Born in 1777 John was the eldest son of John and Ann Chamberlain, a poor family living in Welton. In his infancy he was weak and delicate and succombed to a fever at the age of 3 which left him deaf in one ear. He was a dedicated reader and quickly became a very intelligent child often standing by his school mistress reading the Testament to older boys in his school. He is quoted as saying he dared not do anything sinful and quickly began to gravitate to religious teachings. He is also quoted as saying "I thank god for my parents who, though poor, taught me to read the Bible, and took me to hear the word of God preached. Ah! how much I owe to the care of my dear mother!"

At the age of 12 he left home to work at a farm in Market-Harborough, Leicestershire. The intention was that the hard, open air work would strengthen his frail body but he was distraught to be seperated from his parents. He is said to have spent many a spare moment praying for them.

At age 17 he moved on to Burby in Northamptonshire where he met Dr Bridges. He was constantly disturbed by his conscience which caused him a lack of sleep and spent a good deal of his time studying religious texts. He was Baptised by the Rev. Mr Simmons of Guilsbrough in 1796 at age 19.

In 1798 he entered the Baptist Missionary Society (BMS) under the care of Mr John Sucliffe at Olney. From there he ventured to India for 1 year which proved to have a profound impact on him. The BMS returned him to England and to Bristol to study at the Baptist Academy.

Returning to India in 1802, he became a prominent missionary and pioneered the expansion in the North. He spent most of his time in Katwa and Agra but was expelled from Agra in 1812 by the East India Company for preaching to the soldiers there.

He spent his final years at Mongehyr in Bihar and sadly decided to return home due to ill health in 1821. He did not complete his journey and died at sea alone in his cabin off the coast of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) just 20 days into the voyage.

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