The BMS missionaries’ point of arrival in Africa was the island of Fernando Po (now known as Bioko). A church was established in 1842 at Clarence, the main settlement, and it was from there in 1845 engineer
Alfred Saker started to investigate mainland Africa and Cameroon.
Slowly his work in Cameroon was established and after four years of faithful perseverance he baptised the first local convert. Watching one after another of his missionary colleagues die from tropical diseases, Saker still remained committed to the mission.
Alongside Saker from 1850 was former Jamaican slave, Joseph Jackson Fuller, who worked in Cameroon until 1888 and was significant in the success there. BMS work in Cameroon ended abruptly in 1887 when the country became a German colony.