Charles Inglis, Bishop
admin | 12 August 2015The collect for a Bishop or Archbishop, in commemoration of The Right Rev. Charles Inglis (1734-1816), first Church of England bishop of Nova Scotia, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
O GOD, our heavenly Father, who didst raise up thy faithful servant Charles Inglis to be a Bishop in thy Church and to feed thy flock: We beseech thee to send down upon all thy Bishops, the Pastors of thy Church, the abundant gift of thy Holy Spirit, that they, being endued with power from on high, and ever walking in the footsteps of thy holy Apostles, may minister before thee in thy household as true servants of Christ and stewards of thy divine mysteries; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
The Epistle: 1 Timothy 6:11-16
The Gospel: St. Luke 12:37-44
Born in Ireland, Charles Inglis became in 1787 the first Bishop of Nova Scotia—the first bishop consecrated for any English colony.
Charles Inglis travelled to North America in 1759 as a Church of England missionary to Dover, Delaware. In 1765 he went to Trinity Church, New York, as assistant to the rector, and was chosen rector in 1777. His ministry proved extremely controversial when he emerged as an outspoken Loyalist during the American Revolution. His life was threatened because he refused to omit prayers for the King and the Royal Family from the liturgy.
In 1783, Rev. Inglis and his family left the newly independent nation and returned to England, where he was consecrated the first Bishop of the Diocese of Nova Scotia, which at that time included Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, Prince Edward’s Island, Newfoundland, and Bermuda. He immediately sailed to Halifax and began his work of furthering the progress and unity of the Church of England in Canada.
Bishop Inglis undertook an ambitious programme of church construction across Atlantic Canada; in 1789, he himself laid the cornerstone for the original Christ Church in Windsor. He also played a leading role in the establishment in Windsor of King’s Collegiate School (1788, now King’s-Edgehill School) and King’s College (1789, now University of King’s College, Halifax).
He died in 1816 at his country estate in Aylesford, and is buried under the chancel of St. Paul’s Church, Halifax.
Hensley Memorial Chapel at King’s-Edgehill School has a window in the Chancel (photo at right), installed in 2007, that depicts Bishop Inglis, the father-founder of the School and the University.
The window is based upon an actual portrait by Robert Field which also hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London, England. Inglis is shown seated surrounded by books. On the desk or table before him stands a bowl of apples, recalling his interest in agriculture and his cultivation of the ‘Bishop Pippin’ or ‘Bellefleur’ apple, attributed to him (never mind that they are a yellow apple!). A kind of Renaissance, almost “universal man”, having a wide range of interests, Inglis was also an amateur architect. Behind him, through the window in the window, if you will, is a representation of one of his plans for the College and School. In some ways, it recalls the Arts and Administration Building at the University of King’s College, now located in Halifax.
The window also captures Inglis’ vision of education and public service. It contains the motto of the School and the University. “Deo, Legi, Regi, Gregi” conveys the idea of an education that leads us out of ourselves and into the service of God and the service of others in the objective forms of public and institutional life. An education and a life that is lived for God, for the Law, for the King, and for the People.
More biographical information on Bishop Charles Inglis is available online at:
Click here to read Bishop Inglis’s 1776 pamphlet, “The True Interest of America Impartially Stated”. His 1780 sermon, “The Duty of Honouring the King”, delivered on the anniversary of the martyrdom of King Charles I, is posted here.