David Cargill, 1809-1843, missionary John Malcom Bulloch, 1867-1938

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, Aberdeen 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 Sept 1832 in Old Machar parish, Aberdeen; and left the country with his wife in October that year. They worked together on 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 Nov 1841, and shortly afterwards was re-appointed to a training Mission on Tonga. He lived there until his death on 25 Apr 1843.

He is credited with his co-worker, William Cross, with establishing the Wesleyan Church in Fiji. However, 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.

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