ABSTRACT
William Ellis was another typical missionary. Born to poor parents, he was trained as a gardener and a printer before experiencing a deep religious conversion and offering himself to the LMS for training as a missionary in 1815. Ellis was part of the second wave of missionary endeavour sponsored by the LMS, which was to have greater success than the previous missionaries and was often engaged in rancorous disputes with the elder brethren. In 1816 Ellis left Britain with his wife and daughter to take up his appointment as missionary to the South Sea islands. While in Eimeo, Ellis began to work on a translation of the scriptures into Tahitian.
