Missionary

Also see Chaplain

The first Englishman in India

The Jesuit missionary, Father Thomas Stevens, or Stephens, (c1549-1619) has been generally accepted as the first Englishman to arrive in India. He had studied in Rome and, having sailed on a Portuguese ship, settled in Goa 1579. There he learned the local languages and taught Christian doctrine to the local people.

As his father was a prominent merchant in London the information he sent home no doubt generated a lot of interest and raised awareness of the trading advantages in the East. In fact, it was not that long after, in 1600, that Queen Elizabeth I eventually granted a charter to the East India Company.

Moreover it is also documented that in 1583 Stevens sent a letter in Latin to his brother in Paris which described his missionary methods. He lived in Goa for over 40 years producing works in local languages. His masterpiece was the Christian Purana, an epic poem based on the life of Jesus, written in the local Konkani dialect of Marathi. This was all the more ingenious as he had to adapt European script to embrace Indian language.

For a history of the Jesuits' work in India, see: Leonard Fernando. Jesuits and India. In Oxford Handbooks online. OUP, 2016.

Charter Act 1813

Missionary activity in the areas of India controlled by the East India Company was finally permitted with the passing of the Charter Act 1813, sometimes called the East India Company Act 1813, as described from page 75 of The government of India; a brief historical survey of parliamentary legislation relating to India by Sir Courtenay Ilbert 1922 Archive.org. Before that it had been forbidden by the EIC, who did not wish to wish to interfere with the religious convictions of the Indians in case the Company’s trade was jeopardised.

Prior to 1813 the most significant European Protestant missionary activity had occurred in the Danish enclaves at Tranquebar and Serampore. The very first Protestant missionaries to India went at the instigation of King Frederick IV of Denmark in 1706.

FIBIS resources

• Ministers and missionaries section of the FIBIS database
• Indian missionary directory and memorial volume by the Rev B H Badley. Revised Edition. Lucknow: Methodist Episcopal Church Press, 1881 2,587 names have been indexed in the FIBIS database from this book which records Protestant Missionaries who have served in India.
• "Elizabeth Martin of Madras and Walter Medhurst, Missionary" by John Holliday FIBIS Journal Number 32 (Autumn 2014 pages 38-44. They were members of the London Missionary Society. For details of how to access this article, see FIBIS Journals.

British Protestant Missionary Societies in India and their archives

British Christian missionaries were usually sponsored in India by missionary societies from the United Kingdom. There was a wide variety from non-denominational through to Scottish Presbyterians, the Church of England societies, the Baptists, and those who now come under the United Reform Church. The archives of these missionary bodies, often rich sources of names, careers, family details and correspondence, are accessible but variously held in libraries or other repositories depending on the society. The structures of societies differ widely, but most have an archivist, and he/she may be a useful first contact.

Mundus on the WayBack Machine is a web-based guide to more than four hundred collections of overseas missionary materials held in UK, but below are details of some of these, giving for each its current name and location and where its archives are kept. Missionary societies from outside of Britain and additional Indian missionary sources which may provide useful background are being added in separate sections below.

Baptist Missionary Society

Formed in 1792 as The Particular Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen at the instigation of William Carey. Known as the Founder and Father of Modern Missions, William Carey (1761-1834) landed in Calcutta in 1793. After a time the missionaries moved to Serampore in the Danish enclave.

Present title of the society is the “BMS World Mission”.

Initially consult Baptist Historical Society website.

Main archival source is in the leading collection of Baptist history and heritage worldwide:

The Angus Library and Archive

Regent’s Park College

Pusey Street

Oxford, OX1 2LB

Tel: (01865) 288120

Email the Archivist Dr Julian Lock: julian.lock@regents.ox.ac.uk

The Angus Library and Archive website

Note that the Baptist Missionary Society archives, 1792-1914 are available on microfilm in the USA at the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives (see contact details in American Baptist Missionaries below). Refer to the Inventory list for microfilm no. 5350.

For those who are able to visit India, Serampore College (est. 1818) also holds archival material from the earliest days of the Baptist Missionary Society's work in this part of the world. The college is situated 20 kms North-west-north from Calcutta and is an hour and a half drive from the Calcutta Netaji Subash Chandra Bose Airport, or the eighth railway station from Howrah on the Bandel Main line.:

Carey Library and Research Institute

Serampore College

P.O. Serampore

Dist. Hooghly

West Bengal

PIN: 712 201

Website: Carey Library and Research Institute

Brethren

This non-denominational, evangelical Christian group is also known as Plymouth Brethren, Open Brethren, or Christian Brethren.

The first missionary to India was Anthony Norris Groves (1795-1853), who visited there in 1833-34, and then returned with others to begin a work in 1836. Groves is known as the father of faith missions.

There was no missionary society as such; individuals were commissioned and sent out as mission workers by their assembly (local congregation).

In the UK, a centralised service was provided from Bath to produce and distribute a regular prayer newsletter and to provide specialised support services. During WWII, Bath was bombed and the Echoes of Service records were destroyed.

