The Rev. James Egan Moulton (1841-1909) was a noted Methodist missionary in Tonga from 1865 to 1906. He was the founder of Tupou College, Nuku'alofa.

James Lyle Young (1849-1929) was born in Londonderry (Derry), Ireland, and went to Australia with his parents in the mid-1850's. After working in Australia as a station hand, Young, in 1870, went to Fiji where he was associated with a cotton-planting venture at Taveuni. In 1875, he left Fiji on a trading voyage to Samoa, and from May, 1876, to October, 1881, he worked as a trader in the Marshall, Mariana and Caroline Islands. In 1882, Young went to Tahiti to become manager of the Papeete trading store of Andrew Crawford & Co., of San Francisco. In 1888, he went into business in Tahiti on his own account. He was closely associated with the Pacific Islands for the rest of his life, as managing director of S.R. Maxwell & Co., of Tahiti, and owner of Henderson and Macfarlane Ltd., of Auckland. He became recognised as an authority on the life and culture of the region.

Lorimer Fison (1832-1907) was university-educated with an interest in anthropology, was born in Suffolk, England. He migrated to Australia in 1856, joined the Methodist Church, and went to Fiji as a Wesleyan missionary in 1864. He remained in Fiji until 1884, when he returned to Australia and became editor of the Spectator, a Melbourne church paper. Fison published a number of anthropological papers.