Thomas Arnold was born on the Isle of Wight. Around 1819 he reached a determination to "use life diligently and earnestly for the best and holiest purposes." His efforts at Rugby, where he introduced an innovative educational system, geared to train young men to the highest Christian and moral standards, won fame and were the inspiration for Thomas Hughes' novel Tom Brown's School Days.
John Hunt was born near Lincoln, England. Ridiculed as a boy because of his clumsiness, he Converted to Christ at 17. After that, he became a student at Wesleyan Theological Institute and then a pioneer missionary to Fiji. He and his wife sailed from England bound to Sydney on April 29, 1838. They arrived in Fiji December 22 the same year. These were island of appaling cruelty and cannibalism. Although successful, he died at age 36, praying for the Islanders but believing he had been of little use.
Isaac McCoy was born near Union Town, Pennsylvania. Ordained as a Baptist, he lived much of his life on the American frontier where he became deeply distressed for the Indians. He and his family lived in sacrificial poverty in order to help these people who were being displaced and brutalized by whites. His appeals to the government and to his mission board to help the Indians met with a favorable response, although assistance was slow in coming. His noble, dangerous work is sometimes misrepresented in secular writings.