In 2004 no longer active Echoes of Service correspondence files relating to individual missionaries and married couples were transferred on permanent loan to the John Rylands University Library, University of Manchester. While all of these records are post-1945, many of the missionaries would have been active in 1930s. An Echoes of Service papers handlist now on the Wayback Machine alphabetically lists the missionaries covered in these files and their country of service. Most importantly, the John Rylands University library also holds copies of the magazine Echoes of service : a record of labour for the Lord in other lands from 1885 onwards, and its predecessor The missionary echo : a record of labour for the Lord in other lands from 1872. Copies have been digitized and are available on line under the collected title Echoes of service.

A useful book is Tatford, Fredk. A. That the world may know. Vol. 3 : the challenge of India. Bath, England: Echoes of Service, 1983. See the review in Recommended Reading.

Contact:

Lianne Smith,

Christian Brethren Archivist,

The John Rylands University Library,

150 Deansgate,

Manchester M3 3EH England

Tel: +44 (0)161 275 3764

Email: lianne.smith@manchester.ac.uk or uml.special-collections@manchester.ac.uk

Website: John Rylands University Library

In 2017 Echoes of Service amalgamated with Interlink to become Echoes International. They have two offices in the United Kingdom.

Echoes International,

124 Wells Road,

Bath

BA2 3AH

or

Echoes International,

2nd Floor,

Challenge House,

29 Canal Street,

Glasgow

G4 0AD

United Kingdom

Phone: 03300 563334

Email: office@echoesinternational.org.uk

Website Echoes International

Cambridge Mission to Delhi (CMD)

CMD was formed in 1877. "Much of its work was done through two religious communities: the Brotherhood of the Ascension, a community for men, and St Stephen's Community for women. St Stephen's Hospital and St Stephen's College became important institutions in both city and nation; the latter providing an example of inspired Indian leadership supportive of Indian nationalism through the work of S.K. Rudra, principal from 1906-1923." Oxford, Bodleian Libraries. Collection overview.

Resources form part of the USPG collection held at Weston Library, refer to SPG below for access details. Also note, that the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide (see below) holds related papers dating from 1944 in the Cambridge Committee for Christian Work in Delhi collection.

Ceylon and India General Mission (CIGM)

Founded in 1892 by Scottish businessman Benjamin Davidson. Expanded from Ceylon [now Sri Lanka] into South India. Eventually CIGM's ministry reached across the subcontinent and to the Philippines. In 1968 CIGM merged with the Poona and Indian Village Mission [see below] to become the International Christian Fellowship, and then in 1989 ICF merged with SIM (Serving in Mission).

The CIGM's paper Darkness and light, 1893-1988 is available in PDF format at Past SIM Periodicals.

Contact:

international.archives@sim.org

Church Missionary Society (CMS)

Formed as the Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East in 1799 by Anglican evangelicals. The Church Missionary Society was renamed the Church Mission Society in 1995.

Parts of the CMS Archives have been microfilmed by Adam Matthew Publications. Section II: Missions to Women and Section VI: Missions to India are of particular relevance. The full text of guides to these Sections are available online through the Adam Matthew at http://ampltd.co.uk/digital_guides/a.aspx Selected sections of the microfilmed resources are also available online through Adam Matthew Digital (www.amdigital.co.uk), the Internet Archive (www.archive.org), Google Books (www.books.google.co.uk) and Hathi Trust digital library (www.hathitrust.org). Various research libraries and centres around the world subscribe to the digital resources.

For access to post-1960 archives, visit the Crowther Centre at CMS. They can also provide access to the Adam Matthew Digital collection:

CMS, Watlington Road, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 6BZ

http://www.cms-uk.org

Tel: (01865) 787400;

Archivist E-mail: ken.osborne@cms-uk.org

The official archive for the CMS held by:

Cadbury Research Library

University of Birmingham

Edgbaston

Birmingham, B15 2TT

Tel: +44 (0)121 414 5838/39

E-mail: special-collections@bham.ac.uk

A description of the Cadbury Research Library CMS holdings is available at https://calmview.bham.ac.uk/record.aspx?src=Catalog&id=XCMS

Church of Scotland Missions

Foreign Mission Committee formed in 1824. First missionary commissioned to India in 1829. In 1843 the Church of Scotland missionaries in India, with once exception, broke away and joined the Free Church of Scotland. In 1929 the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church of Scotland merged and records were consolidated. The work in India had foreshadowed this union, with most congregations uniting to form the Presbyterian Church in India in 1903.

Biographical details for ordained Church of Scotland missionaries and ministers in India have been extracted from the Fasti ecclesiae scoticanae (See the review in Churches and missions reading list for more information on this publication) and will be found by searching the FIBIS database.

A useful overview of the various Presbyterian denominations' missionary work in India is found in chapters two and four of The Scottish churches' work abroad by J.H. Morrison (Edinburgh: Clarke, 1927).

Go to the general index of Ecclegen to find historical biographical information for any of the Scottish Presbyterian missionaries and ministers.

Contact details:

“Church of Scotland World Mission Council”, 121 George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4YN

Tel: (0131) 225 5722

E-mail: worldmission@cofscotland.org.uk

World Mission Council web pages

Colonial Missionary Society (CMS)

Formed in 1836 to promote Congregationalism in the English-speaking colonies. Changed its name to the Commonwealth Missionary Society in 1956. Merged with the London Missionary Society in 1966 to become the Council for World Mission. Archives form part of the LMS collection held by SOAS (see these organisations below for more information).

Eastern Himalayan Mission

Founded in 1870 by the Church of Scotland. See Church of Scotland missions entry above for sources.

