John Inglis (14 July 1808 – 18 July 1891) was a Scottish missionary to the New Hebrides (now known as Vanuatu). He served as Moderator to the Reformed Presbyterian Synod in 1861.
Life
He was born in Moniaive, Dumfriesshire, Scotland on 14 July 1808. His father died while he was young. He initially trained as a stonemason, probably his father's profession.
He studied at the University of Glasgow, and at the Reformed Presbyterian College in Glasgow. At the latter his tutors included Rev Prof Daniel Sandford who employed Inglis to tutor his children. In the 1830s he ran a small school in Rothesay.Ewings Annals of the Free Church
He was ordained a minister in the Reformed Presbyterian Church in 1843. He served as a missionary to the Maoris in New Zealand from 1842 to 1852, based at ManawatuDictionary of New Zealand Biography and moved to the remote island of Aneityum in the New Hebrides from 1852 until 1876 when he resigned.Ewing, William Annals of the Free Church
Inglis wrote a dictionary of the Aneiteum language, as well as In The New Hebrides: Reminiscences of Missionary Life And Work, Especially on the Island of Aneityum, From 1850 Till 1877.A Dictionary of the Aneityumese Language: In Two Parts, I. Aneityumese and English, II. English and Aneityumese; Also, Outlines of Aneityumese Grammar, and an Introduction by John Inglis, Williams & Norgate, 1882
J. Graham Miller describes Inglis as a man of "superior gifts, wise words and judicious pen."J. Graham Miller, Live, Volume 1, p. 103.
In 1883 Glasgow University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Divinity (DD).
He died aged 84 at Kirkcowan, Dumfriesshire, close to his birthplace, on 18 July 1891.Free Church Monthly August 1891
Family
In 1844 he married Jessie McClymont.
References