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The first missionary to the island of Ireland arrived in Belfast in May 1840. He was followed on July 28 by Apostle John Taylor. More than 600 people heard Elder Taylor preach that evening in Newry. Three days later, Thomas Tait was the first to be baptized. Two months later, Elder Theodore Curtis arrived in Ireland and established a branch (a small congregation) of 35 members in Hillsborough.

In 1842, many of the 71 Church members in Ireland emigrated to the United States, and the 1845-47 famine prompted the emigration of most of the remaining 50 members. After renewed missionary work in the 1850s, Church membership in Ireland reached 300 in 1856.

As part of the 150th anniversary of the Church in the British Isles in 1987, markers were dedicated at the site of the first baptism and at the birthplace in Dublin of Elder Charles A. Callis of the Council of the Twelve Apostles, once president of the Irish Conference while serving as a missionary during the 1890s.

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Malcolm Adcock
Solihull,
United Kingdom
Phone:  44-121-712-1161