The Most Rev. St Clair George Alfred Donaldson, Archbishop of Brisbane, was educated at Eton, which he entered in 1876, and at Trinity College, where he gained a scholarship. He took his degree in 1885, obtained first class in Classics and also in Theology (1887). In 1888 he was ordained Deacon from Wells Theological College by the Bishop of London to the title of St Andrew, Bethnal Green; and Priest in the following year by the Archbishop of Canterbury, whose Residential Chaplain he had become. In 1891 he returned to the East End of London as Head of the Eton Mission, and two years later, on the consecration of the Church there, became Vicar of the new Parish of St Mary of Eton. In 1901, on the presentation of the Bishop of London, he was appointed Rector of Hornsey. In 1904, when the Synod of the Diocese of Brisbane delegated to the Archbishop of Canterbury power to appoint a successor to the late Bishop Webber, Dr. Donaldson was chosen. He was consecrated on the Festival of St Simon and St Jude, 28th October 1904. He arrived in Brisbane on 19th December, and was enthroned on St Thomas' Day, 21st December, 1904. When in 1905 the Dioceses of Brisbane, North Queensland, Rockhampton, Carpentaria, and New Guinea were formed into a Province, the Bishop of Brisbane, as the Metropolitan of Queensland, took the title of Archbishop of Brisbane. The official recognition of the Archbishop as Metropolitan took place at the Provincial Synod Service in St. Luke's, Brisbane, on 23rd October, 1906, at the hands of the senior Bishop, Dr Dawes, Bishop of Rockhampton.
Ramsden Preacher 1914. Bishop of Salisbury 1921 - 1935. Chairman of the Missionary Council of the Church of England from 1921. Chairman of the Joint Committee of the Canterbury Convocation on 'The Church and Marriage', 1931 - 1935. Prelate of Order of St Michael and St George from 1933. ' His immense patience, tolerance and practical wisdom made him an excellent chairman as well as an exemplary diocesan.' 'A very fine, simple-minded, robust, sensible prelate' (A.C. Benson)