Rev. Harry Moore Dauncey (3 January 1863 - 16 January 1932) was a British

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

. He served with the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational m ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

from 1888 till his retirement in 1928.

Early years

Harry Moore Dauncey was born on 3 January 1863 in

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

, England. He was a member of the Congregational Church on Wednesbury Road, in that city. He studied at Cheshunt College.

Career

Dauncey was appointed to New Guinea. Ordained on 2 July 1888 at Congregational Chapel, Wednesbury Road, Walsall. He left England on 24 July 1888, arriving at

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

on 20 September 1888 and settled there. On 3 June 1893 he left Port Moresby to visit Sydney for a change and returned to New Guinea at the close of the year, settling at Delena, to which station he had been appointed. On 16 August 1894, at

Cooktown, Queensland Cooktown is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. Cooktown is at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland where James Cook beached his ship, the Endeavour, for repair ...

, he married Mary Ellen Hinton, a church member of the Wesley Chapel, Walsall, who left England on 22 June 1894 and returned to Delena on 11 September 1894. In 1895, on account of the serious illness of the wife, Dauncey accompanied her to Cooktown, and thence continued to

Gympie Gympie ( ) is a city and a locality in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. In the Wide Bay-Burnett District, Gympie is about north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city lies on the Mary River, which floods Gympie occasionally. The ...

, near

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

, where he placed her under the care of friends. On 15 June, Mrs. Dauncey having improved in health, he left Gympie to return alone to Delena, where he arrived on 5 July. Mrs. Dauncey having, after a few weeks, partially recovered, went on to Sydney in order to proceed to New Guinea in the ''John Williams''. Arriving in New Zealand, the serious illness of her child rendered it necessary for her to take the child back to Sydney, where, on 28 February 1896, he died. Mr. Dauncey, hearing of the painful circumstances in which his wife was placed, leaving Delena, hastened to Sydney, where he arrived on 24 February. On 31 March the Daunceys left Sydney in the ''John Williams'' to return to New Guinea, and after attending the Annual District Committee Meeting at Kapakapa, in April, went on to Delena. Dauncey encountered Alfred Cort Haddon in 1898 on

Thursday Island Thursday Island, colloquially known as TI, or in the Kawrareg dialect, Waiben or Waibene, is an island of the Torres Strait Islands, an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait. TI is located approximately north of Cape ...

, and at the time, they noted a shared appreciation of "sorcerer's kits". In 1901, Dauncey found approximately 10,000 skulls in ''dobu'' (men's houses) on

Goaribari Island Goaribari is an island in southern Papua New Guinea. It is located in Gulf Province within the Gulf of Papua. During high tides, parts of the island are inundated. The vegetation is thick rainforest. Headhunting was evidenced by the discovery of ...

. He retired in 1928, and died on 16 January 1932 at Bournemouth.

References

Attribution

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dauncey, Harry Moore 1863 births 1932 deaths English Congregationalist missionaries Congregationalist missionaries in Papua New Guinea People from Walsall