London Missionary Society (LMS)

Originally called the Missionary Society. Established in 1795. Renamed the London Missionary Society in 1818. Interdenominational, but strongly Congregationalist.

Present title: “Council for World Mission”.

The CWM archives are held at the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS) in London.

Contact:

The Library (LMS Archives)

Thornhaugh Street

Russell Square

London WC1H 0XG

Tel: (020) 7898 4180

E-mail: special.collections@soas.ac.uk

http://www.soas.ac.uk/library/archives

Some organisations outside of the UK hold sections of the LMS archives on microfiche; these microfiche archives are the Council for World Mission Archive 1774-1940 and Council for World Mission Archive 1941-1950. See LMS entry on Mundus for holding bodies.

Methodist Missionary Society

This is the collective title for a number of missions. The Wesleyan Methodist Mission (WMMS) began in Ceylon in 1814, in Madras in 1817, and in northern India in 1860. A mission to Burma [Mynamar] began in 1887 in Mandalay.

The archives are held by SOAS. In addition some major research libraries around the world may also hold microfiche copies.

Contact:

Lance Martin

Library (Methodist Archives)

School of Oriental & African Studies

Thornhaugh Street

Russell Square

London WC1H 0XG

Tel: (020) 7898 4148

E-mail: lm37@soas.ac.uk

http://www.soas.ac.uk/library/archives

Also see:

http://www.methodist.org.uk

Panjab Mission

Formed in 1857 by the Church of Scotland. See Church of Scotland missions entry above for sources.

Salvation Army

The first mission to India arrived in Bombay September 1882 and was led by Frederick Tucker, a former ICS officer who was later known as Frederick Booth-Tucker following the widower's marriage to Emma Booth, daughter of the Salvation Army’s founder William Booth.

A useful resource for understanding the background to the Salvation Army in India and its early history there is the online dissertation: Berry, Emily A. From criminals to caretakers : the Salvation Army in India, 1882-1914. Boston, Mass.: Northeastern University, December 2008.

The Officers' Records for the India section index cards for those who were born over 100 years ago have been transcribed and are searchable on the FIBIS database. The database entry indicates if more information, which may include a photograph, is available in the Salvation Army's archives. (Note that these index cards are not currently in the Heritage Centre's online catalogue)

Contact:

The Archivist

The Salvation Army International Heritage Centre

William Booth College

Champion Park

London, SE5 8BQ.

Telephone: 020 7326 7800

Email: heritage@salvationarmy.org.uk

Website: https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/international-heritage-centre

Santal Mission

Established in 1870 by the Free Church of Scotland. See Church of Scotland missions entry above for sources.

Scottish Churches Mission

Formed in Calcutta in 1908 incorporating the local work of the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church. See Church of Scotland missions entry above for sources.

Scottish Missionary Society

Known for a time as the Edinburgh Missionary Society. Founded 1796, nondenominational Presbyterian. First missionary sent to India in 1822.

Following the Presbyterian schism in 1835, most of the buildings and facilities were transferred to the Church of Scotland; see Church of Scotland missions entry above.

The majority of the missionaries carried on under the auspices of the Free Church of Scotland. See Hunter, Robert. History of the Missions of the Free Church of Scotland in India and Africa [Online]. London: Nelson, 1873.

Refer to Ecclegen to find historical biographical information.

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG)

Church of England mission founded 1701 by Royal Charter. First missionary sent to India in 1820.

For concise biographical information on ordained missionaries in India and related territories check the relevant years of Crockford's clerical directory : a directory of the clergy of the Church of England, the Church of Wales, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Church of Ireland. (See the review in Churches and missions reading list for more information on this publication).

For ordained missionaries active prior to 1835 check The Clergy of the Church of England Database (CCEd).

Present title: “USPG – Anglicans in World Mission”.

Pre-1965 Archives for the SPG are now held in the Oxford Bodleian Archive & Manuscripts at Weston Library. See a description of the records at Papers of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Searching for a person or family in Indexed names will identify what is held within the archives. A reader's card is required to use these resources - check the website for more information.

Weston Library

Broad Street

Oxford

OX1 3BG

Tel: +44 (0)1865 277150

E-mail: specialcollections.enquiries@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Website: https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/weston

Post-1965 Archives are at USPG, London.

Contact:

200 Great Dover Street, London SE1 4YB

Tel: (020) 7378 5678

E-mail: archive@uspg.org.uk

http://www.uspg.org.uk

United Reform Church

This modern title (website) includes English Presbyterians and Congregationalists. The latter often served with the LMS. Further information from the United Reform Church History Society at Westminster College, Cambridge; Tel: (01223) 741084. Archives for the English Presbyterian’s are at Westminster College, Cambridge; archives for the Congregationalists’ are at SOAS (see LMS above).

Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Foreign Missionary Society (WFMS)

Mission to the Khasi Hills of North-East India, began in 1841 with founder Thomas Jones and his wife, Ann, going to Cherrapunji, a British hill station. WFMS also worked in the Jaintia Hills and the Plains of Sylhet in northern India. Note that in 1967 when the Indian Government closed the area to foreigners, mission work finished.

