Origin from 1787
Church of England chaplains and colonial parishes had accompanied English trade and settlement since the seventeenth century, but the church itself created no bishops for the colonies for generations, leaving American Anglicans without confirmation or ordination at home. Charles Inglis, a Loyalist whose New York church had been burned during the American Revolution, was consecrated at Lambeth Palace on 12 August 1787 as the first Anglican bishop of Nova Scotia and its dependencies, the empire's own first colonial bishopric. Dioceses multiplied across British India, Africa, Australia and the Pacific through the nineteenth century, and by 1867 the communion of churches this growth had produced was substantial enough that the Archbishop of Canterbury convened seventy six bishops from across the world at Lambeth Palace, the first Lambeth Conference, the moment the various national and colonial churches began to recognise themselves as one connected family.
Facts
Dates
Start Year1787 is Charles Inglis's consecration as the first colonial bishop, at Nova Scotia, the point at which the Church of England began creating episcopal sees overseas rather than leaving colonial Anglicans dependent on the home church; parish and chaplaincy presence in the colonies is much older still. End Year1867 is the first Lambeth Conference, when seventy six bishops from across the world gathered at Lambeth Palace, the point this atlas treats as the Communion's own self-aware formation; growth and further diocese-founding continued well beyond this date, and Ward's own history treats the Communion's twentieth and twenty-first century character as substantially reshaped again by its African, Asian, Oceanic, Caribbean and Latin American majority. Learn More
How the Anglican Communion Formed from Colonial Expansion
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
Church of England chaplains and colonial parishes had followed English trade and settlement outward since the seventeenth century, but the church itself created no bishops for its colonies for generations, leaving Anglicans overseas without confirmation or ordination unless they crossed the Atlantic to receive it. Charles Inglis broke that gap. A Loyalist whose New York church had been burned during the American Revolution, he was consecrated at Lambeth Palace on 12 August 1787 as the first Anglican bishop of Nova Scotia and its dependencies, the British Empire's own first colonial bishopric.
Once that precedent existed, dioceses multiplied quickly. Through the nineteenth century new sees were created across British India, Africa, Australia and the Pacific, each colonial church gaining the bishops it had previously lacked and, with them, a settled institutional identity of its own. By 1867 the communion of national and colonial churches this growth had produced was substantial enough that the Archbishop of Canterbury convened seventy six bishops from across the world at Lambeth Palace for the first Lambeth Conference.
What this changed for Christianity's spread was the transformation of a single national established church into a worldwide communion of self governing sister churches, joined by shared origin and by regular conference rather than by any single legal authority over them all. The 1867 Lambeth Conference marked the moment these scattered colonial dioceses began to recognise themselves as one connected family rather than as outposts of Canterbury alone.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Africa directly: "Dioceses multiplied across British India, Africa, Australia and the Pacific through the nineteenth century, and by 1867 the communion of churches this growth had produced was substantial enough that..."
This source names Church of England directly: "Church of England chaplains and colonial parishes had accompanied English trade and settlement since the seventeenth century, but the church itself created no bishops for the colonies for..."
This source names India directly: "Dioceses multiplied across British India, Africa, Australia and the Pacific through the nineteenth century, and by 1867 the communion of churches this growth had produced was substantial enough that..."
This source names New York directly: "Charles Inglis, a Loyalist whose New York church had been burned during the American Revolution, was consecrated at Lambeth Palace on 12 August 1787 as the first Anglican bishop of Nova Scotia and..."
Occurred In
Anchored to the United Kingdom, the metropole from which the colonial episcopate and, later, the Lambeth Conference itself were organised; the dioceses this event describes were founded across British India, Africa, Australia, the Pacific and North America, named in the description rather than split across many edges.
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