William Carey

The first record of the Baptist Missionary Society traces its origin to Carey, whose mind, it says, had been set on the conversion of the heathen since before he came to live at Moulton in 1786; it notes his thirst for geography and his aptitude for languages (Periodical Accounts of the Baptist Missionary Society, vol. 1, pp. 1–2). He wrote the Enquiry there and published it in 1792, proposing a society to send missionaries (Carey, Enquiry, section 5). That May he preached at Nottingham on expecting and attempting great things (Periodical Accounts of the Baptist Missionary Society, vol. 1, pp. 2–3), and in October he was named to the committee of the society formed at Kettering (Periodical Accounts of the Baptist Missionary Society, vol. 1, pp. 3–4).

He embarked for India with his family on 13 June 1793 (Periodical Accounts of the Baptist Missionary Society, vol. 1, p. 157). The agreement he and his colleagues made at Serampore in 1805 commits them to translate the Scriptures into the languages of India and to raise up Indian preachers and churches (Serampore Form of Agreement (1805), articles 8–9, pp. 446–449). See William Carey and the Modern Missionary Movement.