John West

1775-1845. Church of England clergyman. He was born in Farnham, Sussex, England; some authorities give 1778 as the year of his birth. After studies at Oxford he was ordained priest in the Church of England in 1804, was appointed chaplain to the Hudson Bay Company in 1819, but did not arrive in the Red River Settlement until 1820. His three years under the auspices of the Church Missionary Society were filled with extensive travels on foot, by canoe, etc. A service of worship according to the rites of the Church of England, held in 1820 on the shores of the Hudson Bay, is the beginning of regular acts of worship in the area. West's letters, published by the CMS, and the substance of a journal of his missionary activities established his reputation as a pioneer churchman. During 1825-26 he traveled once again on Canadian soil on behalf of the New England Company to investigate the educational system in Nova Scotia and elsewhere. An account of the mission to the Mohawks was published in 1827. Little is known of the latter part of his life.