Bond, William Bennett

Third Bishop of Montreal; Fifth Metropolitan of Canada; Second Primate of All Canada.

William Bennett Bond was born in Truro, Cornwall, in 1815. He moved to Newfoundland in the 1830s, at age 17. Initially, he worked in business, but after joining a bible class lead by Mark Willoughby, the superintendent of the Newfoundland School Society. He was ordained as a deacon in 1840 in Quebec, and as a priest in 1841. He worked as a missionary to the areas around Russelltown, Quebec from 1840 to 1842, then as Incumbent at Lachine, Quebec in 1842. He became the assistant minister at St. George's Church, Montreal in 1848, and also succeeded Willoughby, who had passed away, as the superintendent of the Newfoundland School Society. He became rector of St. George's in 1863, and remained there until 1878. He was also the rural dean of Hochelaga from 1864 onward; a canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal from 1866; domestic Chaplain to the bishop of Montreal from 1870, as well as archdeacon of Hochelaga; and finally, dean of Montreal from 1872. He received an honourary MA (1854) and D.D. (1901) from the University of Bishops' College in Montreal, and an honourary LL.D (1870) from McGill University. He was consecrated Bishop of Montreal in 1879, and was Metropolitan of Canada in 1901, then as Primate of All Canada in 1904. He passed away in Montreal in 1906.