Peter Percival

British Ceylon Peter Percival, aged 23, was sent to Jaffna peninsula in British Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1826 by the Wesleyan Methodist Mission, with concerns whether his appointment is risky in "an atmosphere of immoral heathenism". At his arrival the missionary society and its efforts had not produced results expected by their original expectations and goals. A number of previous missionaries had returned to Europe after short stints due to illness. Percival spent most of his early adult life in Jaffna peninsula until 1851, with a short stint in Bengal (1829–32). As a Protestant missionary, Percival favored the teaching of Christian texts in the local vernacular (Tamil) rather than English or Portuguese. Percival's preference of education over evangelism created friction with other Wesleyan missionaries but it also influenced the educational practices of all those who were trying to improve the literary levels of 19th-century Sri Lankan Tamil society. England In 1851, he returned to England with the intention of coming back to Ceylon but due to differences with the Methodist hierarchy in London, he renounced Methodism. In 1852, he was ordained deacon by the Anglican Bishop of London. During the next two years, he worked as a lecturer at St Augustine's College, Canterbury, teaching a course about India and its religions. British India In 1854, he went to Madras, Madras Presidency in southern British India with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, an Anglican missionary society. He became an Anglican priest ordained by Bishop of Madras in 1855. In 1856 after becoming the Registrar of Madras University and Professor of Sanskrit and Vernacular Literature in Presidency College, he severed his relationship with the missionary society. ==Later life==