Christianity in Manipur can traced back to an Anglican named William Pettigrew, who lived in India when Surchandra Singh was the maharaja of Manipur. Pettigrew, who was born in Edinburgh and educated in London, applied to work with the Arthington Aboriginals Mission in India and travelled to Bengal in 1890. He worked for two years in Dhaka and Silchar. In 1891, Pettigrew applied for permission to work in Manipur, but this was not granted until 1894. He worked for a time as a teacher in Imphal, teaching the children of government civil servants and soon afterwards opened a school for boys in Manipuri and established a permanent mission station there.