Lofthouse, Joseph

First Bishop of Keewatin.

Joseph Lofthouse was born in Wadsley, England in 1855, and ordained deacon and priest in 1883 in Moose Fort. He was an assistant missionary, then missionary with the Church Missionary Society in York Factory in the Diocese of Moosonee, from 1883 to 1886. He then moved to Fort Churchill to be a missionary there, and stayed until 1897. In 1896, he became the Archdeacon of York, and in 1900, travelled as a missionary across Baffin Island. From 1901 to 1902, he returned to Moose Fort, and in 1902 was consecrated Bishop of Keewatin in Winnipeg. He remained at this post until 1920, when he resigned. He also received an honourary D.D. from St. John's College in Winnipeg that year, and retired to Glencoe, Surrey, England in 1921. He passed away in Dawlish, England in 1933.