An article which may be of interest: Brown-May, Andrew. ‘Sex and Salvation: Modelling Gender on an Indian Mission Station’ in Evangelists of Empire?: Missionaries in Colonial History, ed. Amanda Barry, Joanna Cruickshank, Andrew Brown-May and Patricia Grimshaw [online] Melbourne: University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre, 2008.

The mission's newsletter was called Y Drysorfa.

Contacts:

Calvinistic Methodist Archive (CMA),

National Library of Wales,

Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3BU

Email: enquiry@llgc.org.uk

Phone: +44 (0)1970 632 933

National Library of Wales website

Finding aid: Calvinistic Methodist Archive with Missions material starting at page 1136. N.B. The Foreign Mission archives may only be consulted by special permission of the Curator.

The following archive holds: Khasi and Jaintia Hills missionary minute books (Bangor MSS 36406-36407).

Archives and Special Collections,

Library and Archives Service,

Bangor University,

Bangor,

Gwynedd, LL57 2DG

Phone: +44 (0)1248 382966

Email: archives@bangor.ac.uk

Bangor University Archives

Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (WMMS)

See Methodist Missionary Society above for details. Archives are held by SOAS.

European Protestant Missionary Societies in India and their archives

Arguably fewer Christian missionaries were sponsored in India by Continental organisations, such as the German Lutherans, but they preceded the British and had a lasting impact in India. The proliferation of both large and small Lutheran missionary societies and their interconnections can provide particular challenges for the family historian.

Danish-Halle Mission

Lutheran. First missionaries to India were the Germans Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg (1683–1719) and Heinrich Plütschau (1678–1747), who established the Tamil Mission at the Danish enclave of Tranquebar, in South India in 1706. In addition to work in Tranquebar and the other Danish enclave of Serampore, there were other mission stations along the Mallabar Coast. Some worked in India under the auspices of other societies or on secondment to them, so there may be additional material held elsewhere (e.g. SPCK, see entry above).

Search the extensive archives of the Danish-Halle Mission through the online catalogues (in English), where there is biographical information in addition to indexes of the resources.

Archives held at:

Study Centre August Hermann Francke

Francke Foundations

Franckeplatz 1, Haus 24

06110 Halle (Saale)

Germany.

Head of the study center: Dr. Britta Klosterberg

Tel.0345 2127 412

E-Mail: oeffentlichkeit@francke-halle.de

Det Danske Missionsselskab (the Danish Missionary Society, DMS)

Founded in 1821. A "private organisation rooted in the Danish Folkekirken (The Church of Denmark, or Danish National Church)".

Began work in India in the 1860s, with the first missionaries sent to India in 1865.

In 1931 the Danish part of the Breklum Mission (see above) merged with the DMS.

In January 2000, with the merger of Det Danske Missionsselskab (the Danish Missionary Society, DMS) and Dansk Santalmission (Danish Santalmission), it was renamed Danmission.

Contact:

Danmission

Strandagervej 24

DK-2900 Hellerup

Denmark.

+45 3962 9911

E-mail: danmission@danmission.dk

https://english.danmission.dk/

Dansk Santalmission (Danish Santalmission)

Lutheran. Founded in 1867.

First missionaries to India in 1877. In 1922 begins work in Bengal. After Partition the work continues in both India and Bangladesh.

Merged with Det Danske Missionsselskab (the Danish Missionary Society, DMS) in 2000 and renamed Danmission.

Contact:

Danmission

Strandagervej 24

DK-2900 Hellerup

Denmark.

+45 3962 9911

danmission@danmission.dk

https://english.danmission.dk/

Gossnersche Missionsgesellschaft (Gossner Missionary Society ; Berlin II)

Founded in 1836 by J.E. Gossner, who had withdrawn from the Berlin Missionary Society.

Contact:

Gossner Mission

Georgenkirchstraße 69/70

10249 Berlin

Germany.

Tel.: (0 30) 2 43 44 57 50

E-Mail: mail@gossner-mission.de

http://www.gossner-mission.de

Moravian Church (Evangelische Brüder-Unität)

United Brethren. Began mission work in 1730s.

Useful book: * Hewson, Eileen. Moravian graveyards in India and Jamaica, 1755-1971. Wem: Kabristan Archives, 2007. See the description in Cemeteries | General

Search the Archiv der Evangelischen Brüder-Unität = Unity Archives Catalogue using R.15.T for Ostindien (Trankebar, Nikobaren, Bengalen) and R.15.U for West-Himalaja to see their holdings related to work in India.

Contact:

Unitätsarchiv

Zittauer Straße 24

02747 Herrnhut

Germany.

Phone: +49 (0) 35873 487-31

E-Mail: unitaetsarchiv@ebu.de

https://www.unitaetsarchiv.de/en/

North American Protestant Missionary Societies in India and their archives

Protestant organisations or groups in Canada and/or America who worked in India. Also note that some American individuals served with European or British societies.

The wide variety of missionary societies within denominations such as Baptist or Lutheran can present particular challenges to researchers.

Amongst those Americans who served in British India, there are two names which merit particular mention:

• Adoniram Judson (1788–1850)

He and his wife were the first American missionaries to Burma. They were part of a group sent by the ABCFM (see below) in 1812, and became Baptists in India.

An early biography: Howell, Clifford G. Adoniram Judson, Ann Judson : Pioneer American Baptist missionaries to Burma Online version from The Advanced Guard of Missions. Mountain View, Calif: Pacific Press, 1912. Wholesomewords.org Also "Adoniram Judson and the missionary call" by Erroll Hulse 2007 chapellibrary.org

• The Scudder family.

