William Lockridge Wright (September 4, 1904 - January 19, 1990) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

in the 20th century.

Personal life and education

Wright was born into an ecclesiastical family on 8 September 1904 in Roslin, Ontario. He was educated at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario and ordained in 1927. He married Margaret Clare on July 30, 1936 in the former Chapel of

Trinity College, Toronto Trinity College (occasionally referred to as The University of Trinity College) is a college federated with the University of Toronto, founded in 1851 by Bishop John Strachan. Strachan originally intended Trinity as a university of strong Angli ...

. Wright and his wife had four children and thirteen grandchildren.

Early career

After a curacy at St George's,

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he was then the

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at St James', Tweed from 1928 to 1932. His next appointment was as a curacy at

Christ's Church Cathedral (Hamilton, Ontario) Christ's Church Cathedral is a cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Niagara, located at 252 James Street North, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The parish was established in 1835, with construction for the present building taking place from 1852 ...

. In 1936 he became rector at Church of St. George the Martyr,

. He became rector of

St. Luke's Cathedral (Sault Ste. Marie) St. Luke's Cathedral is the Anglican cathedral of the Diocese of Algoma. It is located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Sault Ste. Marie ( ) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is at the St. Mary's River on the Canada–US border. It is the third ...

in 1940 and 1941 he became Dean of St Luke's.

Bishop and Metropolitan

On May 30, 1944 Wright was consecrated as

Bishop of Algoma The Diocese of Algoma is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario of the Anglican Church of Canada. It comprises nearly 182,000 square kilometres of the Ontario districts of Algoma (from which it takes its name), Thunder Bay, Sudbury ...

. At the time of his election as Bishop he was the youngest to ever be elected to the House of Bishops. In 1955 he also became Metropolitan of Ontario, posts he held until 1974. While holding the position of Bishop of Algoma, Wright established the Archbishop Wright Extension Fund on January 16, 1957. This fund was designed to help purchase new sites for churches and rectories, and assistant in church extension projects across Algoma. The fund resulted in more than twenty churches and twenty rectories being built. The fund also provided capital funds for the building of

Thorneloe University Thorneloe University, also known as Thorneloe University at Laurentian, is an Anglican affiliated university formerly federated with, and still inset on the campus of, the larger Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Programs The ...

in Sudbury, Ontario. Wright went on to serve as the first

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

of Thoneloe University. In 1970, following the retirement of Archbishop Howard Clark, Wright was temporarily made the Acting Primate of All Canada. He was also elected Chairman of the Anglican Council of North America and the Caribbean in 1970. Wright also served as co-chairman of the General Commission on Church Union in Canada. He died on 19 January 1990.

External links

Archbishop William Lockridge Wright fonds

References

1904 births 1990 deaths Queen's University at Kingston alumni Anglican Church of Canada deans Anglican bishops of Algoma 20th-century Anglican Church of Canada bishops Metropolitans of Ontario 20th-century Anglican archbishops {{Canada-Anglican-bishop-stub