The movement to send elders to Great Britain was the outgrowth of the work in Canada. Several of the elders had taken trips to Canada and had preached the Gospel there. Elder Orson Pratt was the first to carry the message into Canada in the year 1833. In the fall of that same year the Prophet and Sidney Rigdon went on a brief mission to Upper Canada and made a number of converts. In 1836, Elder Parley P. Pratt went to the City of Toronto and surrounding country and preached with wonderful success. It was here at this time that Elder John Taylor, afterwards of the council of the twelve and later President of the Church, received the Gospel. It was also here, and due to the preaching of Elder Pratt, that Joseph Fielding and his two sisters, Mary--who a few months later became the wife of Hyrum Smith--and Mercy R., were baptized. Others who received the Gospel in Canada were John Goodson, John Snyder and Isaac Russell. All of these people were in correspondence with relatives and friends in Great Britain whom they informed of the rise and progress of the Church, thus preparing them for events to come. Departure for Great Britain Elder Willard Richards, having requested the privilege of going to Great Britain, was set apart by Sidney Rigdon and Hyrum Smith, on the 12th of June, 1837. The following day Elders Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Willard Richards, and Joseph Fielding, a priest, who came from Honeydon, England, left Kirtland on their mission to the British Isles. They were accompanied on their journey as far as Fairport by Elder Brigham Young and others. This little band of missionaries was later augmented by the addition of Isaac Russell, John Goodson and John Snyder, and on the 23rd of June, 1837, they engaged passage on the merchant ship _Garrick_, for Liverpool. On the morning of the 20th of July, the _Garrick_ anchored in the River Mersey. As soon as these brethren landed they went to Preston, about thirty miles from Liverpool. It was election day for members of Parliament, and Queen Victoria, who had recently come to the throne, was about to organize her cabinet. As the missionaries alighted from their coach, they saw in letters of gold on a banner above their heads an inscription, "Truth will prevail," which they accepted as a favorable omen. Elder Joseph Fielding had a brother Rev. James Fielding, who resided in Preston, and the brethren went to hear him preach on Sunday, July 23, 1837. At the service Rev. Fielding unexpectedly announced that there were present some ministers from America and they would occupy his pulpit in the afternoon. The invitation was joyfully accepted and President Kimball gave a brief address followed by Elder Hyde. That evening Mr. Fielding again offered his pulpit to the brethren and Elder Goodson and Brother Fielding preached. This was the opening of the door for the Gospel in England.[3]