Bethune, Alexander Neil

Coadjutor Bishop of Toronto; Second Bishop of Toronto.

Alexander Neil Bethune was born in Charlottenburg, near Cornwall, Ontario in 1800. He was ordained deacon in 1823 in Quebec, and became an incumbent in Grimsby, Ontario until 1827. He was ordained priest in 1824, and became the rector of Cobourg, Ontario from 1827 to 1867, and was the editor of The Church newspaper from 1837 to 1841, and again from 1843 to 1847. He was also Chaplain to the Bishop of Toronto from 1839 to 1867, as well as the President of the Theological Seminary in Cobourg from 1841 to 1846. In 1847, he received an honourary Doctorate of Divinity from University and King's College, Aberdeen. He was the Archdeacon of York from 1847 to 1867. He received an honourary Doctor of Civil of Law degree from the University of Trinity College, Toronto in 1857, and married Jane Eliza, with whom he had ten children. In 1866, he was elected Coadjutor Bishop of Toronto, then was consecrated Bishop of Niagara in 1867, and succeeded to the See of Toronto. He passed away in 1878 in Toronto, Ontario.