Volume 3 — THE RIGHT REV. WILLIAM BENNETT BOND,

M.A., LL.D., BISHOP OF MONTREAL.

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Bishop Bond, Dr. Oxenden's successor in the See of Montreal, was born at Truro, a seaport of the county of Cornwall, England, in the year 1815. He received his education partly in Cornwall, and partly in London, at various public and private schools. He was a diligent student, and displayed much fondness for, and proficiency in, the classics, as well as considerable aptitude for elocution. In his early youth he emigrated from England to the Island of Newfoundland, where, after a brief period spent in secular pursuits, he studied for holy orders under the direction of Archdeacon Bridge. In 1840, under the advice and influence of the late Rev. Mark Willoughby, he proceeded to Quebec, where, upon the completion of his studies, he was ordained Deacon; and in 1841 he was ordained Priest at Montreal, by the late Right Rev. George Jehoshaphat Mountain, Bishop of Quebec. Immediately after his ordination he again proceeded to Newfoundland, where, on the 2nd of June, in the last-mentioned year, he married Miss Eliza Langley, with whom he returned to Montreal. For some years subsequent to his ordination he was a travelling missionary, with residence at Lachine, near Montreal. Under instructions from Bishop Mountain he organized several missions in the Eastern Townships, and in addition to his clerical duties interested himself in organizing schools in connection with the Newfoundland School Society, establishing eleven in the township of Hemmingford alone. In 1848 he was appointed to the large and important parish of St. George's, Montreal, as assistant to Dr. Leach. His connection with that parish subsisted without interruption for a period of thirty years. He successively became Archdeacon of Hochelaga, and (later) Dean of Montreal. While holding the office of Dean he took an active interest in the Volunteer force, being chaplain of the 1st or Prince of Wales's Regiment. He was out at Huntingdon during the raid of 1866, and in 1870 marched with the regiment from St. Armand's to Pigeon Hill.

On the 1st of July, 1878, the Right Rev. Ashton Oxenden, who had held the bishopric of Montreal since 1869, resigned his position; and on the 16th of January following (1879) Dean Bond was elected as his successor by the Synod of the Diocese. His consecration took place in St. George's Church, Montreal, on the 25th of January, 1879, in the presence of the Bishops of Fredericton, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Algoma, Ontario and Niagara; the consecration sermon being preached by the Right Rev. John Travers Lewis, Bishop of Ontario. He was installed in the Episcopal Throne, in the Cathedral Church at Montreal, on the day following his consecration, upon which date he likewise performed his first Episcopal act by administering the rite of confirmation in the church of his old parish of St. George's.

William Bennett Bond, signed as W. B. Montreal

Bishop Bond has a fine and commanding presence, is an eloquent preacher, and an excellent platform speaker. He is very popular among the clergymen of his diocese, and takes a warm interest in promoting their welfare. His only published work, so far as known to the present writer, is a sermon on the death of his old friend the Rev. Mark Willoughby, already mentioned, which was published at Montreal in 1847.

Bishop Bond is President of the Theological College of the Diocese of Montreal. He received his degree of M.A. from Bishop's College, Lennoxville, and that of LL.D. from the University of McGill College, Montreal.

The Diocese over which Bishop Bond's jurisdiction extends was originally constituted in 1850. Montreal was the Metropolitan See of Canada from the year 1860, (when letters patent were issued to the late Dr. Fulford), until Bishop Oxenden's resignation as above mentioned, in the month of July, 1878.