Thomas Haweis (pronounced Hawes), a Church of England clergyman, was a founder member of the London Missionary Society (1795). He was instrumental in determining the Pacific as the destination for the society’s first mission. Haweis assisted with the outfitting of the ship, the ‘Duff’, and followed it to Portsmouth to see that all went well. He continued to support the London Missionary Society in later life, but his energies were increasingly devoted to the written word – he produced more than 40 books during his lifetime.