 W. S. Pakenham-Walsh was born in 1868 into a distinguished Irish clerical family.His middle name, Sandford, was given to him by his father who used to work as curate and later Rector of Sandford Parish in Dublin.In 1897, W. S. Pakenham-Walsh went to China under the auspices of CMS to work with the Dublin University Fukien Mission as Chaplain to the British community in Foochow, where he labored as a pastor of St. John's Church in Cangshan.