William Ellis (29 August 17949 June 1872) was a British missionary and author. He travelled through the Society Islands, Hawaiian Islands, and Madagascar, and wrote several books describing his experiences. Early life He was born in Charles Street, Longacre, London of working-class parents on 29 August 1794. His father (from Norwich) and a short-lived older brother (25 May 17933 December 1793) were also named William. (If a child died young, parents often named another child by the same name, especially if they wanted to pass on a parent's or grandparent's name.) Not much is known of his mother, whose maiden name was Sarah Bedborough (1772–1837). She was born in Reading, England, and her parents Daniel and Mary Bedborough had her baptised on 5 April 1772 in Hurst, Berkshire. She married William Ellis on 13 August 1792, and she died in Wisbech on 15 February 1837 aged 65. Their other children were: Sarah Ellis (born 9 December 1797 in St. Giles, London), Mary Ellis (born 6 January 1803 in Wisbech), Ann Barnard (born Ann Ellis 1 June 1805, Wisbech) and Thomas Ellis (born 26 February 1800, Wisbech). William Jr. and his surviving siblings were all baptised on 4 March 1806 by Richard Wright, Protestant Dissenting Minister in the Unitarian chapel, (previously in Deadman's Lane, Wisbech). His parents brought him, when he was four years old, and his sister Sarah to Wisbech, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire. Young William developed a love of plants in his youth and became a gardener. He left school by the age of twelve, when he worked first in Wisbech and then Thorney in the Isle of Ely, later moving to Outwell to work for Rev. Hardwicke, then at a nursery north of London, and eventually for a wealthy family in Stoke Newington. Being of a religious nature, he applied to train as a Christian missionary for the London Missionary Society and was accepted to the school. He began writing at the age of 12, on being urged by a Unitarian minister named Richard Wright at elementary school, who discerned his talent at an early age. Wright was for several years employed as a missionary by the "London Unitarian Fund Society" to spread their doctrine and as a consequence gave up his post in Wisbech—for a while the congregation was without a minister. During a year's training Ellis acquired some knowledge of theology and of various practical arts,