James George Deck

James George Deck (1 November 1807 – 14 August 1884) was a British-born New Zealand evangelist. Life Deck was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England, to John Deck, a postmaster, and Mary (née Welch or Welsh). His ancestors included Huguenots who left France before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Well-educated, he could speak fluent French and was literate in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. After receiving military training in Paris at the age of 17 he joined the British East India Company, and he purchased a military commission with the 14th Madras Infantry, where he served from 1824 to 1826. After returning to England, Deck experienced an evangelical conversion and entered a private Anglican theological college, at Westbury-on-Trym. On 22 April 1829 he married Alicia Feild, the daughter of his tutor the Rev. Samuel Feild. In India, he resigned his commission in 1835 for religious reasons, and returned to England, tutoring the sons of Indian Army officers. Intending to enter the Anglican ministry, he became involved with the Plymouth Brethren instead; he was baptised by full immersion and became an evangelist for the movement, preaching first in Taunton and then in Weymouth.