Four generations of the Scudder family served as medical missionaries in South India with the ABCFM (see below), beginning with John Scudder, Snr. (1793-1855) who went to Ceylon in 1819 and then in 1836 to Madras. The legacy of the 42 members of this family is still evident in India today. See the Wikipedia article Scudder family of missionaries in India.

The British Library holds in the India Office Records and Private Papers the Archives of the Friends of Vellore Christian Medical College and Hospital; and of their predecessor, the British Board of the Hospital, 1916-1995.

American Baptist Missionaries

The earliest American Baptist missionaries were Adoniram and Ann Judson. In 1816 Mr & Mrs Hough were the first missionaries sent out by the Baptist Missionary Convention.

Originally written for young people, this title provides an accessible history of the work of Baptists in India and Burma: Chaplin, Ada C. Our gold-mine: The story of American Baptist Missions in India. United States: W.G. Corthell, 1889. Online verion.

Names of societies:

American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (ABFMS)

Baptist Missionary Convention

Baptist Missionary Union

Woman’s Baptist Missionary Society

Contact:

American Baptist Historical Society

3001 Mercer University Drive

Atlanta

GA 30341-4115

USA.

Physical location: 2930 Flowers Rd, South Suite 150 Atlanta, GA 30341

Phone:678.547.6680

Email: J.Sweetapple@ABHSarchives.org

http://abhsarchives.org/

Search Archives Space

The Samuel Stearns Day Collection (AR. 143): "This is a significant archive on early mission efforts in India by Baptists. The main parts of the collection consist of biographical information, correspondence, diaries, journals, reports to the American Baptist Foreign Mission Board, sermons, and materials concerning mission work among the Telugus. The dates of these papers span the years 1825 – 1912. The biographical information is mainly concerning the Day and Stearns families." See The Inventory for more detail.

Held by:

Southern Baptist Historical Library & Archives (SBHLA)

The Southern Baptist Convention Building

901 Commerce Street, #400

Nashville, TN 37203-3630

USA.

Phone 615-244-0344

Email: taffey@sbhla.org

http://sbhla.org

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM)

Formed in 1810. Missionaries came from Reformed traditions such as Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and German Reformed churches, until 1870 when it became largely Congregationalist. With the formation of the United Church of Christ, the ABCFM merged with the newly formed United Church Board for World Ministries in 1957. See the Wikipedia article American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

Other Protestant Missionary Societies in India and their archives

There were also Christian missionaries sponsored in India by other organisations and groups, including from British colonies such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The archives of these missionary bodies, often rich sources of names, careers, family details and correspondence, may also be accessible but variously held in libraries or other repositories depending on the society. The structures of societies differ widely, but most have an archivist, and he/she may be a useful first contact. Below are details of some of these, giving for each its current name and location and where its archives are kept.

Home Missionary Society of India (HMSI)

An indigenous mission, HMSI was originally established as the Women’s Home Missionary Society of India in June 1905 “to rouse the Anglo-Indian and Eurasian Communities to a direct and responsible share in the evangelisation of India.” The founders were Dr. Eva. D’Prazer, Dr. Nina Ottmann, Mrs Louise Marcar, and Miss T.M. Mergler.

The archives are not available, but Yale Divinity Library has digitized three of the mission reports: Report of the Women's Home Missionary Society of India (June, 1905-1908); Proceedings of the Twenty First Conference, held at Bangalore, January 8-9, 1931; and Proceedings of the Thirtieth Conference, held at Bangalore, January 11-13, 1940.

Poona and India Village Mission (PIVM)

Formed in 1893 by Charles F. Reeve and E.W. McGavin in response to the request of an unnamed 'Eurasian' who had visited Reeve in Tasmania, Australia. An interdenominational, faith mission mostly staffed by Australians and New Zealanders.

In 1968 PIVM merged with the Ceylon and India General Mission to become the International Christian Fellowship, and then in 1989 ICF merged with SIM (Serving in Mission).

The PIVM's newsletter White Already unto Harvest 1898-1968 is available as PDF at Past SIM Periodicals. As well as articles, each issue contains a list of the mission stations and the workers at each place, plus the contact details in the various states of Australia, in New Zealand and Britain.

Contact:

international.archives@sim.org

Other Indian Missionary sources

Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide (CCCW)

Formerly known as the Henry Martyn (Missionary) Centre. Named after Henry Martyn (1781-1812) who was chaplain to the British East India Company, and in Bengal and Persia a translator of the Bible, the Centre holds the primary collection of material related to him and his co-workers.

Holdings on microfilm include published copies of letters and reports to St. Augustine’s College in Canterbury from missionaries around the world 1852-1935. St. Augustine’s College was for many years the missionary training college of the Anglican Communion.

