William James Shrewsbury (1795-1866) was a British Methodist minister, missionary, opponent of slavery and ecumenist who worked in the West Indies and South Africa. He was born on 15 February 1795. In 1816, he was sent as a missionary to Tortola, the largest and most populated of the British Virgin Islands. He worked there for two years and then transferred to Grenada, moving from there, in 1820, to Barbados. He was expelled from Barbados as a result of religious persecution of the missions linked to Bussa's Rebellion, and following a riot in which the Methodist church in Barbados (built on land donated by Sarah Ann Gill) was destroyed. A debate led by Fowell Buxton MP was conducted in the House of Commons on 23 June 1825, concluding with a resolution that members of the House: