Samuel Dyer - Life in England

Life in England

Samuel Dyer was born at the Royal Greenwich Hospital (London), England to John Dyer and Eliza (Seager). He was the fifth of the eight Dyer children. His father was a secretary of the Royal Hospital for Seaman, and later became Chief clerk of the Admiralty in 1820. John was also an acquaintance of Robert Morrison, who was soon to become the first Protestant missionary to China, a connection that would have enormous implications in the life of his son, Samuel. Morrison and his Chinese tutor Yong Sam-tek visited the Dyer home in Greenwich during Morrison’s period of study in medicine and astronomy between 1805-1806.

Dyer was schooled at home until he was 12, and then educated in a boarding school at Woolwich, in south east London from 1816, superintended by the Rev. John Bickerdike, a minister with the English Dissenters.

In 1820 He experienced a conversion to Christ at Thomas Wilson's Paddington Chapel, in Paddington, Northwest London, under ministry of the Rev. James Stratten and soon Dyer began teaching Sunday school there. In 1822 he was formally admitted into membership.

Dyer later wrote about his time, there:

Paddington lives in my warmest affections. It was there that I kneeled on the separating line between Christ and the world. I kneeled and prayed for strength to side with Christ; I arose, and was inwardly assisted to turn my back upon the world. And from that good day to this, Jesus has been precious to my soul.

He studied law and mathematics at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, but in 1823 he withdrew from University in his fifth term, refusing for conscience sake to declare himself a member of Church of England in order to graduate . While studying law, he read a pamphlet from his father’s study, the ‘’Memoir of Mrs. Charles Mead of the London Missionary Society in Tranvancore, Kerala, India’’, which afterwards turned his thoughts to missionary service that would occupy the rest of his life. The pamphlet consisted of sermon preached at Mrs. Mead’s funeral, ‘’All for Christ and the Good of Souls’’, the text of which is taken from Rev. 12:11, “and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

In ‘’A Sketch of Mr. Dyer’s Life and Character’’, his wife Maria would later write, “The reading of the pamphlet, “Memoir of Mrs. Mead” so powerfully impressed his mind with the importance of consecrating himself to missionary work, that when he began to study again, on Monday morning, he found he could not proceed; and every time he read this Memoir it had the same effect: so that at last he determined to give up the Bar, and devote himself to the work of Christ among the heathen.”

Dyer soon had opportunity to study the Chinese under Robert Morrison, who had returned on furlough. It was there that he met two aspiring female missionaries Mary Ann Aldersey (the first female missionary to China), and Maria Tarn, whom he later married.

In 1824 Dyer applied to the London Missionary Society. Then he joined the LMS seminary at Gosport, Hampshire to study theology under Dr. David Bogue. His health began to suffer because of his intense regimen of study at Gosport, walking long distances to preach in villages on Sunday, and his habits of self-denial. He travelled to Islington to recuperate, study theology, Chinese and the art of printing, punchcutting and type-founding.

Dyer also studied under John Pye Smith at Homerton. Smith combined missionary, philological, and scientific interests.

Dyer then entered the London Missionary Society training center at Hoxton where his chief attention was given to the Chinese language, reading the Chinese Bible for devotions. In 1827 Samuel Dyer was ordained at Paddington Chapel where he preached, taught and was commissioned as a missionary of the Gospel.

He was married to Maria Tarn, eldest daughter of Joseph Tarn, Director of London Missionary Society, in London in 1827 and shortly afterward the newly wed couple set sail for what was then considered "Ultra-Ganges" India with the Ultra-Ganges Mission, where the only way to live and work among native Chinese could be obtained. Now it is in an area of Malaysia. It was also known as the "British Straits Settlement". Dyer had been ordained and commissioned on 20 February 1827 at Paddington Chapel, London.

The inscription in remembrance of Samuel Dyer at Paddington Chapel read:

IN REMEMBRANCE

Of SAMUEL DYER
Who was for several years a humble, pious, and faithful
Teacher in this School
And who, devoting himself to the service of his blessed
Redeemer
Was on the 20th of February, 1827,
Here solemnly set apart as a
Missionary of the Gospel,
And having left his native land for the shores of India, in the providence of
God, arrived safely at his destination,
PENANG
Or, Prince of Wales Island, in the China Sea,
August 8th, 1827.
Faith unfeigned, sincere brotherly love, patient continuance in well-doing,
and the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, endeared him to us while
he laboured here; and his memory will long be cherished with affectionate
regard by all who knew him. To perpetuate the remembrance of
such an example of self-denial and missionary zeal, this humble memorial
is set up.

“The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit.” 2 Tim. 4:22