William West Kirkby (1828 – 1907)

William Kirkby was born in Lincolnshire, England. He was self- educated and became a schoolmaster.1) Kirkby left England in 1852, sent by the Anglican Church Missionary Society to be a school teacher in the Red River settlement (now Winnipeg).2) He learned the Slavey language and received training as a missionary from The Church Missionary Society in Red River. He was sent to Fort Simpson in 1859. This was on the recommendation of Archdeacon James Hunter who had visited Fort Simpson in 1858 and probably found Catholic Father Pierre Grollier busy establishing a mission there. Father Grollier moved on to [Peel Post] Fort McPherson in 1860.3)

In 1861, Mr. Kirkby travelled down the Mackenzie and crossed the Rocky Mountains from the Peel River to “carry the glad tidings to the farthest limits of British territory.” Kirkby spent several days at Fort Yukon and then returned to Fort Simpson on the Mackenzie River. His journey lasted three months and he travelled “at least” 3,000 miles. He made such an impression that in 1898 he was remembered as “trootshid gikhyi tsul” (the first and small teacher).4)

Reverend Kirkby visited the Hudson’s Bay Company posts at Peel’s River [Fort McPherson], LaPierre House, and Fort Yukon in Alaska.5) He was the first missionary to reach Fort Yukon and he received a cordial welcome from the post manager Chief Trader James Lockhart. At the end of the summer, Kirkby returned to Fort Simpson and appealed to the Church Missionary Society to find a dedicated missionary for the area.6) He stressed the need for good linguistic abilities. In response, the Church recruited Robert McDonald.7)

Kirkby visited Ft. Yukon again in 1862 and returned to Ft. Simpson in time to meet Reverend Robert McDonald there.8) Kirkby worked at Fort Simpson, was moved to Hudson's Bay, and then was made Archdeacon of Moosonee.9) He resigned in 1868 and he and his family returned to England.10)

1)
“Bishop Stringer.” Old Log Church Museum 2006 website: http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/BishopStringer/english/mission-kirkby.html
2)
Manuscript “Summery of the Anglican Church in Yukon” by Archdeacon Allan Haldenby of Dawson in 1957 and updated by Lee Sax and Bishop Ronald Ferris in 1991.
3)
Leslie McCartner & Gwich’in Tribal Council, Our Whole Gwich’in Way of Life Has Changed. University of Alberta Press Polynya Press, 2020: XXXIX.
4)
T. Canham, “The Diocese of Selkirk: its Works and Workers.” January 1898: 16. Yukon Archives, PAM 1898-130.
5)
Lee Sax and Effie Linklater, Gikhyi: One Who Speaks The Word of God. Diocese of Yukon, November 1990: 14.
6)
Old Log Church Museum website, 2006: http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/BishopStringer/english/mission-kirkby.html
7)
Linda Johnson, “An Index to the Journals of Reverend Robert McDonald.” Yukon Native Language Centre, 1985.
8)
Colin Beairsto, “Making Camp: Rampart House on the Porcupine River.” Prepared for the Yukon Heritage Branch, March 1997: 47-48.
9)
“Prize Competition, 1908.” The New Era, Vol. VII, No. 1, January 1909.
10)
Cheryl Gaver, “Solitudes in Shared Spaces: Aboriginal and EuroCanadian Anglicans in the Yukon and the Northwest Territories in the Post-Residential School Era.” Thesis submitted for a PhD in Religious Studies to the Faculty of Arts, University of Ottawa, 2011: 77.