Sweatman, Arthur

Third Bishop of Toronto; Sixth Metropolitan of Canada (and Archbishop of Toronto); Third Primate of All Canada.

Arthur Sweatman was born in London, England in 1834. He obtained a B.A. from Cambridge University in 1859, and an M.A. in 1862. He was ordained deacon in 1859 as well, then priest in 1860. He served as curate of Holy Trinity in Islington, England, from 1859 to 1863, and in 1860 he founded the Islington Youths' Institute. He was a master at Islington Preparatory School in 1863, then became curate of St. Stephen's in Canonbury, England until 1865. He was the first headmaster of the London Collegiate Institute, an Anglican residential school in the Diocese of Huron, from 1865 to 1871. He married Susanna Garland in 1868, and had seven children with her. He was then Mathematics master at Upper Canada College for a year, before becoming Rector of Brantford, Ontario in 1872. He held this position until 1874, and was made principal of Hellmuth Boy's College (formerly the London Collegiate Institute) from 1874 to 1876. He was priest in charge of the Parish of Woodstock, Ontario, and the Archdeacon on Brant, from 1876 to 1879. He was also a canon of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, Ontario. He held secretary posts for both the Synod of the Diocese of Huron and the House of Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada, and was the Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Huron until 1879. He was appointed Bishop of Toronto in 1879, and throughout his tenure, made reforms to the organizational and financial policies and procedures of the diocese. In 1890, he was the chair of the committee that created a plan for the general synod, which would bring the Anglican provinces in Canada as a national church. He was elected Metropolitan of Canada in 1907, then Primate of All Canada. Unfortunately, he passed away two years later, in Toronto in 1909.

Throughout his life, he received various honourary degrees, including a D.D. (1879) from Cambridge; a D.C.L. (1882) and D.D. (1907) from the University of Trinity College, Toronto; a D.C.L. (1897) from Durham; and a D.D. (1897) from Oxford.