Shep's Place Family Tree

‎(page 5)‎ "After the death of his father, he ‎[William]‎ was placed under the care of ‎[Mrs. Nichols and]‎ the above mentioned Mr. Nichols, a kind and benevolent gentleman, whose heart was touched with sympathy for the bereaved family, and who came forward and offered to adopt the eldest son of his deceased friend as his own child...Mr. Nichols died only a few years before our friend, so that he was amply rewarded for his care over him in his youthful days..."

When William was 10 years old his mother, Sarah Pearce, died. In several of his letters, William mentions "the death of my beloved mother, and, shortly after, the death of my dear sister ‎[Louisa]‎." At that time he was in boarding school, run by Mr. Goodacre, which at that time was considered to be the best seminary in the area ‎[ostensibly Nottingham]‎.

After attending school in Nottingham, William went to Bristol College at Stokes Croft to study with Dr. ‎[John]‎ Ryland. While there, William decided that he was not suited to being a minister. ‎(Ibid., page 23)‎ ..."After passing through his college studies he appears to have come to the conclusion that he was not possessing of the qualifications...that were essential to fit him for the work of an English preacher. His voice was rather weak, and his utterance rapid...It is worthy of notice however, that afterwards in the Bengali language, in which every vowel is pronounced, and which consequently requires a slower enunciation, he overcame these defects and was able to preach with the greatest clearness and acceptability...‎[Mr. Nicholls wrote]‎ 'I am glad you have consulted with our worthy friends, Mr. ‎[Thomas]‎ King and Mr. Potts, respecting your future occupation in life, and that they accord with your wishes respecting the civil calling you seem to approve. May a wise and gracious providence kindly open the way for you..."

‎(page 25)‎ "While at Dr. Ryland's, Mr. Collingwood, the printer to the University of Oxford, paid the family a visit, and while sitting in the study, a youth came singing into the room with a book in his hand, and having placed it on the shelf and taken another, went out blithe and gay as he entered. Mr. C. was struck with the appearance of the youth, and with his good temper and cheerfulness, and was led to make inquiries respecting him." Mr. Collingwood, having liaised with William's guardians, invited William to become his apprentice as a printer. "Mr. King, Mr. Potts and Mr. Nichols all agreed in thinking this an opening made by divine providence...."

William was 16 years old when he went to Oxford to learn the printing business from Samuel Collingwood of Clarenden Press, the University of Oxford Press and to live as a member of Mr. Collingwood's family. He certainly would have enjoyed the company of the young daughters, Mary, Sophie and Fannie.

Before William married Martha Blakemore in 1817, William Ward, who was in charge of the printing press at Serampore, planted the idea that William might like to go to India to be his assistant printer. William warmed to the idea immediately. In a letter to Ward, he writes that his life at Oxford has been a happy one, "but when I think of India and your note as the well understood call ‎[underlined from note]‎ to 'come over and help us,' I feel dissatisfied with the comparative idleness in which I spend my days...."

His mentor Mr Collingwood, however, felt less positive about William's going to India. ‎(page 48)‎ "Last Sabbath day Mr. Collingwood informed me, that he had long been very anxious respecting my going to India, fearing lest the change of climate should shortly terminate my life. He mentioned my extreme weakness of constitution; and in that he considered himself as more qualified to judge respecting my health...than anyone else." ‎[There exists a charming letter in which William's sister Anna's guardian, Thomas King, later discourages her from going to India.]‎

On the 3 April 1817 William, aged 23 years, married Martha Blakemore, daughter of a Birmingham merchant and his wife. Before the young couple left for India on May 7th, they received a letter from close family friend, John East ‎(Rev.)‎ of Campden, Gloucestershire:..."We think of you--we talk of you--we pray for you. Christian friendship ensures to those who share it a kind of ubiquity--a permanence in the midst of an ever-shifting scene." They sailed for India on the "Ganges." After a four-months voyage ‎[Liverpool to Calcutta direct]‎, they arrived in India on 26 August 1917.

William had gone to Serampore to assist the printer, Mr. Ward, and to eventually succeed him. He had differences of opinion, however, with the older generation of missionaries at Serampore; consequently, he left Serampore for Calcutta to establish the Calcutta Baptist Mission Press. ‎( Ibid. p 90)‎: "It was in the middle of June this year, that under a conviction of duty I left Serampore, and after some hesitation settled in Calcutta. A short time after this, the Union of Baptist Brethren already formed here ‎[which included William Yates, James Penny, Eustace Carey, and Lawson]‎, received me into connections with themselves...On the first of July brother Lawson and myself, with our families, removed into the house lately occupied by Mrs. Murray, whose seminary we purchased, as our wives were willing to superintend it."

In 1823 William sailed to Penang for health reasons. ‎("After Mr. Pearce had laboured assiduously for about five years in Calcutta, his health began to fail ...")‎ He went with his wife and his sister Anna Pearce who had recently arrived from England to assist in the Ladies' Boarding school which was under the care of Mrs. Lawson and Martha Blakemore Pearce, William's wife.

In 1824 William went on an excursion with his friend William Yates and a native preacher to Jessore.

