Walter Robert Adams (1877-1957)

Walter Robert Adams was born in London, England and achieved a first-class honours mathematics degree at University College, Durham. He was ordained as a deacon in 1901 and became a priest in 1905. He did parish work in England and then served as a missionary in the Diocese of Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan from 1907 to 1912. He returned to England, became assistant secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and started on an academic career. In 1925 he returned to Canada as the first Bishop of Cariboo from 1925 to 1934. In 1933 he was elected Bishop of the Kootenay and served until 1947. In 1942, he also became the third Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of British Columbia (1942-1951) just after the area was separated from Rupert’s Land. In 1950-51, he was also the Acting primate of the Canadian Church. From 1947 to 1952 he was the Archbishop of the Yukon.((“Walter Robert Adams, Memory BC, 2021 website:  https://www.memorybc.ca/adams-walter-robert.))

Archbishop W.R. Adams acted as the fifth bishop of the Yukon and held the “temporary” position for five years. He frequently came to the Yukon to help develop the church in the territory.((Henry Marsh, “Yukon Bishops.” Unpublished paper in the Old Log Church Museum vertical files.))