Robert Machray

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Robert Machray bigraphy, stories - Religion

Robert Machray : biography

17 May 1831 – 9 March 1904

Robert Machray (May 17, 1831 – March 9, 1904) was a Church of England clergyman and missionary and the first Primate of the Church of England in Canada.

Life

Born in Scotland, Machray was educated at King’s College, University of Aberdeen and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he studied mathematics, philosophy and theology. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1855 and served parishes in that country, as well as serving as dean of his alma mater at Cambridge. In 1865 he became Bishop of Rupert’s Land (in Canada) becoming archbishop of the province when his diocese was split in 1875. At the first General Synod of Canadian Anglicans in 1893 he was unanimously elected the first "Primate of All Canada" serving in that post until his death. In 1893, he was appointed Prelate of the Order of St Michael and St George.

He is honoured in the Calendar of Saints of the Anglican Church of Canada with a feast day on March 10.