LYTH, RICHARD BURDSALL (1810-87) was born in York, England. He was educated for the medical profession and admitted a member of the Royal College of Surgeons. At the age of 26 he entered the Methodist ministry and was one of the first medical missionaries sent out by the Wesleyan Missionary Society. He and his wife arrived at Sydney in 1837 and proceeded to the Friendly Islands in H.M.S. Conway. Leaving Sydney on 11 Oct 1837, the Conway anchored off Entry Island, New Zealand, where Lyth established contacts with the Methodist missionaries in various stations. For three years he served in Tonga, acquiring a mastery of the language. He was next appointed to Fiji, where his medical skill gave him great influence over the natives. He soon gained an accurate knowledge of the Fijian language which he wrote with idiomatic correctness. He translated some of the New Testament books and revised a large part of the Fijian Old Testament. Many Fijian hymns are his composition. His greatest work in Fiji was the training and directing of a large body of native missionaries who were sent throughout the group and other fields in the Pacific. In 1855, because of his scholarship, his culture and his refinement he was appointed governor of the Wesleyan college at Auckland. He made an indelible mark upon the life of the college and of his Church and stamped the impress of his character upon many students. Returning to England in 1858, he was for some time engaged in revising the Fijian scriptures for the British and Foreign Bible Society. Later he was engaged in mission work in Gibraltar for five years and he subsequently took an active part in army chaplaincy. In 1876 he was superannuated and settled in York. He resided in Fulford Barracks and until his death (on 11 Feb 1887) did devoted pastoral work amongst soldiers and civilians.

M.A.

Reference: Volume 1, page 274

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