William Carpenter Bompas was born on 20 January 1834 in London. After giving up a legal career with a firm of solicitors, he joined the Church of England, becoming a deacon in 1859 and a priest in 1865. In 1865, he travelled to the Mackenzie River area of northern Canada to work as a missionary and preacher for the Church Missionary Society, later serving as the first Anglican bishop of the dioceses of Athabasca (1874-884), Mackenzie River (1884-1891), and Selkirk [Yukon] (1891-1905). He devoted much time to studying northern languages and was the author of numerous translations of religious works into native dialects. Resigning as bishop of Selkirk in October 1905, he died on 9 June 1906 in Carcross, Yukon.
From the guide to the William Carpenter Bompas, 1884, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
