Farthing, John Cragg

Fifth Bishop of Montreal.

John Cragg Farthing was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1861, and educated in Liverpool, England. He obtained a B.A. from Cambridge University in 1885, and was ordained deacon that same year in London, Ontario. He was ordained priest in 1886 in St. Thomas, Ontario, and married Mary Kemp. From 1888 to 1889 he was Priest of charge of the Parish of Woodstock, Ontario. In 1889, he completed a M.A. from Cambridge, and became the Rector of Woodstock, a position he held until 1906. From 1898 to 1905, he was an honourary Captain and Chaplain of the 22nd Regiment, Oxford Rifles, Woodstock. He became canon of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, Ontario from 1904 - 1906; Prolocutor of the Lower House of the General Synod of the Church of England in Canada from 1905 - 1908; and Rector of Kingston, Ontario and Dean of Ontario from 1906 - 1909. He was consecrated Bishop of Montreal in 1909, and appointed Honorary Major and Chaplain of Third Regiment, Victoria Rifles of Canada, Montreal in 1911. He received various honourary degrees, including a D.D. (1901) from the University of Bishops' College in Lennexville, Ontario; a D.D. (1907) from the University of Trinity College in Toronto, Ontario; a D.C.L. (1908) from the University of King's College in Windsor, Nova Scotia; and an L.L.D (1921) from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. He resigned in 1939, and passed away in 1947.