Article

David Anderson

Published Online February 24, 2008

Last Edited December 15, 2013

David Anderson, Church of England bishop (b at London, Eng 10 Feb 1814; d at Clifton, near Bristol, Eng 5 Nov 1885). Grandson of a Presbyterian minister and son of an East India Co surgeon, he was educated at Edinburgh and Oxford (BA 1836, MA 1839, DD 1849).

Anderson, David

David Anderson, Church of England bishop (b at London, Eng 10 Feb 1814; d at Clifton, near Bristol, Eng 5 Nov 1885). Grandson of a Presbyterian minister and son of an East India Co surgeon, he was educated at Edinburgh and Oxford (BA 1836, MA 1839, DD 1849). At school he met Archibald Campbell Tait, later bishop of London and archbishop of Canterbury, and partly through his influence decided to seek orders in the Church of England. After curacies in Liverpool he was on the staff of St Bees Theological College until 1846, then served briefly as perpetual curate of All Saints' in Derby.

Largely through the influence of members of the Clapham Sect, he was nominated first bishop of the diocese of RUPERT'S LAND. Consecrated in May 1849 he proceeded to his new diocese centered at the RED RIVER COLONY, accompanied by his sister and 3 sons, his wife having died 2 years before. He was bishop and Hudson's Bay Company chaplain until 1864, during which time the church's missionary work was extended towards James Bay and into the Mackenzie and Yukon valleys.