Background
Seaborn, Robert Lowder was born on July 9, 1911, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Son of Richard and Muriel (Reid) Seaborn.
Seaborn, Robert Lowder was born on July 9, 1911, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Son of Richard and Muriel (Reid) Seaborn.
Bachelor, University Toronto, 1932. Master of Arts, University Toronto, 1934. Bachelor of Divinity, Trinity College, Toronto, 1938.
Doctor of Divinity, Trinity College, Toronto, 1948. Doctor of Civil Law, Bishop's University, Lennoxville, Quebec, Canada, 1962. Doctor of Laws, Memorial University, St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, 1972.
Doctor of Divinity, Montreal Diocesan Theological College, 1980.
He earned a Bachelor in Classics in 1932 and a degree in Divinity at University of Trinity College at the University of Toronto and spent 1936-1937 at Oxford University. He was ordained Deacon in 1934, Priest in 1935 and served as Assistant Curate in his initial parish, Saint Simon-the-Apostle Church in Toronto, followed by Saint James" Cathedral Toronto from 1937-1941. He then became Rector of Saint Peter"s in Cobourg, Ontario (1941-1948).
During Seaborn spent a winter training in Debert, Nova Scotia and then was posted overseas in the spring of 1943.
He served as Padre for the 1st Battalion, Canadian Scottish Regiment from 1943-1945 and participated in the Doctorate-Day Normandy Landings. As part of that landing he held individual services on all three ships over which the Canadian Scottish Regiment was scattered.
He was awarded the "Croix de Guerre" by the French Government. On July 15, 1944, he appeared in a photograph saying a prayer over a soldier of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division.
This photo has appeared many times since in publications related to and served as the basis for a stained glass window located in Ottawa, Ontario.
Bishop Seaborn was the 15th Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada, serving from 1975 to 1980. In 1976 he oversaw reorganization of the one Newfoundland diocese into three - the Diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador with its cathedral at Saint John"s, the Diocese of Central Newfoundland (Gander) and the Diocese of Western Newfoundland (Corner Brook). This made him the 8th and final Bishop of Newfoundland and the only one to be named Metropolitan of Canada.
The camp"s central building has since been named Seaborn Lodge.
Seaborn later returned to Ontario and served as chancellor of University of Trinity College at the University of Toronto from 1982 to 1990 and Bishop Ordinary to the Canadian Forces from 1980-1986. Bishop Seaborn died in Cobourg, Ontario on February 15, 1993.
Served as chaplain Canada Army, 1942-1945.
Married Mary Elizabeth Gilchrist, January 29, 1938. Children: Richard, Robert, Jane Seaborn Hachey, Alan, Michael.