William Carey was a well-known English Baptist missionary and Baptist minister. He is known as the “Father of Modern Missions.” Carey was raised in a religious family, and this made him interested in the ideas of Christianity. He wanted it to spread all over the world. He started out as a shoemaker, but he insisted on being called a cobbler. Over time, though, he was persuaded to become a dissenter. Because he was very good at learning languages, he was able to learn Hebrew, Latin, Dutch, and other languages and began translating religious texts. Because of what he knew and how much he cared, he was hired as a teacher and made the pastor of the local Baptist Church. Later, he and his family went on a mission to India, where they lived in a Dutch colony called Serampore. There, he worked to spread Christianity in India. He learned a lot of languages in India, where he also taught Bengali at Serampore College. He also helped translate the Bible into 44 different languages and dialects. He worked to get rid of cruel religious practices in India, like killing female babies and sati, and he was very against the idea of different castes.
Early years and childhood
William Carey was born on August 17, 1761, in the English village of Paulerspury. His parents, Edmund and Elizabeth Carey, were from Northamptonshire. His father worked as a parish clerk and also taught school in the village.
Carey was a curious child who liked to learn about the world around him, especially plants. He also spoke many languages well and taught himself Latin.
Because of his health, he couldn’t work in agriculture, so at age 16, he went to work for a shoemaker in Hackleton as an apprentice. Later, he started making shoes himself.
Carey met a Dissenter named John Warr while he was an apprentice. Eventually, Carey left the Church of England and joined other Dissenters to start a small Congregational Church near Hackletown.
Work & Life
Clarke Nichols was Carey’s mentor until he died in 1779. After that, he worked for Thomas Old, and when Old died, Carey took over his business. At this point, he could read Hebrew, Italian, Dutch, and French on his own.
He was soon asked to speak at the church near the village of Earls Barton on Sundays. Soon after, John Ryland baptized him and he joined the Baptist church.
In 1785, he became the schoolmaster for the village of Moulton. The Baptist church in the village also asked him to be their pastor. After reading about David Brainerd, James Cook, etc., he was now moved to spread the Christian Gospel.
In 1789, Carey became the full-time pastor of Harvey Lane Baptist Church in Leicester. A few years later, he wrote ‘An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use Means for the Conversion of the Heathen,’ a book about how Christians should try to convert people who don’t believe in God.
The short book talked about the theological reasons for missionary work, the history of missionary work, statistics about religion in every country in the world, possible objections to sending missionaries and how to deal with them, a plan for starting a missionary society, and other things.
In 1793, Carey and his family set sail from England for India to spread their Christian message. For the first six years, he used the money from his son’s friend’s indigo plant to help pay for the mission.
More missionaries, like John Fountain, William Ward, Joshua Marshman, and others, were sent to India. However, because the East India Company didn’t like missionaries, they moved to Danish colonies, where Carey joined them in 1800.
They all moved to Serampore and lived in a big house that was both their home and a school. Carey began to print the Bible in Bengali and began to try to convert Hindus.
In 1801, Governor-General offered Carey a job as a professor of Bengali at Fort William. Carey started working to stop the bad practices of sati and infant sacrifice when he was in a position of power.
He started translating literature and holy texts from their original Sanskrit language into English so that his own people could read them. During his lifetime, the mission printed Bibles in 44 languages and dialects and gave them to people.
In 1818, the mission started Serampore College to train new ministers for the church and to teach anyone who wanted to learn about the arts and sciences. With a royal charter, the college became the first place in Asia to give degrees.
Carey started the Agri Horticultural Society of India at Alipore, Kolkata, in 1820. He did this to share his lifelong interest in botany.
Carey and John Dyer, the new secretary of the missionary society in England, started to disagree. Eventually, Carey left the mission field and spent the rest of his life preaching and teaching students until he died.
Works of note
Carey’s commitment to the modern Christian missionary movement and his time spent converting Hindus to Christianity, translating the Bible into 44 Indian languages and dialects, and teaching at Serampore College are thought to be the most important things he did in his life.
Personal History and Legacies
In 1781, Carey got married in Piddington to Dorothy Plackett, the sister-in-law of his boss Thomas Old. Five of their children were boys, and two were girls. Three of his kids died when they were young.
When Carey and his family moved to India, Dorothy had trouble emotionally and mentally adjusting. As a result, she lost her mental balance and was affected psychologically. In 1807, she died.
Carey married Charlotte Rhumohr, a Danish member of his church. Unlike Dorothy, she could read and write, and she was very involved in her husband’s work. Before she died, they had been married for 13 years.
He died in India in 1834, and the couch he died on is now on display at the Baptist hall of the University of Oxford’s Regent’s Park College.
Estimated Net worth
William is one of the wealthiest missionaries and is on the list of the most well-known missionaries. Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider all say that William Carey’s net worth is about $3 million.
Trivia
There are nine colleges named after Carey: William Carey Christian School (WCCS) in Sydney, New South Wales, William Carey International University in Pasadena, California, Carey Theological College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Carey Baptist College in Auckland, New Zealand, Carey Baptist Grammar School in Melbourne, Victoria, Carey College in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, among others.
Carey is remembered by the Episcopal Church on October 19, which is a feast day.
His son Peter died of dysentery, and his wife Dorothy had a nervous breakdown from which she never fully recovered.
Krishna Pal was the first Indian who became a Christian because of Carey’s work.