11 Facts About Aubrey Spencer

Aubrey George Spencer was the first bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Newfoundland and Bermuda.

Aubrey Spencer was the son of William Spencer, younger son of Lord Charles Spencer, and a great-grandson of Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough; his German mother Susan being a Countess of the Holy Roman Empire.

Aubrey Spencer's health failed him and he was discharged and decided to become a priest.

Aubrey Spencer went to study at Magdalen Hall, Oxford and was made deacon in 1818.

Aubrey Spencer was ordained a priest in 1819 by the Bishop of Norwich.

Aubrey Spencer was consecrated Bishop of Newfoundland and Bermuda, alongside John Strachan, who was the first Bishop of Toronto.

Aubrey Spencer reorganised the church into rural deaneries, revived the Diocesan Church Society to raise money, and formed a Theological Institute to produce a local ministry.

Aubrey Spencer described the society, in its 21st Annual Report, as "the greatest bulwark of the Protestant faith in that dreary and benighted land".

Aubrey Spencer was troubled by ill health and in consequence obtained his translation to Jamaica where he was bishop until 1855.

Aubrey Spencer then retired to England, to Torquay, and he occasionally assisted the ageing Bishop of Exeter, Phillpotts.

Aubrey Spencer's last publication, A Brief Account of the Church of England, its Faith and Worship: as shown by the Book of Common Prayer, published in 1867, was circulated in Spanish and Italian by the Anglo-Continental Society, and was a decidedly Protestant work.