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William Carey Crane portrait.jpg Photo by Henry A. McArdle –

Top 10 Facts about William Carey

William Carey was born on 17 August 1761 and died on 9 June 1834. He was an English Christian missionary, a Particularly baptist, minister, translator, social reform, and cultural anthropologist.

He was the founder of Serampore College and Serampore University the first degree-awarding university in India. He went to Calcutta which today is known as Kolkata in 1793. He was forced to leave the British Indian territory by non- baptist Christian missionaries.

He joined the baptist missionaries in the Danish colony of Frederiksnagar in Serampore. One of his first contributions was to start schools for impoverished children where they were taught reading, writing, accounting, and Christianity. 

William opened the first theological university in Serampore offering divinity degrees and campaigned to end the practice of Sati.

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1. Legacy

William is known as the ‘father of modern missions’ His essay, An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens, led to the founding of the Baptist Missionary Society.

The Asiatic Society commended him for his eminent services in opening stores of Indian literature to the knowledge of Europe and for the natural history of the countries and his useful contributions in every branch.

William also translated the Hindu classic, the Ramayana, and the bible into English, Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, Marathi, and Sanskrit. Willam has also been called a reformer and illustrious Christian missionary.

2. The Baptist Missionary Society

William became involved with a local association of Particular Baptists that had recently formed, where he became acquainted with men such as John Ryland, John Sutcliff, and Andrew Fuller. He became close friends in later years. 

They later invited him to preach in their church in the nearby village of Earls Barton every other Sunday. He was baptized by Ryland on 5 October 1783 and committed himself to the Baptist denomination.

In 1785, William was appointed the schoolmaster for the village of Moulton. He was also invited to serve as pastor of the local Baptist church. During this time, he read the journals of the explorer James Cook and became concerned with propagating the Christian Gospel throughout the world.

In 1789, William became the full-time pastor of Harvey Lane Baptist Church in Leicester. Later in 1792, he published his groundbreaking missionary manifesto.

William preached a pro-missionary sermon using Isaiah 54:2-3. He finally overcame the resistance to missionary effort, and the Particular Baptist Society for the Propagation of the Gospel amongst the Heathen was founded in October 1792.

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3. Missionary Life in India

William Carey With Pandit – Carey Museum – Serampore College – Hooghly 2017-07-06 0818.JPG Photo by Unknown author –

On his way to India, they were delayed at the Isle of Wight at which time the captain received word that he endangered his command if he conveyed the missionaries to Calcutta. Their journey was unauthorized and violated the trade monopoly of the British East India Company. 

He decided to sail without them and they were delayed until June when Thomas found a Danish captain willing to offer them passage. They landed at Calcutta in November.

During his first year in Calcutta, the missionaries sought means to support themselves and a place to establish their mission. They also began to learn the Bengali language to communicate with others. During the six years that William managed the indigo plant.

He began formulating the principles upon which his missionary community would be formed including communal living, financial self-reliance, and the training of indigenous ministers. 

During this time, the missionary society had begun sending more missionaries to India. The first to arrive was John Fountain who arrived in Midnapore and began teaching. More people joined the society but because the East India Company was still hostile to missionaries, they settled in the Danish colony in Serampore and were joined by William on 10 January 1800.

4. Influence in Serampore

The mission bought a house large enough to accommodate all of their families and a school. This was to be their principal means of support. By the end of 1800, the mission had its first conversion.

They had also earned the goodwill of the local Danish government and Richard Wellesley then Governor-General of India. In 1801, the Governor-General founded Fort William College, it was intended to educate civil servants. He offered William the position of professor of Bengali. 

William’s colleagues at the college included pundits, whom he could consult to correct his Bengali testament. One of his colleagues was Madan Mohan Tarkalankar who taught him the Sanskrit language. He also used his influence with the Governor-General to help put a stop to the practices of infant sacrifice and suttee. 

In 1818, the mission founded Serampore College to train indigenous ministers for the growing church and to provide education in the arts and sciences to anyone regardless of caste or country. Frederick VI, King of Denmark, granted a royal charter in 1827 that made the college a degree-granting institution, which was the first in Asia.

5. Outside Mission Work

William Carey.jpg Photo by Unknown author –

In 1807, William’s wife Dorothy Carey died. Due to her debilitating mental breakdown, she had long since ceased to be an able member of the mission. Her condition was an additional burden to the mission.

Several of William’s friends and colleagues thought Dorothy should be in an asylum. He recoiled at the thought of the treatment she might receive in such a place and took the responsibility to keep her within the family home. Where she passed on.

In 1808, William remarried. His new wife Charlotte Rhumohr, a Danish member of his church was his intellectual equal. They were married for 13 years until her death in 1821. In 1823, he remarried a third time, to a widow named Grace Hughes.

6. Differences In The Communal Home

Due to the fact that many of the missionaries in the society grew older and died. Some of the new missionaries arrived who were not willing to live in the communal fashion that had developed. Some of them began to demand a separate house, stable, and servants. 

The new missionaries thought their seniors particularly Marshman, Carey, and Ward to be somewhat dictatorial, assigning them to work not to their liking. Their differences proved to be irreconcilable, and William formally served stores with the missionary society he had founded.

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7. Indian Culture has an Impact on Him

William’s activities in India are from missionary reports sent back home. The reports by William were conditioned by his background, personal factors, and his own religious beliefs. His colleague William Ward was in a community suffering from extreme poverty and epidemics. 

William recommended that his fellow Anglo-Indians learn and interpret Sanskrit. Carey lacked understanding and respect for Indian culture. He thought Indian music was disgusting and described their practices as dishonorable to God.

His attitude toward the culture affected the literature authored by him and his colleagues. 

8. Eschatology

Portrait of William Carey, D.D (4672235).jpg Photo by Samuel William Reynolds –

William’s biographies to his postmillennial eschatology were expressed in his major missionary manifesto. He was a Calvinist and a postmillennialist. Even the two dissertations which discuss his achievements ignore large areas of his theology.

Neither mentions his eschatological views that played a major role in his missionary zeal. 

9. Great Efforts in Education

William Carey University Sign.jpg Photo by Woodlot –

William devoted great efforts and time to the study not only of the common language of Bengali. He undertook the translation of the Hindu classics into English beginning with the three-volume epic poem the Ramayana.

He then translated the Bible into Bengali, Oriya, Marathi, Hindi, and Sanskrit. For 30 years, he served in the college as a professor of Bengali. Sankrit, and Marathi. It was published in 1805 and was the first book on Marathi Grammar.

In 1794, William opened the first primary school in all of India. The public school system that William initiated expanded to include girls. In the 1800s, William started Sunday Schools in which children learned to read using the Bible as their textbook. 

His work is considered to have provided the starting point of what blossomed into the Christian Vernacular Education Society providing English medium education across India.

10. Last Days

William left the mission property and moved onto the college grounds. He lived a quiet life until his death in 1834. Before his death, he spent his time preaching, revising his Bengali Bible, and teaching students. 

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