William Henry Temple Gairdner (July 31, 1873 – May 22, 1928) was a British Christian missionary with the Church Missionary Society in Cairo, Egypt.
His entire life was dedicated to service in Egypt as he himself commented when he was first preparing to leave.
While in Cairo he partnered with his dear friend Douglas M.
Thornton in order to reach educated Muslims with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This dynamic duo held many lectures in their home, Beit Arabi Pasha, and wrote a weekly magazine titled Orient and Occident.
After Thornton's death in 1907 Gairdner continued his work in Cairo but was never able to recapture the amount of work that was accomplished when Thornton was at his side.
It was this lack of help that would plague his ministry until the day of his death in 1928.
Gairdner was a prolific writer and scholar of Arabic.
He showed much promise to contribute greatly in theological and scholarly circles of Islam but instead chose to serve the local church in Cairo.