John Lewis

Who was John Lewis?

John Travers Lewis was a Church of England clergyman, archbishop, and author. He was the Archbishop of Ontario, third Metropolitan of Canada, and the first Bishop of Ontario.

Born in Garrycloyne Castle, near Cork, the eldest son of the Reverend John Lewis and Rebecca Olivia Lawless, Lewis studied at Trinity College, Dublin. He was made a Deacon in 1848 and a priest in 1849. He served as priest at Newtownbutler in County Fermanagh, before emigrating to Canada in 1849 to be with his mother who emigrated the year earlier. He was posted to Hawkesbury and later in 1854 to Brockville. In 1861, he was appointed the first Bishop of Ontario. In 1893, he became metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of Canada and then Archbishop of Ontario. He resigned in 1900.