Anglican Bishops
of Canada

The Diocese of Saskatchewan was created in 1873 and included most of the south and north-central areas of the present-day civil provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta, and a small portion of northern Manitoba. In 1884 the Diocese of Assiniboine (later Qu’Appelle) was created then in 1888 the Diocese of Calgary. The last division of the Diocese was in 1933 with northern part, the Diocese of Saskatchewan based in Prince Albert, and a southern part, the Diocese of Saskatoon.

John McLean (1828-1886)
Bishop: 1874 - 1886
William Cyprian Pinkham (1844-1928)
Bishop: 1887 - 1903
Jervois Arthur Newnham   Bishop: 1903 - 1921
George Exton Lloyd   Bishop: 1922 - 1931
William Thomas Thompson Hallam   Bishop: 1931 - 1932
Walter Burd   Bishop: 1933 - 1939
Henry David Martin   Bishop: 1939 - 1959
William Henry Howes Crump   Bishop: 1960 - 1970
Hedley Vicars Roycroft Short   Bishop: 1970 - 1985
Thomas Oliver Morgan   Bishop: 1985 - 1993
Anthony John Burton   Bishop: 1993 - Aug. 31, 2008

An electoral synod will be held December 6, 2008.

William Cyprian Pinkham was born in St John’s, Newfoundland in 1844. He moved to England and studied at St Augustine’s, Canterbury. In 1868 the S.P.G. appointed him curate of St James Parish, Rupert’s Land. He became the rector of St James when the incumbent, John McLean, became Bishop of Saskatchewan. In 1872, as well as his church duties, Mr Pinkham was appointed Superintendent of Education and was responsible for setting up the school system in Manitoba. In 1882 he was made Archdeacon, in which capacity he set up missions and raised funds in Eastern Canada and England.

Archdeacon Pinkham had become a prominent figure in the diocese and was appointed the second Bishop of Saskatchewan when Bishop McLean died in 1886. At the Provincial Synod a week after Bishop Pinkham’s consecration the Diocese of Saskatchewan was divided in 2. The civil district of Saskatchewan remained the Diocese of Saskatchewan and retained its endowment, the civil district of Alberta to the northwest was to form the Diocese of Calgary with a new endowment to be raised. Bishop Pinkham removed to Calgary but remained bishop of both dioceses until the Calgary endowment was raised in 1903.

The original Church of the Redeemer, Calgary was built in 1884 and proclaimed a Pro Cathedral in 1889. The present sandstone building was opened in 1905

Bishop Pinkham resigned February 17, 1926 and died in Calgary on July 18, 1928.

John McLean was born in Portsay, Banffshire, Scotland. He came to Canada after graduating from the University of Aberdeen and was ordained a priest in 1858. In 1866 he went to Winnipeg, then a village of 300, to assist his university friend, Bishop Robert Machray and become rector of St John’s Cathedral.

In 1874, largely through the representations of Bishop Machray, 2 new dioceses of Saskatchewan and Athabasca were created. The diocese of Saskatchewan covered the territories of Saskatchewan, Assiniboia and Alberta. John McLean was made Bishop of Saskatchewan and on May 3, 1874 consecrated in Lambeth, England.

Bishop McLean began his work in the chiefly Indian diocese with no church and a staff of one priest, one native deacon and a catecist. He established Emmanuel College in 1879 to train natives for church work and at the time of his first Synod August 31, 1882 held in Prince Albert there was a clerical staff of 16.

Bishop McLean throughout his episcopate had been very successful in raising funds from England and Eastern Canada. These funds were used to run all but 4 of the 22 missions in place at the time of John McLean’s last Synod.

Bishop John McLean travelled the diocese extensively, in winter by dog-sleigh and in summer by open boat. It was on the trip back from the 1886 Synod that he was taken ill and died at Edmonton, 7 November 1886.