One hundred vears ago last Saturday (Jan, 20th) there was born in London,
England, to Charles Carpenter Bompas, an eminent lawyer, his fourth son to whom was given the name "William Carpenter". Ten years later, the father died suddenly, leaving a widow
and eight children. Of the five boys the eldest died three years after his father, two became eminent lawyers (one a judge), one emigrated to Canada, and the other, William, is the subject of this sketch.
William Carpenter Bompas studied law for seven years, when the state of his health compelled him to take a prolonged rest; he was then twenty-four years of age. During his illness he thought more and more of his early desire to be a minister and in 1859 he was ordained deacon by the Bishop of Lincoln. After four years in mission work among the poor in England he offered to go as a missionary to India or China but his offer was declined because he was past his thirtieth birthday and was thought to be too old to master the language. In after years he mastered seven dialects or languages besides the Syriac in which he loved to study the Scriptures.
A year later he responded to the appeal of Bishop Anderson, who had just returned from Rupert's Land, for a volunteer to relieve Rev. Robert McDonald at Fort Yukon. He was raised to the Priesthood on June 25th by Bishop Machray, who had been consecrated the day previous as Bishop of Rupert’s Land, and six days later sailed from Liverpool for his distant post and arrived at Fort Simpson on Christmas morning, There the winter was spent studying the language of the natives. Mr. McDonald had recovered from his illness and Mr. Bompas became a travelling missionary with his base first at Fort Norman then at Fort Chipewyan, and in 1868 up the Peace River at Fort Vermilion and back to Fort Simpson. The following summer he visited along the Porcupine River to its mouth at Fort
Yukon where he witnessed the United States take formal possession of the Fort (Aug. 9th, 1869).
In May and June 1870, he made his only visit to the Eskimo in the Mackenzie Delta. On the way he was stricken with snowblindness and was led along by the hand by an Eskimo boy travelling about 25 miles a day. On his return he hastened away south to the Peace River, where he worked for two years before returning to Fort McPherson and going on to the Upper Yukon in 1873. In the fall of 1872 he had visited the Eskimo
along the coast near Herschel Island, 200 miles west of the Mackenzie River.
He was summoned home to England in 1873 and in July he left Fort Yukon, ascending the Porcupine and Mackenzie Rivers homeward bound. Winnipeg was reached on New Year's Eve and Liverpool on February 13th. He was consecrated first Bishop of Athabasca on May 3rd and one of the Bishops assisting the Archbishop of Canterbury was Bishop Anderson, formerly of Rupert’s Land, who preached the sermon. It was just nine years previous that Bishop Bompas had responded to Bishop Anderson's appeal. Four days later Bishop Anderson officiated at his marriage and on May 12th the new bishop and his bride sailed for New York and their distant field of labour, arriving at Fort Simpson, which they had chosen to be their home, on September 24th, 1874. Within three months he was on the trail for Fort Rae, and the party, failing to obtain any deer, were almost exhausted when they reached their destination. It was one of the "hunger years" of the North.
Within a year he had visited every mission and had travelled more than |
4,000 miles. The Diocese was divided into four missions: Takudh (from Fort McPherson to Fort Yukon); Mackenzie River (Fort Simpson and Fort Norman); Great Stave Lake; and Athabasca. His episcopate of 32 years was one of constant travelling as had been the nine years as a missionary previous to that. Memorable among his journeys was the one across the Rocky Mountains (Oct. 8th to Nov. 24th, 1877) to Metlakahtla on the Pacific Coast whence he returned the following April to Peace River after spending four months at the coast.
Twice his diocese was divided; the first time he chose the more remote and more difficult post, the second time (on the advice af the Church Missionary Society) he accepted the more remote but less strenuous diocese of Selkirk (now Yukon) which had
then only three missions.
Chooutla School, Carcross, stands as an eloquent memorial to the love and
devotion of Bishop Bompas for the welfare of the Indian children in his diocese. It was started in his own home at Fortymile and moved to Carcross in 1901. The present building
was erected in 1910, four years after his death which occurred on June 9th, 1906.