In 1830 William became minister of the Native Church in Colinga, Calcutta, which of course necessitated his speaking in Bengali. ‎(ibid. p. 151: "His heart was intent upon the instruction and spiritual improvement of those committed to his care. He allowed them access to him at all hours, entered into all their complaints and griefs, and never failed to impart to them the best advice, and to secure for them assistance where it was absolutely needed. His last hour of labour upon earth was in the midst of them, and he may be said to have lived and died seeking the increase and establishment of his beloved Native Church."

William's dearly loved sister Anna Carey [Mrs. Jonathan Carey]‎ died in Calcutta after the birth of her fourth child in 1832.

William's health began to fail again in 1834 ‎(p 193)‎. "In 1836 after a residence in India of nineteen years, it was judged desirable...that he should be released for a season from his labourious duties to enjoy the benefit of a colder climate ‎[ie. to England]‎." William and Martha left Calcutta on Jan. 1, 1837 and arrived in England on the 4th of May.

‎(p. 292)‎..."he found the climate of England, particularly the winters, very trying. In the first years, we find him writing to his wife as follows: 'I really think that...I shall soon be better...Since yesterday, when I caught a cold, and felt my chest sore and my breathing embarrassed, I am not so desirous of your coming as I was when I wrote in the morning--and I cannot let you leave dear Mary‎[ Martha's sister]‎, till you have been with her some time, nor let her go without my seeing her...so I think that I shall come and fetch you. Do not be anxious. I need ‎[underlined]‎ affliction."

‎(Ibid. p 294)‎ "Doctor Ashwell promised to call in Sir James Clark, celebrated for his knowledge of the influence of climate on disease. They met and fully examined me by the stethoscope, and they both said that a return to a warm climate in my state of health would be preposterous. Premaure old age at least would be the result, and that I must now seek a cool climate in Britain to enable the constitution to rally. At Mr. Gutteridge's request Dr. Ashwell wrote to Mr. ‎[John]‎ Dyer, ‎[Secretary of the Baptist Mission Society]‎ his opinion as follows:--
"June 14th, 1838.
My dear Sir,
Sir James Clark yesterday saw and carefully examined Mr. Pearce, and had there been time, would have united with me in the opinion I now forward through you to the Committee.
A year at least, perhaps more, must be spent in entire attention to health. ...As it is, he is excessively ‎[underlined]‎ feeble, and although there is no positive or organic disease about the lungs, still his respiration in some part is so feeble, as to be scarcely audible, and the mucus membrane of his throat is very far from healthy. Malvern during the summer, Brighton in the autumn, and Torquay or Clifton in the winter, are perhaps the best places for his residence.
I am, my dear Sir,
Yours faithfully,
Samuel Ashwell

When William's health began to improve, he decided that the warmth of India would be more conducive to his work than England's cold. On the 20th of June 1839 he and Martha, accompanied by three new missionaries and their wives, plus Mr. Wenger, Miss Wright and Mr. G. Beeby boarded the "Plantagenet" at Portsmouth and sailed off to India. They arrived in late September.

William's health remained fragile. Six months later on the 17th of March 1840, William died of cholera of 24 hrs. duration. His parting words to his wife, Martha, were, 'Love one another; live near to God; win souls to Christ.' He also said to her, 'Stay in the Mission, and do what good you can...' ‎(Ibid. p. 333)‎

‎(Ibid. p. 338)‎ ""‎[William's]‎ pall was borne by the following Missionaries: the Rev. W. S. Mackey, of the Scottish Mission; the Rev. F. Wybrow, of the Church Mission; the Rev. Messrs. Gogerly, Lacroix, and Boaz, of the London Mission, and others."

‎(Ibid. p. 368)‎ A marble slab at the Circular Road chapel:
Sacred to the Memory
of
The Rev. W. H. Pearce,
Eldest son of the Rev. S. Pearce, A.M., Birmingham;
Founder of the Baptist Mission Press, Calcutta;
Pastor of the Native Church in South Colinga;
And One of the First Movers of Native Felmale Education in
India.
----

He Possessed
An intelligent mind, a correct judgment, a lively imagin-
tion, a cheerful disposition,
Versatility of talent, nobleness of sentiment, tenderness
of affection, and energy of action
and employed all for the honor of religion :
He believed in its distinguishing evangelical doctrines,
Exhibited both in public and private life all its lovely
Virtues, and by vigorous co-operation with the good
Of every name, sought its universal extension
As the best means of promoting the glory
Of God and the welfare of men.
-------------------

He was born at Birmingham the 14th of January 1794,
Arrived in India the 26th of August, 1817,
And died on the 17th of March, 1840.
--------------------------
"Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life." - Rev. ii.10.

We finish with the words of William Yates ‎(Ibid. 387)‎: "We may remark of his person in general, that he was slender, his stature a little under the middle size, his eyes blue, and his hair brown. "His figure to a superficial observer, would, at first sight convey nothing very interesting; but, on close inspection his countenance would be acknowledged to be a faithful index to his soul. Calm, placid, and full of animation, his eyes beaming with benignity, and his whole appearance expressive of the interest he felt both in his subject and those he addressed. His imagination was vivid, and his judgment clear....As a man of business he had few equals. He was remarkable alike for the depth of his knowledge and the agreeableness of his manners...He combined intelligence with amiableness...He was prepared to enter into conversation with men of all classes, and in all circumstances, and could render himself agreeable in any society he might be placed."