John West (missionary)
John West (November 1778–21 December 1845) was the first Anglican priest in Western Canada and a teacher, reformer and author. A missionary of the
Early career
West was born in
Mission to Canada
The Hudson's Bay Company desired that all who came under its influence, including those HBC retirees who wished to remain in the country, orphaned mixed-race children and others associated with the Protestant community in the west would have their spiritual needs met by a chaplain in the company's employ.[3] West's placement in Western Canada was also due to the Company's belief that a number of missionary societies would provide financial support if the missions included Indian children from the Red River region; to this aim West established the Red River Academy.[3] West sailed to Rupert's Land in May 1820 with George Harbidge, a school teacher. The first Protestant missionary to visit that area, West travelled without his pregnant wife and small children, intending to fetch them once a mission was set up.[4] At the Red River Settlement West located his mission three miles north of Fort Douglas; here he constructed a chapel, a school and residences for himself and his Indian pupils. The chapel would eventually come to be known as 'The Upper Church' and later as St John's Cathedral.[1]
West decided that his best chance of spreading Christianity among the locals was through converting the children. In 1820 the CMS provided financial assistance to West for the education of local Native American children, including James Settee[5] and a youth called Sakachuwescam of the Cree nation. After baptising the latter in 1822 West renamed him Henry Budd after his own mentor from his curacy in Essex.[6] Budd attended the Church Missionary Society school which West had established in what was then known as the Red River Colony in what is now the province of Manitoba.[5] Budd would become the first North American Indian to be ordained to the ministry, in 1850. In 1822 the CMS appointed West to head the mission in the Red River Colony.[7]
Attendance at West's services was encouraging but he alienated many in his congregation such as the Presbyterian Scots by his exclusive use of Anglican liturgy and rites. He was opposed to the liquor and fur trades, core businesses of the Hudson's Bay Company, and to
Rather that concentrating his efforts on the Red River settlement only West determined to work throughout the whole of
Return to England
In June 1823 West sailed for England on what was intended as a temporary visit, returning to Aldershot where he assisted in services and ceremonies, but his contract as a missionary was cancelled by the
Later years
West settled down as Rector of Chettle in Dorset and to his responsibilities was added the parish of Farnham in Dorset in 1834, in the same year being appointed a domestic chaplain to Baron Duncannon, one of the authors of the Reform Act of 1832. He continued to show great interest in the missionary work being done in Canada and he returned in 1828 to help revive interest in the British and Foreign Bible Society's work there. He was involved in assisting agricultural workers emigrating to New South Wales (Australia) and in establishing a National School in England.[4]
John West died on 21 December 1845 at Chettle in Dorset and was survived by four sons and two daughters, his wife having died in 1839. In the Canadian Calendar of Holy Persons West's Commemoration Day is 31 December. He has a commemorative stained-glass windows at his former church at Chettle, where he is buried.[4] St John's Cathedral in Winnipeg which he founded has the John West Hall.
References
- ^ a b c John West - Church Missionary Society Archives - North America
- ^ History of St John's Cathedral - The Birthplace of the Anglican Church in Western Canada
- ^ a b c d History of the Diocese of Rupert's Land - Anglican Church of Canada website
- ^ a b c d e f g John West in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography
- ^ a b "The Church Missionary Gleaner, March 1857". Missionary Work Around the Winnepegoosis Lake, Rupert's Land. Adam Matthew Digital. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
- ^ Canon Bertal Heeney, ed. (1920). "Leaders of the Canadian Church, volume two". Toronto: Musson. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
- ^ "The Church Missionary Atlas (Canada)". Adam Matthew Digital. 1896. pp. 220–226. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ^ Sarah Carter, Aboriginal People and Colonizers of Western Canada to 1900, University of Toronto Press (2003) - Google Books pg 74
- ^ Nicholas Garry, Diary of Nicholas Garry, Deputy-Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company from 1822–1835: A Detailed Narrative of His Travels in the Northwest Territories of British North America in 1821 . . . ," ed. F. N. A. Garry, RSC Trans., 2nd ser., 6 (1900), sect.ii: 139–40, 157