Charles Inglis (bishop)

The Right Reverend
Charles Inglis
Bishop of Nova Scotia

Church Church of England
See Nova Scotia
In office 1787–1816
Orders
Consecration 1787
Personal details
Born 1734
Died 24 February 1816
Previous post Rector of Trinity Church, New York

Charles Inglis (1734 – 24 February 1816) was an Irish clergyman who was consecrated the first Anglican Church of Canada bishop of the Diocese of Nova Scotia. He is buried in the crypt of St. Paul's Church (Halifax).

Life

Trinity Church, New York

He was born in 1734, the son of a priest, Archibald Inglis, the rector of Glencolmcille, Donegal, Ireland.

He became rector of Killybegs, Donegal, but in 1755 he went to America and worked as a teacher. In 1758 he was ordained as a priest in London and spent several years in Delaware before moving to Trinity Church in New York in 1765, where his oldest child Charles is buried.[1]

Following the British occupation of New York in 1777, Inglis was promoted from curate to rector of Trinity Church. As a Loyalist, it is recorded that Inglis prayed aloud for King George III while George Washington was in the congregation. The church was quickly surrounded by militia.[2][3] In November 1783, upon the evacuation of Loyalists from New York, Inglis returned to England.

On 11 August 1787, George III created the Diocese of Nova Scotia by Letters Patent, and named Inglis its first bishop. He preached at St. Paul's Church (Halifax).[3][4] The independence of the thirteen colonies which would form the United States had led to the creation of a new, autonomous, Anglican church there, with Samuel Seabury as the first bishop, but Inglis was the first Church of England bishop in North America, though technically his Episcopal see was "the Province of Nova Scotia".[3][4] Eager to increase the status of Anglicanism in the colonies, he supported the 1789 foundation of King's Collegiate School in Windsor, Nova Scotia, as an exclusive academy for sons of the Anglican elite. He also backed several missionary efforts to turn the majority of the population from their dissenting religious beliefs. These efforts were largely unsuccessful. Bishop Inglis died on 24 February 1816.

There is a silver plaque in honour of Charles Inglis St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.[5] He became a Doctor of Divinity.

Family

Inglis was the third son of Archibald Inglis, the rector of the Church of Ireland parish church in Glencolumbkille, a remote district in south-west County Donegal. The county is on the rugged west coast of Ulster, a province in the north of Ireland. Inglis was born in Glencolumbkille. His son was John Inglis (bishop).

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "Sons and Daughters of Donegal" (PDF). Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  2. ↑ Hein & Shattuck 2005.
  3. 1 2 3 Carrington 1963.
  4. 1 2 "No. 12910". The London Gazette. 7 August 1787. p. 373.
  5. ↑ "Celtic crosses in St. Patrick's Cathedral". A Grave Concern. Retrieved 2015-06-22.

Further reading

  • Cuthbertson, Brian. "Charles Inglis: A Reassessment." Journal of the Canadian Church Historical Society 30#2 (1988): 88-101
  • Cuthbertson, Brian. The First Bishop (Halifax: Waegwoltic Press, 1987), Scholarly biography.
  • Fingard, Judith. The Anglican Design in Loyalist Nova Scotia (London: SPCK, 1972).
  • Fingard, Judith (1968). "Charles Inglis and his "Primitive Bishoprick" in Nova Scotia". Canadian Historical Review. 49 (3): 247–266. ISSN 0008-3755. doi:10.3138/CHR-049-03-03. 
  • Fingard, Judith. "Inglis, Charles." In The Dictionary of Canadian Biography, 445-46. University of Toronto Press, 1983
  • Hein, David; Shattuck, Gardiner H. Jr (2005). The Episcopalians. New York: Church Publishing, Inc. ISBN 978-0-89869-497-0. 
  • Carrington, Philip (1963). The Anglican Church in Canada. Toronto: Collins. 
  • Fingard, Judith. "Biography – INGLIS, CHARLES". Dictionary of Canadian Biography - Volume V (1801-1820). University of Toronto/Université Laval. Retrieved 2015-06-22. 
  • Steadfastness in religion and loyalty recommended, in a sermon preached before the legislature of His Majesty's province of Nova-Scotia  : in the parish church of St. Paul at Halifax, on Sunday, April 7, 1793 by Inglis, Charles.
  • Inglis, Charles (January 30, 1780). "The Duty of Honouring the King". Project Canterbury. Retrieved 2015-06-22. 
  • Inglis family and the Church
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