author
Benjamin La Trobe
1725–1786
A Moravian minister, translator, and travel writer, he is best remembered for vivid accounts of the Moravian missions in Labrador. His life linked Irish birth, continental Protestant heritage, and the religious world of eighteenth-century Britain.
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About the author
Born in Dublin on April 19, 1725, Benjamin La Trobe was educated at the University of Glasgow and went on to join the Moravian ministry. Sources on his family background describe Huguenot roots, and later notices identify him as a leading figure in the Moravian Church in England.
La Trobe became known as a superintendent of the Moravian Church in England and as a writer connected with its missionary work. He wrote about the Moravian mission stations in Labrador, including With the Harmony to Labrador and A Brief Account of the Mission Established among the Esquimaux Indians on the Coast of Labrador, works that helped introduce English readers to the church's work in the North Atlantic world.
He died on November 29, 1786. He was also the father of Christian Ignatius Latrobe, the Moravian clergyman and musician, and an earlier generation in the family of the architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe.