One of the First Nine British Converts

Mary Ann Wood Watt Brown holds a unique and historic place in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as one of the very first converts in the British Isles. Born on April 23, 1791, in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, Mary Ann was the mother of George D. Watt. In the summer of 1837, the first Latter-day Saint missionaries to Britain, including Apostle Heber C. Kimball, arrived in Preston, England, and began preaching the restored gospel. Mary Ann and her son George were among the first to hear and accept their message. On Sunday, July 30, 1837, a historic baptismal service was held at the River Ribble. Thousands of spectators gathered on the riverbanks to witness the event. George D. Watt famously won a footrace to the water to become the very first person baptized in Britain. Mary Ann Wood Watt was also baptized that same day, becoming one of the first nine converts to join the Church in the British Isles. According to family and historical records, she embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ with profound enthusiasm. Her conversion was deep and lasting; records note that she never doubted or denied her testimony of the restored gospel throughout the remainder of her life. Demonstrating her enduring faith, Mary Ann later immigrated to the United States to gather with the Saints in Zion. At the age of 60, she crossed the plains as a pioneer in the John Brown Company, traveling from July to September 1851. She settled in Utah Territory and remained a faithful Latter-day Saint until her death on September 29, 1884, in Wellsville, Cache County, Utah. Her legacy as a foundational British convert and faithful pioneer remains a powerful testament of spiritual conversion.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in George D. Watt and the Journal of Discourses, Global Histories: England (2018)):

On the morning of July 30, 1837, a small group of the first Latter-day Saint converts in England met near the banks of the River Ribble in Preston. Two of them, each eager to be the first baptized, challenged each other to a footrace. “[They] were so anxious to obey the Gospel,” Elder Heber C. Kimball recalled, “that they ran with all their might to the water.” George D. Watt, a shoemaker in his 20s, won the race.