User:Sahrudayan/John Gregson (minister)

John Gregson (1822-1900) was an English Baptist missionary to the Indian sub-continent during the British Raj during 1854-1872 who later settled in Australia.

Early Life
John Gregson was born on 20th September 1822 to William Gregson and Hannah Shepherd, farmers from Bishop Burton, a village near Beverley, East Yorkshire, England. He was baptized at the George Street Baptist Church of Kingston upon Hull.

Mission in British India
From 1854 until 1872, Gregson had served in British India as a missionary under the Baptist Missionary Service and was placed at Benaras (Varanasi) before the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.

Chaplaincy during 1857 uprising
During the uprising in 1857, he served as a one-time chaplain to Henry Havelock who was then serving as Adjutant General.

In 1857, during the uprising, John Gregson had sent his wife (Mrs. John Gregson) to Calcutta for safety and continued to minister as a Baptist missionary at Benaras accepting the risks. However, the existing chaplain of Cawnpore got killed during the Cawnpore Massacre and it was not possible to obtain a regular Church of England clergyman as an immediate replacement, Havelock was offered a Baptist minister's service as an alternative by Henry Carre Tucker, an Indian Civil Service official of Benaras, to which he agreed. Gregson, still at Benaras, accepted the chaplaincy offer and travelled to Cawnpore, where Havelock was pleased to know that he was a Protestant. After assuming the duty, Gregson indefatigably served the cantonment and the hospital at Cawnpore and won the confidence of the troops. Although Gregson requested to accompany the troops as they were marching to Lucknow, Havelock requested him to continue to stay at Cawnpore and serve the wounded and needy entrenched there.

1858-1865
He worked among both the soldiers, British staff and native Indians.

During early 1863, Rev. T. Evans and John Gregson went on a preaching tour to several villages on the west of Delhi.

In 1865, Gregson earned a furlough and visited England for about 18 months. During this period, he ministered at Ashton, Bradford, Rochdale, Blackpool, Preston, and other towns in the neighbourhood of these.

Australia
In 1872, he retired from the missionary service in India and moved with his family to Australia and ministered there until his death in 1900.