This section of the website is dedicated to highlighting the long heritage of men and women born on the island of Ireland, or with strong links to Ireland, who served with the
Patagonian/South American Missionary Society (PMS/SAMS) since it was established in 1844. It is the first time that a collection of this kind has been completed although early attempts were made in the 1960s and 1970s.
In the first phase of this site we have focused on profiles of those serving with the
Society in the years up to the 1940s. In the next phase of the work, we will add profiles of individuals serving with the
Society in South America as well as those who have come to serve in Ireland from South America into the 21
st century.
A Word on Method
The profiles include an image of the person, where available, brief information on origins, location, and time period for the mission or missions in which they were involved.
In the wider discussions on this site we refer to ‘Irish’ missionaries as a general format to recognise the links to the island over and above the changing political and geographical landscapes since 1844. When registered in South America, some individuals are noted as ‘Irish’, others as ‘English’. The issue of recorded nationalities is a challenge for anyone working on the history of Irish migration to Latin America. Where questions of identity arise in any of their correspondence, such as perceptions of Anglo-Irish and Celtic-Irish, this will be discussed under each individual’s biography.
You will also find in the lists a number of missionaries who were not born in Ireland. In these cases, either the person had Irish ancestry, had been living in Ireland and went out under the banner of the Irish Auxiliary, or had been ‘adopted’ into the Irish Auxiliary support networks and is referred to with what might be termed a special ‘closeness’ and interest in the Irish Auxiliary reports: they were integrated into what is oftened referred to as ‘the SAMS family’. Sometimes they feature as an ‘Own Missionary’ sent out directly with the support of a particular parish or group of supporters. Such would be the case, for instance, of George R. Farrow, born in England but living in Dublin and sent out to South America with the particular support of the Dublin Ladies Auxiliary.
The
PMS/SAMS publications seldom mention the nationality of the people involved in the missions. In some cases, as with Charles Turpin, it is a chance reference in a footnote in the
Magazine to another family member in Ireland that leads us back to their place of origin. For others, such as Flora Boyne, the only mention is in a list from the annual Synod indicating their involvement.
There are also individuals who volunteered and were self-supporting for many years, such as Eyre Massy Nason, and who are not registered in official documents for that reason. Added to this, we find a tendency in the main publications to focus on a few high-profile individuals, such as George Packenham Despard or Wilfred Barbrooke Grubb, without detailing the teams around them, making it a challenge to find out who was where and when. This is even more the case in relation to women who travelled with their husbands or other relatives, we seldom have their first names or know very much about their experiences. Where possible, we have included these details in the profiles.
Finally, there are applicants who are noted in the Minutes of the Committee meetings who did not, for various reasons, travel to South America. These names are noted in discussions of the earliest period of the
Society in other sections of this site
, for example in 1845 and 1847, in order to undertand the spread of interest as the work became established in Ireland. Other such cases will generally not be recorded on this site for any period after 1899.
Searching the Site:
You can search via country for an overview of which missionaries served in a particular location using the map below, or or via surname organised alphabetically
[CLICK HERE].
We would love to hear from you if you, or your parish, have a connection to any of the work or the individuals highlighted here.
[CLICK HERE] to get in touch with us.
More detail on each of the missionaries and wider discussion around the work of the
PMS/SAMS will be provided via blog posts as the project progresses and added to their profiles. Stay up-to-date with these stories as they are published, by registering
here.
![[Map of South America. Creative Commons License]](https://livingarchive.info/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Map-of-South-America.jpg)