The Right Rev. Dr. Stanton, Bishop of North Queensland.

Scarce portrait portrait of Bishop George Henry Stanton (1835-1905) first bishop of North Queensland.

Anglican bishop born at Stratford, Essex, England. Educated at the Merchant Taylors’ School and Magdalen Hall, later Hertford College, Oxford (B.A., 1859; M.A., 1862; D.D., 1878), he was made deacon in 1858 and ordained next year by the bishop of Winchester; in 1858-62 he was assistant curate at Christ Church, Rotherhithe, in 1862-64 at All Saints’, Maidstone, and in 1864-67 at St Saviour’s, Fitzroy Square, London. In 1867 he became vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

He was consecrated as bishop in St Paul’s Cathedral, London, on 24 June, by the archbishop of Canterbury, and was enthroned in St James’s Pro-cathedral, Townsville, on 21 May 1879. By four years of perseverance and personal contacts, he largely overcame the shortage of clergy and funds, and within ten years erected ten new churches. A diocesan magazine, the Monthly Record, appeared in 1883 and next year Stanton summoned the first diocesan synod of clergy and lay representatives and in 1886 he set up a cathedral chapter. He travelled widely on horseback to get to know the conditions and needs of the outback and to encourage its clergy and people. He planned a permanent cathedral at Townsville and consulted Edmund Blacket about its design. He turned the first sod on the site on 27 June 1887, but the work lagged. In 1890 Stanton accepted the vacant bishopric of Newcastle, New South Wales, and was enthroned in Christ Church Pro-cathedral on 12 May 1891. Stanton was a meticulous administrator and pastor; he chose good staff, and several later became bishops. A scholar, he read widely in science, theology and philosophy.

From the original edition of the Australasian Sketcher.