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Bishop Benjamin Cronyn (1802-1871)

The son of Thomas Cronyn from Kilkenny, Benjamin Cronyn graduated from Trinity College in Dublin in 1827, and was ordained at the Cathedral at Tuam. He married 31 year old Margaret Bickerstaff in December 1826 at the age of 26, and their first son, Tom, was born in 1828. Together they would bear 4 sons and 3 daughters.

Following Catholic Emancipation and the beginning of the Tithe War in Ireland, the Cronyns immigrated to Canada. They set sail in August 1832, on the Anne of Halifax. Cronyn was originally intended for Adelaide, but stopped in London and was asked to stay on as their parson. The Bishop agreed to his change of plans and Cronyn served as parson for London and the township. Despite having 3 congregations he spent much of his time as a missionary preaching in new settlements without clergymen of their own.

After the establishement of 44 Crown Rectories in Upper Canada, Cronyn served as rector at St. Paul's in London until 1857 and St. John's in London township until 1841. During this time he was instrumental in the erection of the 1846 St. Paul's church, and his first born was the first to be buried in the new cemetery there.

Bishop Benjamin Cronyn
(Detail from painting in the Great Hall at Huron College)

In 1857, after the creation of the new Diocese of Huron, Cronyn was made the first Bishop of Huron. He also has the distinction of being the first Bishop of the Church in Canada to be elected by a Diocesan Synod, and was consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury. During the 14 years of his episcopate, Cronyn affected the creation and incorporation of the Huron Diocesan Church Society (1858), saw the opening of 101 churches, and founded Huron College.

As the population of the diocese rapidly increased, there arose a need for more clergy. It was Cronyn's wish to establish "a sound Evangelical College from which men could be sent forth to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in all godly simplicity and fullness." Huron college was inaugurated Dec. 6, 1863. The Greek words cut into the Foundation Stone of the college, seem to sum up Cronyn's life: "Woe is me if I preach not the gospel."

"Ever since the time of the Apostles it has been the lot of bishops to be 'in journeyings often'." Bishop Cronyn was no exception, and traveled extensively, "confirming the youth, counseling the clergy, and administering a diocese that was literally in the making." He did not limit his travels to his diocese, as he made several trips overseas, and attracted a number of future bishops to the Diocese of Huron.

Cronyn married again in 1868, to Miss Martha Collins. Three years later he passed, on Sept. 22nd, 1871 "in the 70th year of his age, the 47th year of his ministry, and the 14th of his episcopate". In 1874 his children gave a church to London in memory of their father, which became known as Bishop Cronyn Memorial Church.

A fellow clergyman had this to say of Bishop Cronyn: "to us of the clergy, especially the younger, he was in the highest and noblest sense a right reverend Father in God. Kind and sympathetic, all felt him to be a firm friend, possessed of long experience, all would look to him for sound counsels. Hospitable and generous even to a fault, his rector was the home where there was always a welcome."

Source: Crowfoot, A.H. Benjamin Cronyn : First Bishop of Huron. London, Ont. : Incorporated Synod of the Diocese of Huron, 1957.

Bishop Isaac Hellmuth (1817-1901)

Born in Warsaw, Poland in 1817, Isaac Hellmuth started to follow a religious calling, moving first to Germany, and then to England's Home for Enquiring Jews. Baptized in All Saint's Church in Liverpool on 11 October 1842, Hellmuth was confirmed by the Bishop of Chester. In 1844, Hellmuth travelled to the Coburg Institution for the Training of Clergy in Toronto, and then on to Montreal. He attended Bishop's University in Lennoxville, and married in 1847. His first pastoral charge was in Sherbrooke, while also teaching at Bishop's University. In the mid-1850's (until 1861), Hellmuth was appointed General Secretary for the Colonial Church and School Society for British North America. He then became Commissary for the Bishop of Huron, Benjamin Cronyn, and began to work with Cronyn to establish an Evangelical College. Later, Cronyn named Hellmuth Archdeacon of Huron.

Bishop Isaac Hellmuth
(Detail from painting in the Great Hall at Huron College)

The Hellmuth family moved to London, Ontario in 1863, to the new Huron College. In 1866, Hellmuth became Dean of Huron and the Rector of St. Paul's Cathederal. Bishop Cronyn became ill in 1871, and Hellmuth was elected Bishop Co-adjutor, with the title Bishop of Norfolk. When Cronyn died later that year, Hellmuth became the second Bishop of Huron until his resignation in 1883.

Source: Crowfoot, A.H. This Dreamer: Life of Isaac Hellmuth, Second Bishop of Huron. Vancouver: Copp Clark, 1963.

© Anglican Diocese of Huron Archives, 2005.