Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Lewis, John Travers
LEWIS, JOHN TRAVERS (1825–1901), archbishop of Ontario, born on 20 June 1825, at Garrycloyne Castle, Cork, the seat of his great-uncle on the mother's side, John Travers, was son of John Lewis, curate of St. Ann's, Shandon, Cork, of Welsh descent, by his wife Rebecca Olivia, daughter of John Lawless of Kilerone, Cloyne. Educated at Hambin and Porter's School, Cork, he entered Trinity College, Dublin, winning the first Hebrew prize, and graduating B.A. in 1848 as senior moderator and gold medallist in ethics and logic. Ordained deacon in 1848, and priest in 1849, he visited Canada in the latter year and settled there for life. He first received charge of the mission at West Hawkesbury in the Ottawa Valley. In 1864 ha was appointed to the rectory of St. Peter's, Brockville; and on 13 June 1861 was elected first bishop of the new diocese of Ontario. He was at the time the youngest bishop in the whole Anglican church, and the last in Canada to be created by royal letters patent. In 1893 he was elected by the house of bishops to the office of metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of Canada, and in 1894 to the dignity of archbishop of Ontario.
In 1861, in his first address as bishop of Ontario, he advocated the incorporation of a synod board to manage the funds and direct the mission work of the diocese, a system since adopted throughout the Dominion. In his address of 1864 he spoke in favour of a national council of representatives for the whole Anglican church, to affirm the catholic doctrines. At the meeting of the provincial synod in 1865 he moved an address to the archbishop of Canterbury in behalf of the proposed council. He then visited England and urged acceptance of the scheme, and the result was the first Lambeth conference of 1867. At the same time his steady interest in scientific questions led him to be the original promoter of the first meeting of the British Association in Canada, held at Montreal 1884. He was author of some published sermons and contributor to religious periodicals in Canada and England.
Lewis was made hon. D.D. of Oxford (1897), hon. LL.D. of Dublin, and hon. D.C.L. by Trinity University, Toronto, and by Bishop's College University, Lennoxville. In 1885 the governor-general of Canada presented him with the memorial medal of the confederation of the provinces in acknowledgment of his 'important services in the cause of Hterature and science.' He died at sea in the Atlantic on his way from Canada to England on 6 May 1901, and was buried at Hawkhurst, Kent. An altar was erected to his memory in the cathedral, Kingston, Ontario, A painted portrait of Lewis is in possession of his widow; two pastels in colours are owned by his eldest son.
Lewis twice married: (1) on 22 July 1851, Annie Henrietta Margaret, daughter of the hon. Henry Sherwood, Q.C., successively solicitor-general and attorney-general for Upper Canada; she died on 28 July 1886, leaving six children, the eldest of whom, John Travers Lewis, K.C., is chancellor of the diocese of Ottawa; (2) on 20 Feb. 1889, Ada Maria, daughter of Evan Leigh, C.E., of Manchester. Lewis's second wife, by whom he had no issue, was well known before her marriage for her pious works in France, where she founded the British and American homes for young women and children in Paris and built Christ Church at Neuilly-sur-Marne.
[Private information; Kingston Daily Whig, 7 May 1901; Morgan's Canadian Men and Women of the Time, 1898.]