William Pascoe Crook (1775–1846), a missionary, schoolmaster and pastor. He was born in Dartmouth,

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on 29 April 1775. He was the first missionary to document the

Marquesas Islands The Marquesas Islands (; french: Îles Marquises or ' or '; Marquesan: ' ( North Marquesan) and ' ( South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in ...

in an

ethnographical Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

account after he was sent by 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 ...

, embarking on board ''Duff'' in June 1796. Initially he was accompanied by John Harris but was left to his work alone when Harris travelled with the ship to

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...

after Crook had landed in Vaitahu Bay. In 1798 the whaler ''Butterworth'' visited the Marquesas. Crook embarked on her to return to England, which he did when she arrived there in May 1799. He was responsible for the raising and education of Pōmare III, the infant King of Tahiti, before he died prematurely in 1827. Crook died 14 June 1846 and was buried in the

Old Melbourne Cemetery The Queen Victoria Market (also known colloquially as Vic Market or Queen Vic) is a major landmark in the central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Covering over , it is the largest open air market in the Southern Hemi ...

. He is supposed to be a translator of the first Polynesian bible.

Bibliography

* S. Marsden, ''A Letter to Mr William Crook'' (Sydney, 1835) * J. Ham, ''A Biographical Sketch of the Life and Labours of the Late Rev. William Pascoe Crook'' (Melbourne, 1846) * William Pascoe Crook, ''An Account of the Marquesas Islands 1797–1799'', ed.

Greg Dening Greg Dening (1931 – 13 March 2008) was an Australian historian of the Pacific. Dening was born in Newcastle, New South Wales. He was educated at two Jesuit schools: St. Louis School in Perth and Xavier College in Melbourne. He received an M ...

et al. (2007)

References

External links

Niel Gunson, 'Crook, William Pascoe (1775 - 1846)', ''Australian Dictionary of National Biography'', Volume 1, Melbourne University Press, 1966, pp 259-261.
People from Dartmouth, Devon 1775 births 1846 deaths British Congregationalist missionaries British Congregationalist ministers 19th-century British educators British expatriates in French Polynesia Congregationalist missionaries in French Polynesia {{British-bio-stub