- Allen Francis Gardiner
Allen Francis Gardiner (1794–1851) was a British
Royal Navy officer andmissionary toPatagonia .cite web | last =Boase | first =George C. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title =Gardiner, Allen Francis (1794–1851), naval officer and missionary | work =Dictionary of National Biography Vol. XX | publisher =Smith, Elder & Co. | date = 1889 | url = http://www.oxforddnb.com/templates/olddnb.jsp?articleid=10353 | format = HTML | doi = | accessdate = 2007-11-20]Biography
Gardiner was the fifth son of Samuel Gardiner of Coombe Lodge,
Oxfordshire , by Mary, daughter of Charles Boddam of Capel House, Bull's Cross,Enfield ,Middlesex . He was born on 28 January 1794 in the parsonage house atBasildon ,Berkshire , where his parents were temporarily residing. He was religiously educated, and in May 1808 entered the Royal Naval College,Portsmouth .Naval career
On 20 June 1810 he went to sea as a volunteer on board H.M.S. Fortune, and after a time removing to the Phœbe, he served in that ship as
midshipman until August 1814, when, having distinguished himself in the capture of the American frigate Essex, he was sent toEngland as acting lieutenant of that prize. Being confirmed aslieutenant 13 December he afterwards served in the Ganymede, the Leander, and the Dauntless in various parts of the world, and returned invalided to Portsmouth 31 October 1822. On 1 July in the following year he married Julia Susanna, second daughter of John Reade of Ipsden House, Oxfordshire; she died in theIsle of Wight on 23 May 1834. Assecond lieutenant of the Jupiter he was at Newfoundland in 1824, and in 1825 came back to England in charge of the Clinker, when he obtained his promotion ascommander 13 September 1826, after which period, although he often applied for employment, he never succeeded in obtaining any other appointment.Missionary work
Long before this his attention had been much directed--to the contemporary British view--to the unreclaimed state of the heathen nations, and he now resolved that he would devote his life to the work of a missionary pioneer. With this view he went to
Africa in 1834, and, exploring theZulu country, started the first missionary station atPort Natal . From 1834 to 1838 he was engaged in earnest endeavours to establish christian churches in Zululand, but political events and native wars combined to prevent any permanent success. From 1838 to 1843 he laboured among the Indians of Chile, and went from island to island in the Indian Archipelago, but his efforts were foiled by the opposition of the various governments.His first visit to
Tierra del Fuego took place 22 March 1842, when, coming from theFalkland Islands in the schooner Montgomery, he landed in Oazy harbour. TheChurch Missionary Society was now pressed to send out missionaries to Patagonia, but declined on the ground of want of funds. Similar proposals were unsuccessfully made to the Wesleyan and London Missionary Societies. At length in 1844 a special society was formed for South America, which took the name of the Patagonian Missionary Society [cite web
last = Every, D.D., Right Reverend
first = Edward Francis
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The South American Missionary Society
work =
publisher = Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1915., London
date = 1915
url = http://anglicanhistory.org/sa/every1915/sams.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-09-27] [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = History of SAMS
work =
publisher =
date =
url = http://www.samsusa.org/about_history.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-09-27] , and Robert Hunt, a schoolmaster, was sent out as the first missionary, being accompanied by Gardiner. This attempt to establish a mission, however, failed, and they returned to England in June 1845. Gardiner, not discouraged, left England again 23 September 1845, and, in company with Federico Gonzales, a SpanishProtestant , from whom he learnt Spanish, went toBolivia , where he distributed bibles to the Indian population, but not without much opposition from the Roman catholics. Having established Gonzales as a missionary atPotosi , he himself came back to England, landing atSouthampton 8 February 1847. He spent 1848 in making a survey of Tierra del Fuego with a view to a mission, and suffered great hardships. He then endeavoured to interest the Moravian Brethren and the Foreign Missions of theChurch of Scotland in this enterprise, but neither of them was in a position to render any aid. At last, a lady atCheltenham having given £700, the mission was determined on. Accompanied by Richard Williams, surgeon, Joseph Erwin, ship-carpenter, John Maidment, catechist, and three Cornish fishermen, Pearce, Badcock, and Bryant, he sailed fromLiverpool 7 September 1850 in the Ocean Queen, and was landed atPicton Island 5 December. He had with him two launches, each twenty-six feet long, in which had been stowed provisions to last for six months. TheYahgan people were hostile and great thieves; the climate was severe and the country barren. Six months elapsed without the arrival of further supplies, which were detained at the Falkland Islands for want of a vessel. The unfortunate men gradually died of starvation, Gardiner, himself the last survivor, expiring, as it is believed, 6 September 1851.On 21 Oct. the John Davison, sent for their succour, arrived, and on 6 Jan. 1852 H.M.S. Dido visited the place, but all they could do was to bury the bodies and bring away Gardiner's journal. Two years later, in 1854, the "Allen Gardiner", an 88 ton schooner, was sent out to Patagonia as a missionary ship, and in 1856 Captain Gardiner's only son, Allen W. Gardiner, went to that country as a missionary.
Gardiner married secondly, 7 Oct. 1836, Elizabeth Lydia, eldest daughter of the Rev. Edward Garrard Marsh, vicar of Aylesford, Kent.
Publications
# "Outlines of a Plan for Exploring the Interior of Australia", 1833.
# "Narrative of a Journey to the Zoolu Country in South Africa, undertaken in 1835, 1836."
# "A Visit to the Indians on the Frontiers of Chili", 1840.
# "A Voice from South America", 1847.References
* Bridges, E L (1948) "The Uttermost Part of the Earth" Republished 2008, Overlook Press ISBN 978-1585679560Notes
*DNB
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