Allen Francis Gardiner was a British Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 officer and missionary

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

 to Patagonia

Patagonia

Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...

.

Biography

Gardiner was the fifth son of Samuel Gardiner of Coombe Lodge, Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

, by Mary, daughter of Charles Boddam of Capel House, Bull's Cross, Enfield

Enfield Town

Enfield Town is the historic town centre of Enfield, formerly in the county of Middlesex and now in the London Borough of Enfield. It is north north-east of Charing Cross...

, Middlesex

Middlesex

Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...

. He was born on 28 January 1794 in the parsonage house at Basildon

Basildon

Basildon is a town located in the Basildon District of the county of Essex, England.It lies east of Central London and south of the county town of Chelmsford...

, Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

, where his parents were temporarily residing. He was religiously educated, and in May 1808 entered the Royal Naval College

Royal Naval Academy

The Royal Naval Academy was established at Portsmouth Dockyard as a facility to train officers for the Royal Navy. The founders' intentions were to provide an alternative means to recruit officers and to provide standardised training, education and admission.-Training:In 1773, a shore side...

, Portsmouth

Portsmouth

Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

.

Naval career

On 20 June 1810 he went to sea as a volunteer on board , and after a time removing to the Phœbe, he served in that ship as midshipman

Midshipman

A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...

 until August 1814, when, having distinguished himself in the capture of the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 frigate Essex, he was sent to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 as acting lieutenant of that prize. Being confirmed as lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 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, Ipsden

Ipsden

Ipsden is a village and civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire, about southeast of Wallingford.-Parish church:The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin was built late in the 12th century as a chapelry of North Stoke...

, Oxfordshire; she died in the Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...

 on 23 May 1834. As second lieutenant

Second Lieutenant

Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...

 of the Jupiter he was at Newfoundland

Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...

 in 1824, and in 1825 came back to England in charge of the Clinker, when he obtained his promotion as commander

Commander

Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

 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

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 in 1834, and, exploring the Zulu

Zulu Kingdom

The Zulu Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Zulu Empire or, rather imprecisely, Zululand, was a monarchy in Southern Africa that extended along the coast of the Indian Ocean from the Tugela River in the south to Pongola River in the north....

 country, started the first missionary station at Port 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

Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego divided between Chile and Argentina with an area of , and a group of smaller islands including Cape...

 took place 22 March 1842, when, coming from the Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...

 in the schooner Montgomery, he landed in Oazy harbour. The Church 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

English Wesleyan Mission

English Wesleyan Mission was a British Methodist missionary society that was involved in sending workers to countries such as China during the late Qing Dynasty....

 and London Missionary Societies

London Missionary Society

The London Missionary Society was a non-denominational missionary society formed in England in 1795 by evangelical Anglicans and Nonconformists, largely Congregationalist in outlook, with missions in the islands of the South Pacific and Africa...

. At length in 1844 a special society was formed for South America, which took the name of the Patagonian Missionary Society

South American Missionary Society

The South American Mission Society was founded at Brighton in 1844 as the Patagonian Mission. Captain Allen Gardiner, R.N., was the first secretary. The name "Patagonian Mission" was retained for twenty years, when the new title was adopted...

, 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 Spanish

Spanish people

The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....

 Protestant, from whom he learnt Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

, went to Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

, where he distributed bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

s to the Indian population, but not without much opposition from the Roman Catholics

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

. Having established Gonzales as a missionary at Potosi

Potosí

Potosí is a city and the capital of the department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world by elevation at a nominal . and it was the location of the Spanish colonial mint, now the National Mint of Bolivia...

, he himself came back to England, landing at Southampton

Southampton

Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

 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 the Church of Scotland

Church of Scotland

The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....

 in this enterprise, but neither of them was in a position to render any aid. At last, a lady at Cheltenham

Cheltenham

Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...

 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 from Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 7 September 1850 in the Ocean Queen, and was landed at Picton 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. The Yahgan 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 October the John Davison, sent for their succour, arrived, and on 6 Jan. 1852 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 October 1836, Elizabeth Lydia, eldest daughter of the Rev. Edward Garrard Marsh, vicar of Aylesford, Kent.

Publications

His works include:

1. Outlines of a Plan for Exploring the Interior of Australia, 1833.
2. Narrative of a Journey to the Zoolu Country in South Africa, undertaken in 1835, 1836.
3. A Visit to the Indians on the Frontiers of Chili, 1840.
4. A Voice from South America, 1847.

Further reading

• Bridges, E L (1948) The Uttermost Part of the Earth Republished 2008, Overlook Press ISBN 978-1-58567-956-0