Henry Nott
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Henry Nott (1774–1844) was a British
Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who 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.Thoma ...
who lived and worked in
Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...
, in the
Society Islands The Society Islands ( , officially ; ) are an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean that includes the major islands of Tahiti, Mo'orea, Moorea, Raiatea, Bora Bora and Huahine. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country ...
in
Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...
.


Life

Henry Nott was born in
Bromsgrove Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about north-east of Worcester and south-west of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 34,755 in at the 2021 census. It gives its name to the wider Bromsgrove District, of which it is ...
, Worcestershire in 1774. He was one of the first missionaries sent out 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 tradition, Reformed in outlook, with ...
, arriving in Tahiti aboard the mission ship ''Duff'' in 1797. He had been a bricklayer by trade and the mission did not prepare these missionaries well for their situation in Tahiti. The ''Duff'' took a year to return to England. Then, when it was loaded with supplies and returning to Tahiti, it was taken by a French ship, Britain and France being at war during the reign of Napoleon. During the five-year wait for resupply, several of his fellow missionaries deserted, died, or seemed to go mad. Nott continued on, building a relationship with the new king, Pomare II. Eventually the king was converted, and encouraged the building of a chapel which was dedicated on 25 July 1813. The king's baptism, the first on the island, took place on 16 May 1819. Nott learned the language and worked with Pomare II on translating the
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
into the
Tahitian language Tahitian (autonym: , , part of , , languages of French Polynesia) correspond to "languages of natives from French Polynesia", and may in principle designate any of the seven indigenous languages spoken in French Polynesia. The Tahitian language s ...
. Missionary historian Ruth A. Tucker describes Nott as the primary translator of the Bible into Tahitian, writing: He married a newly arrived missionary from Britain, but she was not content in Tahiti and died within two years.Cloud, D (2005)
Henry Nott: Herald of the Love of God in Tahiti
Way of Life Literature - Fundamental Baptist Information Service, describes her as a "worthy helpmate".
Nott returned to England only twice during his 47 years overseas. He died on 2 May 1844.


References

* * * *


Popular Biography

Joyce Reason. ''The Bricklayer and the King: Henry Nott of the South Seas''. London, Edinburgh House, 1938.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nott, Henry 1774 births 1844 deaths 18th-century Anglicans 18th-century evangelicals 19th-century Anglicans 19th-century evangelicals British expatriates in French Polynesia English Anglican missionaries English evangelicals Evangelical Anglicans Evangelical missionaries British missionary linguists Protestant missionaries in French Polynesia Translators of the Bible into Polynesian languages