Mountain, George Jehoshaphat

Coadjutor Bishop of Quebec; Third Bishop of Quebec.

George Jehoshaphat Mountain was born in Norwich, England in 1789, and grew up in Quebec, Canada, after his father moved the family there. He attended Cambridge University and obtained a B.A. in 1810, then returned to Quebec and was ordained deacon in 1812. During the War of 1812, he volunteered for sentry duty on the walls of Quebec City, and served as Curate of Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity there until 1814. He was ordained priest in 1814, and married Mary Hume Thompson that same year. He was then appointed Rector of Fredericton, New Brunswick, as well as Chaplain to his Majesty's Troops and to the Legislative Council in the city. He and his wife stay in Fredericton until 1817, when Mountain became the Officiating Minister in the Parish of Quebec, as well as Commissary to the Bishop of Quebec. He was granted an honourary D.D. from the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1819, and was appointed a member of the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning. He became the first archdeacon on Quebec in 1821. Mountain was also very interested in education, and established a system of national schools for children who could not afford grammar school education in 1817, and he was an honourary Professor of Divinity at McGill College from 1823 to 1835, as well as Principal of the college starting in 1829. He was also instrumental in obtaining a royal charter for the establishment of Bishop's College. He began assisting the Bishop of Quebec in 1835, officially receiving the appointment of Suffragan Bishop in 1836, for which he used the title Lord Bishop of Montreal. Despite succeeding to the See of Quebec in 1837, he continued to use this title until 1850, when the Diocese of Montreal was officially created. He travelled extensively throughout his diocese, and was a significant part of establishing the church government in Canada. He passed away in 1863 in Quebec.