The Venerable William West Kirkby (24 August 1827-September 5, 1907) was an English

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 ...

clergyman and translator who spent time as a missionary in

Northern Canada Northern Canada, colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three Provinces_and_territories_of_Canada#Territories, territor ...

. Born in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, he studied at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and was the first Anglican to preach in the

Yukon Territory Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

to the " Loucheux" ( Gwich'in people). He was one of the "Northern missionaries" along with Robert McDonald,

William Bompas William Carpenter Bompas (20 January 1834 – 9 June 1906) was a Church of England clergyman and missionary in northwestern Canada, first Anglican Church of Canada, Anglican bishop of the Diocese of Athabasca, Athabasca diocese, then of the Di ...

, John W. Ellington and

Isaac Stringer Isaac O Stringer (April 19, 1866 – October 30, 1934) was a Canadian Anglican bishop. Biography Stringer was born in Kingarf, Ontario. He attended University College and Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto and received a BA degree ...

and his wife. He was one of the earliest translators of the Bible into the

Athabaskan languages Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific C ...

, his New Testament in the

Chipewyan language Chipewyan or Denesuline (ethnonym: ), often simply called Dene, is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of northwestern Canada. It is categorized as part of the Northern Athabaskan language family. Dënësųłinë́ has nearly 12,000 s ...

appearing in 1881. Kirkby later served as Archdeacon of

York Factory, Manitoba York Factory was a settlement and Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) factory (trading post) located on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay in northeastern Manitoba, Canada, at the mouth of the Hayes River, approximately south-southeast of Churchill. Yo ...

, on

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...

; Rector of St. Ann's,

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

; and, from 1887 to 1904, Rector of Christ's Church,

Rye, New York Rye is a coastal suburb of New York City in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is separate from the Town of Rye, which has more land area than the city. The City of Rye, formerly the Village of Rye, was part of the Town until it r ...

.Elizabeth Field, ''Blessed by God: The History of Christ's Church, Rye, New York'' (2001). He is buried in the Greenwood Union Cemetery in Rye.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, William West 1827 births 1907 deaths Anglican missionaries in Canada English Anglican missionaries Translators of the Bible into indigenous languages of the Americas 19th-century translators Missionary linguists