William Henry (1770–1859) was an Irish missionary for the London Missionary Society.
Early life
William Henry was born in Sligo, Ireland in 1770, the son of George and Sarah Henry. He trained as a carpenter and joiner and worked in the Sligo shipyards. As a young man, he joined in the persecution of itinerant Methodist preachers but in 1791 was converted and joined the Calvinistic Methodist group known as the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion. They arranged for Henry's tuition under John Walker, Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin.
The Connexion supported the London Missionary Society, founded in 1795 by Thomas Haweis, chaplain to the Countess. The Society purchased the ship Duff and dispatched 30 missionaries to the South Seas in August 1796. All were tradesmen. There were six married missionaries with their families, among them William Henry and his wife Sarah.
Tahiti
Within a year of arrival, the missionaries became concerned for their safety and left with their families for Sydney where they arrived in May 1798. With James Fleet Cover, William Henry established an itinerant mission based in Parramatta and in 1798-99 preached in the north-western districts of Sydney; Henry's congregation at Kissing Point developed into the congregation of St Anne's.
Henry and his family returned to Tahiti in October 1799 to continue his missionary work. Following a rebellion in late 1808 and the destruction of their homes, seven missionaries and their families again went back to Sydney, where they arrived in the Hibernia in February 1810. Among them was Henry with his wife and three children. He returned to the Kissing Point district where he preached and taught. After a year Henry returned to Tahiti, this time bearing Lachlan Macquarie's appointment as "magistrate for the Pacific Islands". His wife, Sarah, died at Tahiti in July 1812.
Henry went back to Australia. He returned to Tahiti with a new bride, Ann, who retained close contact with her family at Kissing Point. Henry reported regularly to London and maintained contacts with Samuel Marsden at Parramatta who was from 1812 a foreign director of the London Missionary Society. He corresponded with former missionaries including Rowland Hassall, and other colonial clergymen such as John Dunmore Lang.
William Henry served as a missionary in Tahiti and nearby islands for 50 years. When he retired in 1847, he was the longest serving and only survivor of the first band of missionaries to the Pacific. Henry had helped baptise King Pōmare II, resulting in great influence for the missionaries within Tahitian society. As a teacher, he compiled a Tahitian grammar and observed Polynesian customs and culture. As pastor, he participated in the moral, social and civic life of the Tahitian people.
Alarmed by the behaviour of the children of several of the first missionaries, the London Missionary Society decided in 1839 to retire the older men, including William Henry. In October 1842 Henry, his wife and his younger children sailed to Sydney on the Sarah Ann, arriving in December 1842.
Building The Retreat
In January 1843 Henry wrote to the London Missionary Society about his plans to retire and settle at Kissing Point. He asked for a grant of A£200 for building. The Society refused, indicating that a retirement allowance would be made for him and if this was insufficient for his "indispensable wants" they would then consider another request. The Society's letter concluded: We rejoice to perceive that in the retreat you have selected for your declining years, you will not be without opportunities for making known the preciousness of a Saviour's love.
On 24 October 1843 James Shepherd "being desirous of making some provision" for his daughter, Ann Henry, gave her one acre of land, part of James Squire's 30 acre grant, bounded on the east by James Stewart's grant and on the south by the public road to Parramatta. Shepherd appointed Joseph Smith, a coffee planter in Tahiti and her son-in-law, as Ann's trustee. Smith, his wife Elizabeth and her sister Ann, settled in Hawaii, where Smith held a government position.