Cuthbert Cary-Elwes (1 October 1867, Boulogne (France) - 22 August 1945, London) was an English Jesuit priest, itinerant missionary and founder of the Rupununi Mission, in South-Guyana.
He followed the regular course of philosophical studies at St Mary’s Hall, Stonyhurst (1890-1893) and Theology with the French Jesuits, first at Jersey and then Lyons (1897–1901).
Inspired by an uncle,[1] missionary in South Africa, he writes in 1902 to the Superior General of the Jesuits, Luis Martin, offering to be sent to any mission land, China or ‘the wild Indians of Brazil’.
The General leaves the decision to the local provincial who accedes to the desire of Cary-Elwes and sends him to British Guyana in 1904.
Once he had mastered the Makushi language he used to sit long hours into the night, surrounded by men, women and children, talking, singing and instructing them in an informal way.