Search the catalogue https://www.cccw.cam.ac.uk/archives/archive-catalogue/

Archivist: Philip Saunders
The Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide Westminster College Madingley Road Cambridge CB3 0AA
Tel: +44 (0)1223 330640
E-mail: archive@cccw.cam.ac.uk
https://www.cccw.cam.ac.uk

Indian Institute Library

Department of Oriental Collections, Bodleian Library, Oxford, OX1 3BG
Tel: (01865) 277082
E-mail: indian.institute@bodley.ox.ac.uk or gillian.evison@bodley.ox.ac.uk
http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/bodley/library/rooms/iirr

International Mission Photography Archive (IMPA)

"The historical images in the International Mission Photography Archive come from Protestant and Catholic missionary collections held at a number of centers in Britain, Europe, and North America." Covering the period of ca. 1860-ca.1960, this online, searchable collection is part of the USC Digital Collection. Images from India come from the Basel Mission, the Danish Mission, the London Missionary Society, Methodist Missions, Regions Beyond Missionary Union, and Scottish Presbyterian missions. There is an active programme to add more images and better descriptions to this archive.

http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15799coll123

Mundus : Gateway to missionary collections in the United Kingdom

A web-based guide to more than four hundred collections of overseas missionary materials held in UK archives. This portal is currently only available as an archived web site. Mundus on the WayBack Machine

Royal Asiatic Society

Librarian (Kathy Lazenbatt)
Royal Asiatic Society, 14 Stephenson Way, London, NW1 2HD
Tel: (020) 7388 4539 E-mail: library@royalasiaticsociety.org
http://www.royalasiaticsociety.org

School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London (SOAS)

"SOAS holds the largest collection of Christian missionary archives in the UK; as well as personal papers of many individual missionaries. These collections span the 18th to 20th centuries and include a wealth of primary source material, such as correspondence, reports, minutes, journals, photographs and films." Key resources include the London Missionary Society (LMS) collection, the Methodist Missionary Society (MMS) collection, and the Presbyterian Church of English (PCE) Foreign Missions Committee collection.

Contact:

SOAS University of London

10 Thornhaugh Street

Russell Square

London WC1H 0XG

Tel: +44(0)20 7898 4180

Email: special.collections@soas.ac.uk

Web: https://www.soas.ac.uk/library/archives/

Missionary family stories on the web

• Faith and Family in South India by David Gore on the British Empire website
• Missionaries and Northern India by Tara van Brederode on the British Empire website

Schools

• Church Missionaries’ Children’s Home. This school in England was run by the Church Missionary Society for the children of missionaries. It was founded in 1850 at Highbury, London and moved in 1887 to Limpsfield, Surrey. Further details in The history of the Church Missionary Society Volume 4, page 494 by Eugene Stock 1916 Archive.org. Between the period 1907-1916 the school became known as St Michael's Limpsfield. Opening in 1887 Archiseek.com. Postcard 1907 TheWeald.com. The England and Wales censuses show the children at the school at the census dates.

Recommended Reading

• May, Andrew - Welsh Missionaries and British Imperialism: The empire of clouds in north-east India published 2012.

A review of this book by David Macadam is contained in FIBIS Journal Number 30 (Autumn 2013) page 48

Available to read online, see Historical books online, below.

• O’Connor, Daniel - The Chaplains of the East India Company, 1601-1858, published 2012.

A review by Richard Morgan of this book is contained in FIBIS Journal Number 27 (Spring 2012), pages 53-54.

• Pears, Walford - Schreyvogel's Mission: Lindau to Trichinopoly Pub 2011.

Daniel Schreyvogel was a missionary in Tranquebar from 1803 to 1826. A review of this book is contained in FIBIS Journal number 28.

External links

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• Anglicanism on the Indian subcontintent, including Ceylon, from Project Canterbury. Contains biographies, online books
• “Missionary Activities of British in India” "First Phase", "Second Phase", "Third Phase", "Fourth Phase" from History of India by IndiaNetZone
• History of CSI Madhya Kerala Diocese by Rev. C. Y. Thomas . Includes a history of the Missions in Travancore and Cochin. Now an archived website.
• “Legacy to cherish”, archived. St Mary Church and the Gorton Mission School Kotgarh. The CMS church in Kotgahr, Himachal Pradesh, previously the Punjab, established 1844, one of the earliest mission stations of North India.
• Priests, Chaplains, Missionaries in Madras Presidency A section of a family history website in which 400 clerical names and related histories are listed.
• “Leprosy in British India 1860-1940: Colonial Politics and Missionary Medicine” by Sanjiv Kakar Medical History 1996, 40, 215-230
• Historical Background of the United Church of Northern India, a union of Presbyterian Churches of India, with a List of the Missions who joined the union. Archived webpages.
• American Presbyterian Missions in India
  • Biographical Index of Missionaries To India Presbyterian Heritage Center
  • Guide to the India-Pakistan Mission Records includes PCUSA work in India from Presbyterian Historical Society, USA
• Mennonite and Brethren Churches in India gameo.org
• Records of the Woman's Union Missionary Society, an American based organisation. Scroll down for India. Billy Graham Center Archives held at Wheaton College Museums and Collection, illinois
• Lutheran Missions in India
  • History of Lutherans in India. Lutheranmissions.org
  • The Basel Mission
    • The Basel Mission children-of-bangalore.com, now archived
    • Introductory Chapter to Journeys and Encounters Religion, Society and the Basel Mission in North Karnataka 1837-1852 by Jennifer and Paul Jenkins library.yale.edu, now an archived webpage.
      • Sources for the translations from German publications, now archived.

These links mention missions from Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden , Norway and America.

