Cross, William
1797-1842; e.m. 1827

WM missionary in Tonga and Fiji, born in Cirencester. His appointment to New Zealand as a colleague to Nathaniel Turner was overruled by the Sydney Synod, which sent both men to the failing Friendly Isles mission, where they soon achieved both baptisms and Bible translations. Cross's just and straightforward attitude was universally appreciated. In 1835 he and David Cargill volunteered for the Tongan-pioneered Fiji work. Though lacking Cargill's brilliance, he was quietly effective despite considerable privation and personal loss. Dying in Fiji from exhaustion and dysentery on 5 October 1842, he was mourned as 'one of the excellent of the earth'.

Sources
  • J. Hunt, Memoir of the Rev. William Cross, Wesleyan Missionary to the Friendly Islands (1846)
  • A.H. Wood, Overseas Missions of the Australian Methodist Church, 2 vols.(Melbourne, 1975, 1978)

Occupations

See also

Entry written by: MJF
Category: Person
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