowments which succeeded before his death.

He died August 10, 1934 after four weeks’ illness at the age of 81.

Frederick Courtney was born in England in 1837 and attended London University. He emigrated to the United States becoming assistant minister at St Thomas’ Church, New York. He became rector of St James, Chicago then moved to Boston where he was when elected bishop.

Although his eventual election was almost unanimous Frederick Courtney was not the first choice for bishop. In July 1887 the Synod elected Rev J C Edgehill, Chaplain-General of H.M. Forces. Dr Edgehill was in Germany at the time and after a week declined the offer. Next in August 1887 Bishop Perry of Iowa was elected but in November of that year he too declined. It was in February 1888 Frederick Courtney was elected. He was consecrated in St Luke’s Cathedral, Halifax April 26, 1888 by Bishops John Medley (the Metropolitan), John Lewis and James Williams.

In January 1891 Bishop Courtney established a church school for girls in Windsor. He also secured funds for King College Windsor which had not been attracting sufficient students.

On November 30, 1903, Frederick Courtney resigned the See of Nova Scotia to accept the rectorship of St. James’ Church, New York. He died December 29, 1918.

Hibbert Binney was born 12 August 1819 on Cape Breton Island where his father was stationed. The family returned to England with his father becoming rector of Newbury, Berkshire. Hibbert Binney was educated in London and Oxford and admitted to the priesthood in 1843. He was appointed bishop in 1851 at the age of 32.

Hibbert Binney was involved in the running of King’s College, Windsor from the start of his episcopate. In 1854 legislation was enacted which made the Bishop president and mandated that members of the board of governors be members of the Church of England. Previously, Presbyterians and other religions had been included on the board. Hensley Memorial Chapel was built in 1878 close to King’s College. It was funded by the Bishop’s near relative Edward Binney.

Bishop Binney died on 30 April 1867 on a visit to New York City. He was 68 and had been bishop for 36 years.

The third Bishop of Nova Scotia, John Inglis, was the son of its first bishop, Charles Inglis. John Inglis was born in New York 9 Dec 1777. He studied at King’s College, Windsor, NS, established by his father in 1789 and entered the ministry in 1802.

He worked with his father and took charge of diocesan church affairs for the last 10 years of his ailing father’s life. When his father died in 1816 John Inglis had anticipated becoming bishop but instead Robert Stanser was appointed and John Inglis was made Rector of St Paul’s, Halifax, Bishop Stanser’s old church. With Bishop Stanser becoming ill and returning to England, John Inglis again supervised the diocese. After 7 years Bishop Stanser resigned and John Inglis finally became Bishop of Nova Scotia in 1825.

During his episcopate Newfoundland became a separate diocese in 1839 and New Brunswick a separate diocese in 1845.

Bishop Inglis’s preoccupations were maintenance of the privileges of the established church; opposition to evangelical tendencies within his own denomination which produced serious divisions, especially in Halifax; and fund raising for the church in a period of declining British grants and increasing colonial hostility to his exclusivist aims. An effective and a relentless publicist for Anglican rights, he none the less found himself out of step within the liberal climate of the reform era resulting in his minimal achievements.

He died in London, England in 27 Oct 1850

Robert Stanser came to Canada in 1790 to become rector of St Paul’s, Halifax, Canada’s oldest Anglican church established in 1750. With the death of Bishop Charles Inglis in 1816 Dr Stanser became the second Bishop of Nova Scotia in 1816.

Approaching age and injuries in helping to extinguish a fire in Halifax in 1815 left the Bishop with broken health. He went to England in 1817 never returning to Nova Scotia. He was asked to resign but without a private income he declined. He eventually resigned in 1824.

With Bishop Inglis infirm for the last 10 years or so of his life and Bishop Stanser in England for 7 years Nova Scotia had effectively not had a episcopal head for 17 years. During this time there was little advancement of the Church of England in Nova Scotia with only one quarter of the population belonging to it. During this same time King’s College lost its preeminence with the opening of Dalhousie College in Halifax.

Nova Scotia became the first Anglican bishopric in British North America in 1787 with Charles Inglis as its first bishop. Charles Inglis was born at Glencolumbkille, Ireland and gained prominence as a Tory cleric and pamphleteer in New York City during the American Revolution.

The diocese of Nova Scotia initially included Newfoundland, Bermuda, Prince Edward Island, and Lower and Upper Canada, and was established at a time when the colonial church was combatting internal weakness and external competition. He used patience and discretion to overcome early antipathy from his cleric’s, and travelled as much as possible within his diocese to foster a stronger commitment from both clergy and laity. In 1789 he established the University of King’s College, Canada’s oldest university.