• India gaebler.info. Includes
  • "German Missions in India" mainly in German language but includes
    • extracts from the book German Missions In British India Nationalism: Case And Crisis In Missions by Paul Von Tucher 1980 concerning internment of German missionaries during World War 2 at Premnagar near Dehra Dun, Purandhar, about 40kms south-east of Poona and Satara.
• Samuel Stearns Day collection, including biographical details of Samuel Stearns Day at the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives in Nashville Tennessee. Rev. Day was an American Baptist missionary in Southern India.
• Their Footprints Remain: Biomedical Beginnings across the Indo-Tibetan Frontier by Alex McKay International Institute for Asian Studies 2007, part of the Digital Academic Repository van de Universiteit van Amsterdam. Pdf file. Chapter 1 ( page 56) is called Missionary Medicine and the Rise of Kalimpong
• Dublin University Mission at Chota Nagpur (DUMCN) at Hazaribagh in Bihar (Society for the Propogation of the Gospel): Rare images of missionaries who worked in Raj India The Irish Times 16 February 2012, now archived; "Scenes from North India in the late 19th– and early 20th–centuries" ireland.anglican.org with links to images and archive details, the later direct link is Catalogue of DUMCN archives at the RCB (Representative Church Body) Library, Dublin.
• "Sex and Salvation: Modelling Gender on an Indian Mission Station" by Andrew Brown-May. The Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Foreign Missionary Society (WFMS) in the Khasi Hills of north-east India. From Evangelists of Empire?: Missionaries in Colonial History University of Melbourne 2008, now archived pages. The book Welsh missionaries and British imperialism: The empire of clouds in north-east India by Andrew May was published in 2012 by Manchester University Press (Studies in Imperialism) and is available to read online, see Historical books online, below.
• The Cooperative Digital Resources Initiative of the American Theological Library Association There is a Search at the bottom of the webpage.
  • Use India as a keyword in the Search, then use the side filters, to filter for texts, images etc.
    • Includes many images of ABCFM missionaries from the collection of Andover Newton Theological School Franklin Trask Library
  • Use India as a keyword in Searching the Map Collection
• Divinity Library, Yale University Library Digital Collections includes
  • Divinity Library Photographs
  • Directories of Protestant Missionaries in China, Korea, Japan or Siam 1874-1940, the 1940 entry being for Directory of Protestant Missions in China 1940 published by the North China Daily News & Herald, Shanghai.
• South Asia Reading Guide , from John Roxborough’s roxborogh.com.
• Individuals
  • "Pages from History: Documenting the flora of the Coromandel" by Dr A Raman Madras Musings July 16-31, 2009. Johann Peter Rottler Missionary (1749-1836). Scroll to the bottom of the page.
  • Thomas Stevens by Jyotsna Kamat PhD
  • Thomas Stephens Wikipedia
  • Reminiscences of Missionary Work, by Worthington Jukes (1925) Project Canterbury website
  • Laura and Charles Hope were Baptist medical missionaries from Australia, for most of the period 1893 to 1934 Australian DIctionary of Biography
  • Mrs. Eve Ross, (as Miss Eve Croydon) was sent by the Methodist Society as a nurse in United Provinces, 1941-1946. See Nurse – Other Libraries and Archives for an interview to listen to, or to read the transcript, and details of her letters home.

Historical books online

• The History of Christianity in India: from the Commencement of the Christian Era by James Hough Volume 1, 1839 Volume 2, 1839 Volume 4, 1845 Volume 5, 1860 Google Books
• A History of Christianity in India, 1707-1858 by Stephen Neill 1985. Archive.org Lending Library.
• Hand-book of Bengal Missions, in Connexion with the Church of England: Together with an Account of General Educational Efforts in North India by Rev. James Long 1848 Archive.org.
• A History of Missions in India by Julius Richter, translated from the German by Sydney H. Moore 1908 Archive.org
• History of the Missions of the Free Church of Scotland in India and Africa 
by Robert Hunter 1873 Archive.org
  • Original edition 1876 Contents Index; Revised Edition 1881 Includes Burma and Ceylon Contents, Index; Third edition 1886 Contents Index
• A Hand-Book of India and British Burmah by W E Robbins, Missionary 1883 Archive.org. The author appears to be an American, possibly Presbyterian. "Chapter VI: Evangelization of India" page 220.
• The Church Missionary Atlas - Church Missionary Society published 1862. Contains a section on India, with maps from page 21, including a section on the languages of India Also includes an Appendix of missionaries’ names, with some biographical details. Google Books
• The Church in Madras : being the History of the Ecclesiastical and Missionary Action of the East India Company in the Presidency of Madras by Rev Frank Penny 1904 Archive.org

Volume 1 In the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Volume 2 1805 to 1835 Volume 3 1835 to 1861

• The history of the Church Missionary Society, Volume 4 by Eugene Stock 1916 contains chapters on India from Chapter 14, page 137 Archive.org
• The Punjab and Sindh missions of the Church Missionary Society Giving an account of their foundation and progress for thirty-three years, from 1852 to 1884. Second edition, considerably enlarged, of a book entitled "Thirty years of missionary work of the C.M.S. in the Punjab and Sindh" by Robert Clark 1885 Archive.org

For a biography of Robert Clark, see below, under Individuals.

