John Parrett and family outside house, Madagascar, ca.1865-1885

"Our first Home, Avàratr'Alakamìsy, A'inànga". John Parret stands next to his seated wife, holding their young child. A Malagasy woman is seated on the ground next to Mrs Parrett and a man stands by the doorway. A filanjana (Malagasy palanquin) rests against the house wall. John Parrett served as a printer for the London Missionary Society in Madagascar from 1862 to 1885, first at the capital Tananarive [now Antananarivo] then, following a period of furlough in England from 1873 to 1875, at Amparibe. Parrett sailed to Madagascar in 1862 as part of a large missionary party comprising Dr and Mrs Andrew Davidson , Mr and Mrs Robert Toy, schoolmaster Charles Thomas Stagg and Mrs Stagg, Reverend John Duffus and Reverend William Edward Cousins. The party was sent to aid Reverend William Ellis who had pioneered the re-introduction of missionaries to Madagascar in 1862 on the accession of King Radama II to the throne, following the death of Queen Ranavalona I in 1861.