Series 15 - Rev. Charles Inglis letter

68pp

Materials pertaining to Reverend Charles Inglis’ time in the American colonies between 1755 and 1787. Inglis (1734–1816) was an Irish-born Anglican clergyman from County Donegal who became the first Church of England bishop in North America when he was appointed Bishop of Nova Scotia in 1787.
After serving as a rector in Ireland, he emigrated to America in 1755, worked as a teacher and priest, and later became rector of Trinity Church, New York. During the American Revolution, Inglis was a strong Loyalist (Tory) who opposed American independence. In 1776 he published The True Interest of America Impartially Stated, a rebuttal to Thomas Paine's influential pamphlet Common Sense. His public support for the British Crown made him unpopular with revolutionaries, and he left New York for England when the British evacuated the city in 1783.
In 1787, King George III appointed Inglis as the first bishop of the newly created Diocese of Nova Scotia. As bishop, he worked to strengthen Anglicanism in British North America, supported missionary efforts, and helped establish King's College (now the University of King's College) in Nova Scotia to educate the colonial Anglican elite.
Inglis married twice and had four children with his second wife, including John Inglis, who later became the third Bishop of Nova Scotia. He died in Kingston, Nova Scotia, on 24 February 1816 and was buried in the crypt of St. Paul's Church, Halifax. His legacy rests on his role in establishing Anglican leadership in British North America and promoting Anglican education and loyalty to the British Crown.
The series includes:
-Kerby A. Miller’s notes on Lydekker, John Wolfe (1936), The Life and Letters of Charles Inglis: His Ministry in America and Consecration as First Colonial Bishop, from 1759 to 1787 (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge);
-photocopied excerpts from the book containing transcripts of 16 letters;
-copies portraits of Rev. Inglis;
-Miller’s notes on other books discussing Irish Anglican clergy in North America at the time of the American Revolution.