On this day, William Adam, who had come to Kolkata from Scotland as a Baptist missionary, was formally appointed as Unitarian minister and missionary on a part-time basis in Kolkata.
Adam, who had been working with Raja Rammohan Roy and was training in Bengali and Sanskrit, lost his interest in the Baptist mission. With Roy and a group of Indians and Europeans, he formed the Calcutta Unitarian Society.
The society would play a significant role in the emergence of Brahmo Samaj.
In 1830, the British government appointed Adam to carry out a census and prepare a report on the education of Indians in Bengal.
Adam’s life would take many more interesting turns. He left for the United States where he took part in the Abolitionist movement and later was appointed a professor of Oriental Linguistics at Harvard University. He left Harvard to be in London and became associated with British India Society.
He spoke about British practices of slavery in India though Britain had abolished it officially. He worked as Unitarian minister in Toronto and Chicago, though he renounced Unitarianism later.
He returned to England finally, where he died.
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