C.T. Studd

C.T. Studd was the most famous cricketer in England — an all-rounder in the legendary Ashes match of 1882 — when he stunned the country by sailing for China in 1885 with six other Cambridge men, the 'Cambridge Seven,' to join Hudson Taylor's mission. Inheriting a fortune at twenty-five, he gave virtually all of it away in a week of cheques — to Müller's orphans, Moody's schools, Booth's Army — keeping back a portion for his bride, who promptly gave that away too.

China broke his health; he served India anyway; then at fifty, against every doctor's advice, he founded the Heart of Africa Mission and spent his last two decades in the Congo forest. His blunt motto still recruits missionaries: 'Some wish to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.'