Anglican Bishops
of Canada

Andrew Hunter Dunn was born in 1839 at Saffron Walden, Essex, England. After graduating from Christi College, Cambridge he was appointed curate of St Mark’s, Notting Hill in 1861. He was priested in 1865 and in 1871 was appointed to All Saints’, South Acton, London. Here over 21 years he erected 2 permanent churches, a temporary church, six mission churches, as well as schools and parsonage. In 1866 he married Alice, daughter of William Hunter, and they had 5 sons and 2 daughters.

September 18, 1892, Andrew Dunn was consecrated as the fifth Bishop of Quebec in Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal by Bishop John Travers Lewis of Ontario. In 1907 he was a D.C.L. of Bishop’s College, Lennoxville. He continued in charge of the diocese until his death at sea on November 14, 1914.

James William Williams was born at Overton, Hampshire in 1825, the son of a rector. He was ordained a priest in 1853 and came to Canada in 1857 opening a boarding school in Lennoxville. His school had 150 boys in 1863 when Rev Williams was elected Bishop. James Williams was not a frequent public but very effective when he did speak. His sermon at the Synod to elect a bishop was a factor in his being chosen Bishop.

The diocese was 600 miles long and the bishop was assiduous in visiting even the most remote regions. The population was mostly Roman Catholic with Anglicans widely distributed. One of the Bishop’s accomplishments was to put each of the parishes on a sound financial footing.

Bishop Williams died unexpectedly on 20 April 1892 in Quebec city. He had been bishop for almost 30 years.

George Jehoshophat Mountain was born in Norwich, England 27 July 1789 the second child of Jacob Mountain who became the first Bishop of Quebec when his son was 4.

George Mountain grew up in Woodfield, Quebec and left to attended Trinity College, Cambridge returning to Canada in 1811. His father ordained him as priest in 1814 and for 2 years he served as rector of Frederiction. He returned to Quebec to assist his father and when Jacob Mountain died in 1825, George Mountain continued in that role for the new Bishop, Charles Stewart.

When Bishop Stewart’s health was failing George Mountain was appointed coadjutor in 1835 and with the Bishop’s death the following year George Mountain became Bishop. As coadjutor Dr Mountain was given the title of Bishop of Montreal and it was under this title he was consecrated. At the time there were 85 clergy in the diocese, 17 in the district of Quebec, 17 in Montreal and 51 in Upper Canada. In 1839 Diocese was sub-divided with the Diocese of Toronto being formed to cover Upper Canada.

The Bishop had always travelled extensively and in 1844 with 14 voyageurs he undertook an 1800 mile journey by canoe to Red River, Rupert’s Land.

After returning from Red River construction of Bishop’s College Lennoxville began. It became a university in 1853.

In 1850 Montreal was established as a separate diocese and George Mountain assumed his proper title of Bishop of Quebec.

It was during Bishop Mountain’s episcopate that the Diocese became financially self-reliant. Beginning in 1856, over 3 years, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel stopped paying the clergy. With the separation of church and state the Anglican Church in Canada assumed its own affairs and on July 6, 1859 the Sysnod was called.

George Mountain died January 6, 1863.

Charles James Stewart was born 13 April 1775, the fifth son of the Earl of Galloway.

After graduating from Oxford he was a rector in England for 8 years. He came to Quebec in 1807 and started a mission southwest of Montreal at Freleighsburg. He returned to England in 1815 to take a Doctor of Divinity degree and returned to Canada in 1817 to resume his missionary work. In all he built or started 24 churches.

With the death of Bishop Jacob Mountain in 1825 he was appointed Bishop of Quebec. As bishop he continued as a traveling missionary. After 10 years, due to his ill health, a coadjutor bishop, George Mountain was appointed.

He returned to England and died in London on 13 July 1837 at the age of 62. In spite of his ungainly build and poor pulpit skills he advanced the Anglican Church in Lower Canada to a greater degree than his predecessor.

When the new diocese of Quebec was created in 1793 Jacob Mountain was appointed its first bishop. He was born at Thwaite Hall, Norfolk, England and graduated from Cambridge.

At the start of his episcopate he had 9 clergy which had increased to 60 when he died in 1825 in Quebec City. Bishop Mountain encouraged a new school system in Lower Canada and obtained a charter for McGill University in Montreal. He made 8 tours of Upper and Lower Canada under pioneer conditions.

He vigorously defended his church’s claim to the Clergy Reserves. Several governors and British colonial secretaries found his repeated demands difficult and even some of his clergy considered him more fitted for an English rather than a colonial see. But, aided by clergy and laity and with assistance from government and especially from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, he laid strong church foundations on which his successors were able to build.