Rev. Thomas Jaggar was a Wesleyan Missionary in Fiji from 1839 till 1843. He lived at Rewa during a very significant time in Fiji’s post-contact history, including the years when the protracted war between Rewa and Bau broke out in 1842. He was probably the only European living among the Rewa people between 1839 and 1843, who kept a detailed record of events. He understood the language and he was in frequent communication with the chiefs.

<LI>Journal, 1838-1843 Frame Nos.1-241</LI>
<LI>Private [spiritual] journal, 1845 Frame Nos. 242-319</LI>
<LI>Letters to Thomas Jagger, 1838-1846 Frame Nos.320-351</LI>

One of the most valuable original items in the Methodist Church archives held in the Fiji National Archives is the diary of Rev. Thomas Jaggar, commencing when he arrived at Lakeba on 22 December 1838 and continuing on to his residence at Rewa from 12 July 1839 to the abrupt concluding entry on 26 March 1843.

Jaggar’s great great granddaughter, Esther Keesing-Styles, together with her son William, edited and published the diary in 1988 [ Unto the Perfect Day: The Journal of Thomas James Jaggar, 1838-1845, Auckland, Solent Publishing 1988]. Keesing-Styles included with the Rewa diary a second private and mainly spiritual diary of Thomas Jaggar, kept from 30 April to 30 September 1845; this diary had not been part of the original Methodist Collection but has now been added to it together with a folder of letters written to Jaggar between 1838 and 1846.

(From Andrew Thornley’s report, Pambu, Vol.5, No.12, May 2001.)