Alexander Ewing, Bishop of Argyll and the Isles

Born in Aberdeen of an old Highland family, Alexander Ewing (1814-1873) was admitted to deacon’s orders in 1838 and was ordained a presbyter in 1841. In 1846 he was elected bishop of the newly restored diocese of Argyll and the Isles, a position he held until his death on 22 May 1873. Though hampered by a delicate constitution, he worked in a spirit of buoyant cheerfulness. A man of personal charm, he exercised a wide tolerance and attached little importance to ecclesiastical authority and organization. His own theological position had close affinity with that of Frederick Denison Maurice, but his opinions were the fruit of his own meditation and were coloured by his own individuality.

The Bishop of Argyll and the Isles died on 22 May 1873 at Westmill Rectory, Hertfordshire, at the age of 59, According to his short obituary, published in the Times the following Monday, he 'was the eldest son of Mr John Ewing of Aberdeen. He was born in 1814; he was ordained in 1838, and having held some parochial cures in the Scottish Episcopal Church, he was consecrated to the see of Argyll and the Isles in 1847. The Bishop was twice married; firstly, in 1835, to a daughter of Major L. Stuart, of Pettievaich, county Banff, who died in the following year. In 1862 he married as his second wife Lady Alice Louisa, fourth daughter of George, 19th Earl of Morton.'

Photographed by Camille Silvy.