William Barratt, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetWilliam Barratt
English Latter Day Saint in Australia
Date of Birth: 25-Jan-1823
Place of Birth: Burslem, England, United Kingdom
Date of Death: 10-Sep-1889
Profession: missionary
Zodiac Sign: Aquarius 
About William Barratt
- William James Barratt (25 January 1823 – 10 September 1889) was an English convert to Mormonism and became the first Latter Day Saint to live in Australia when he was sent there as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
- However, he ultimately apostatized from Mormonism. Barratt was born in Burslem, North Staffordshire, England.
- The date of Barratt's conversion to Mormonism is unknown, but Latter Day Saint missionaries first preached in the Burslem area in 1839.
- He was the only member of his family to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
- On 11 July 1840, apostle George A.
- Smith recorded in his diary that he had ordained the 17-year-old Barratt to the office of elder and had set him apart to preach as a missionary in Australia.
- Barratt's parents had already decided to emigrate to Australia and Barratt had decided that he would accompany them and eventually join the main gathering of Latter-day Saints in Utah Territory.
- On 17 July, Barratt's ship left London for Australia. The Barratts arrived in Adelaide on 16 November 1840.
- Barratt found employment as a shepherd's cook in Mount Barker.
- Barratt tried preaching in Australia, and was successful in baptizing a few people, but quickly became discouraged at the moral tone of the settlers there.
- One of the people he did baptize in 1842 was Robert Beauchamp.
- Shortly thereafter, Barratt lost interest in Mormonism and became involved in the Congregational church in Encounter Bay.
- Because of this, Beauchamp, not Barratt, became the leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Australia and eventually the president of the church's Australasian Mission.
- Although missionaries from the LDS Church arrived in Australia in 1851, there is no record of Barratt attempting to contact them or vice versa. Barratt became a prominent land owner in the Bald Hills and Inman Valley areas of South Australia.
- He married Ann Gibson and fathered seven children.
- Barratt died at Bald Hills, South Australia and is buried at Victor Harbor, South Australia.
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