| Administrative History | David Cargill was born in Brechin, Forfarshire, Scotland, on 20 June 1809, the second son of James Cargill, a banker, and Grace Mary Cameron Cargill. He graduated MA from King's College in 1830. Whilst studying in Aberdeen he joined the Aberdeen Methodist Circuit, and in 1831 was admitted to the church as a preacher. In 1832 he received his first missionary appointment to Tonga, in the South Pacific. He married Margaret Smith of Aberdeen on 6 September 1832 in Old Machar parish, and left the country with his wife in October that year. They worked together in Tonga with another missionary for three years, and then moved with their young family to the Fiji Islands. Margaret died there on 2 June 1840, and David Cargill returned to Britain for a short while with their four daughters. He re-married on 27 November 1841, and shortly afterwards was re-appointed to a training mission in Tonga. He lived there until his death on 25 April 1843.
He is credited with his co-worker, William Cross, with establishing the Wesleyan Church in Fiji. As a trained linguist he also wrote the first grammar and dictionary for a Fijian language and supervised the translation of parts of the Bible into Fijian. |
| Description | Collection of correspondence relating to David Cargill (senior), his wife, nee Augusta Bicknell (afterwards Mrs Roberts), and their son, David Cargill (junior). There are also six letters addressed from Reverend W. J. Bicknell to his daughter Augusta and one to her mother-in-law Mrs Cargill. Other items include a poem entitled 'Italy', a packet of particles collected from the grave of David Cargill (senior), and a pamphlet containing original poems. |
| Copyright | Subject to the condition of the original, copies may be supplied for private research use only on receipt of a signed undertaking to comply with current copyright legislation. Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the University Archivist and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. Where possible, assistance will be given in identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material. |