William Underwood, born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) of Christian parents, was one of the pioneers of Tamil work in Malaya. He was educated by the American Mission Board and was active in church ministry from a young age. He later received theological training and became a preacher^..^[1]

In 1887, Reverend William Oldham, through his friend, Reverend W.W. Howland of the American Board for Foreign Missions in Ceylon, recommended William Underwood to come to Malaya to serve among the Tamils.[^[2]

The Tamils were migrants from Ceylon and India and some were Christians. Earlier, in 1885, M. Gnanamuthu from Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon and Myanmar, respectively), had arrived to start the Tamil Methodist School in Singapore. But it was not doing well. When Underwood, "a zealous and a hard worker"^[3] arrived, he quickly gathered the Tamils into a congregation and opened a Sunday School. Evangelistic meetings were held in the Hindu-Tamil areas. He became pastor of the first Tamil Methodist Church in Singapore, assisted by Gnanamuthu. 

On July 16, 1887, Sophia Blackmore, an Australian missionary who had served in India for a short period and was conversant in Tamil, arrived in Singapore. On August 15, 1887, Underwood and Blackmore opened the Tamil Girls’ School (later Methodist Girls’ School) at Short Street with nine little girls.^[4] The school was a shophouse which belonged to a man named Rama Krishna who provided it rent-free. Blackmore would later describe the event thus: “The Tamil preacher, Mr Underwood, by name, hovered over all with a smile of satisfaction.”^[5]

Underwood then set his sights on the teeming number of Tamil migrant labourers in Peninsular Malaya. In 1888, at the General Conference in New York, James M. Thoburn was elected as the first missionary bishop for India and Malaya. In April 1889, Underwood set sail with Bishop Thoburn from Singapore to Penang. Indeed, he was the first missionary from Singapore to cross the Straits of Johor to explore the interior of the Malay Peninsula.^[6] A budget of $250 was allocated for “Underwood’s Mission to Perak ''. From Penang, they travelled overland to Perak where the sugar estates were located.[^[7]

During this short evangelistic trip, there were several successful conversions. Seeing Underwood’s exuberant passion for the lost among the Tamils, the Methodist Mission of Malaya decided to make him the “mission evangelist” to Perak. By then, he was already well-known as an outstandingly hard-working and effective evangelist. By 1890, he had 10 probationers, 20 adherents, one exhorter and 14 converts under his flock.^[8] Apart from doing mission work in the school and the church, Underwood was also active in prison work in Singapore which was initiated by Reverend Oldham. 

He made a second trip to Perak in 1887 and reported back that there was great potential for mission work among the Tamils in the sugar estates. The prospect for revival among the Tamils in Peninsular Malaya looked exceedingly bright. He had won many of the Tamil labourers to Christ.^[9]

Sadly, he contracted pneumonia during one of his mission trips and passed away on February 3, 1890 in Singapore while preparing to attend the wedding of his daughter in Jaffna.[^[10]]He was buried at the Kampong Java Cemetery in Singapore. Underwood was survived by his wife, five daughters and a son. 

The 1890 Conference Minutes recorded his career thus: “ Brother C. W. Underwood was abundant in labours and outdid us all in self-sacrificing toil for his countrymen. It is indeed not unlikely that a too severe strain upon his strength and a cold had much to do in bringing on the illness (Pneumonia) that caused his death. He was never daunted. One day his opposers brought an ass before him and reminded him that his master had ridden upon one and wished him to do the same. He continued preaching Christ to the people at that place until the very men who had brought the beast began to inquire the way of salvation.”[^[11] 

His premature death dealt a severe blow to the Tamil work in Malaya, including Singapore, despite the hard work of his successor, Gnanamuthu. The Tamil church started to dwindle for a period of time until new workers came to the rescue.[^[12]