The St. Peter's Cathedral Inglis Group was originally the senior branch of St. Peter's Anglican Church Women but was renamed in 1990 in honour of Bishop Charles Inglis, the first Bishop of the Diocese of Nova Scotia (with episcopal jurisdiction over Prince Edward Island). He was bishop from 1787 until 1816. Together with the St. Peter's Cathedral Binney Group, the Inglis Group provides "refreshments" at numerous parish events, meetings, etc.
As outlined in Robert Tuck's entry for Simpson in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, James Simpson was born on 11 May 1853 in Maidstone, England, the son of James Simpson, a surgeon and dentist, and Marion Campbell. Simpson married Alice Maude DesBrisay in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island on 29 June 1891 and had three sons and one daughter. Simpson died in Charlottetown on 29 November 1920. He was educated at Southsea Diocesan Grammar School in England and emigrated to Quebec in 1872. He studied for holy orders at Bishop’s College, Lennoxville, graduating in arts in 1876 (ma 1879) and then worked as a government surveyor. In 1882 he was engaged as assistant master at Trinity College School, Port Hope, Ontario, and was then ordered deacon in 1882 and priest in 1883.
In December 1886, Simpson went to Charlottetown to take temporary charge of St Peter’s Cathedral, being inducted as "priest-incumbent" on 13 February 1887. He was made the first canon of his cathedral in 1907 and an honorary canon of All Saints’ Cathedral, Halifax, in 1915. He was a member of both provincial and general synods, a governor of King’s College, Windsor, Nova Scotia, and a delegate to the Pan-Anglican Congress held in 1908. In 1914 Bishop’s College made him an honorary doctor of canon law. Simpson also served on the committee that produced the first Canadian revision of the Book of Common Prayer in 1918.
Jedediah Slason CArvell was born in 1832 of Loyalist parents in Newcastle New Brunswick. Following his early education in Saint John and the Fredricton Collegiate SChool, he moved to Australia where he lived fro several years before returning to North America in 1855. Upon his return, he first lived in California and then in Oregon where he was engaged in the lumber business. Carvell moved back to New Brunswick where he worked with the contractors building the European and North American Railway. He moved to Charlottetown in 1860 and became a very successful general marchant mainly thoguh import and export trading. He served as Mayor of Charlottetown from 1877 to 1878. In 1879, he was appointed to the Canadian Senate, a position he held until his death in 1894.
Lawrence Watson was born Laurence White Watson on 2 May 1860 on Queen Street, Charlottetown, and baptised at St. James Church in Charlottetown on 11 July 1860. His father was William R. Watson and his mother Sarah Ann Watson (nee Sarah Ann Croskill). (The official baptismal record shows his name as Laurence but the spelling changed from Laurence to Lawrence at some point.) Watson dies in Charlottetown on 17 July 1925, age 65. According to the obituary in The Charlottetown Guardian newspaper on 29 July 1925, Watson received his B.A. at King's College, Windsor, Nova Scotia in 1879, and then studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland (1880-1882). He ended his medical studies on the death of his father and returned to Prince Edward Island to continue his father's business.
In 1884, Watson became the organist at St. Peter's Cathedral Church, directed musical services for many years, and carried out numerous other duties for the church. He was a founding member, officer and official historian of the National Historic Society and wrote many articles on natural history.
Watson composed the music for The Island Hymn, with lyrics by Lucy M. Montgomery.
Watson was married to Eleanor Massey Desbrisay. According to census records he had two children, Ruth (born ca. 1893) and Norman (born ca. 1899), but The Charlottetown Guardian newspaper indicates he had a daughter and two sons.