Born 22 November 1804 at
Welton, near
Kingston upon Hull, he was educated at the village school there. In 1818 he was sent to Hull, where he was drawn towards a missionary career, and in 1820 he entered the
London Missionary Society's training college at
Gosport. At the end of April 1824 Kidd sailed for the London Missionary Society to
Madras, and on to Malacca, where he arrived in November. He took up the
Hokkien dialect of Chinese under the Rev. David Collie. In the course of 1826 he published short tracts in Chinese, and the following year was appointed professor of Chinese in the
Anglo-Chinese College of Malacca. From this time he took an active part in missionary work, preaching and writing. ==Works==