• The Baptist Magazine 1839 Published by George Wightman. Page 636 mentions the formation of the Baptist Church in the Madras Presidency under Rev Day.
• A memorial of the Futtehgurh mission and her martyred missionaries: with some remarks on the mutiny in India by the Rev. J. Johnston Walsh 1859 Google Books. Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions (USA)
• History of the Missions of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in India by Rufus Anderson 1875 Archive.org
• Our Gold-mine: The Story of American Baptist Missions in India by Ada C. Chaplin 1879 Archive.org
• After fifty years; or, An historical sketch of the Guntur mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the General Synod in the United States of America by Luther Benaiah Wolf 1896 Archive.org
• From the Himalayas to the Equator; letters, sketches. and addresses, giving some account of a tour in India and Malaysia by Cyrus D Foss , one of the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 1899 Archive.org. With images. FamilySearch Digital book, where the images have been [correctly] rotated. May be slow to load.

The India Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church [USA] by Rev J E Scott, 1906 Archive.org

• The Centenary of the Methodist Church in Southern Asia by John N Hollister 1956 Published Lucknow India. There is mention of Burma and Malaysia from page 208. FamilySearch Digital Library. You need to be signed in to FamilySearch to view the book.
• The Story of the Lall Bazar Baptist Church, Calcutta: Being the History of Carey's Church from 24th April 1800 to the Present Day by Edward Steane Wenger 1908 Archive.org
• Charles Grant and British Rule in India by Ainslie Thomas Embree 1962 Archive.org Lending Library. Grant (1746-1823) used his influential position as a director of the East India Company to advance the evangelical chaplains and defended the Baptist Missionaries in India.
• Thirty-nine years in Bombay City 
being the history of the mission work of the Society of S. John the Evangelist in that city 
by Rev. Father Elwin 1913 Archive.org. An Anglican religious order for men.
• Jubilee Number 49th Annual Report of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church 1919 includes Chronology 1869-1919 and India Archive.org where there are numerous other Annual Reports
• The Nellore station and field of the American Baptist Telugu mission, South India 1922 Archive.org
• Missionary tropics : the Catholic frontier in India (16th-17th centuries) Ines G. Županov. 2005 Contents Hathi Trust Digital Library
• Many editions of the Church Missionary Atlas are available on the website Archive.org
• Mission Field, a monthly record of the proceedings of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel at home and abroad Archive.org. Issues published in the 1870s-1880s. Includes items about India.
• India pages 96-99 A Handbook of the Church of Scotland by James Rankin. Second edition 1881 Archive.org
• The Missions of the Scottish Churches in India pages 123-125 The Missionary Ideal in the Scottish Churches by D. Mackichan 1927 Archive.org
• The Scottish Churches' Work Abroad - 
Chapter 4 "Scotland in India" by J. H. Morrison 1927 electricscotland.com
• Welsh missionaries and British imperialism : the Empire of Clouds in north-east India by Andrew J May 2012 Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.
• Anglo-Indian Evangelisation Society. 1901 Thirty First Annual Report. The chief object of the Society is "The maintenance of an unsectarian itinerant evangelisation among the widely scattered groups of Europeans and Eurasians in India, otherwise destitute of Gospel ordinances, at Railway Stations, on Tea Estates, &c". Many similar editions from 1886-1915 AdHoc, a Yale Divinity School faculty-library initiative.
• Rangoon Diocesan Association: Quarterly Paper Church of England. 48 quarterly issues from 1897 to 1908, published in London. SOAS Digital Library. London University.The issue for June 1898 listed Clergy and English Missionaries throughout Burma. If the link is not permanent Search using keyword Rangoon.
• The Men of India and Ceylon by Edward C Carter 1908 Archive.org. The Young Men’s Christian Association YMCA.
• Our Mission Field in India: The Report of Rev C V Sheatsley, Commissioner, on the Indian Field from July 15 to December 1, 1920 . Published by the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio, [USA]. Archive.org. Lacks the Illustrations from the book.
• Seventh-Day Adventist Church Online Archives: Periodicals published in India Scroll down to Herald of Health 1910-1917; India Union Tidings 1917-1919; Signs of the Times and Oriental Watchman 1898- 1919; Oriental Watchman and Herald of Health 1924- onwards; Eastern Tidings 1904-1953, which then became Southern Asia Tidings.
• The History of the Church of Malabar, from the time of its being first discover'd by the Portuguezes in the year 1501 : giving an account of the persecutions and violent methods of the Roman prelates, to reduce them to the subjection of the Church of Rome : together with the Synod of Diamper, celebrated in the year of Our Lord 1599 : with some remarks upon the faith and doctrine of the Christians of St. Thomas in the Indies, agreeing with the Church of England, in opposition to that of Rome. Done out of Portugueze into English by Michael Geddes 1694 Archive.org.
• Early Roman-Catholic Missions to India : with sketches of Jesuitism, Hindu philosophy, and the Christianity of the ancient Indo-Syrian Church of Malabar by James Forbes Bisset Tinling 1871 Archive.org
• The Syrian Church in India by George Milne Rae 1892 Archive.org.

Individuals

• Memoirs of the life and correspondence of the Reverend Christian Frederick Swartz, to which is prefixed a Sketch of the history of Christianity in India by Hugh Pearson, Dean of Salisbury 2nd Edition 1835 Volume I, Volume II, First American edition (abridged) 1835 Google Books. Christian Frederick Schwartz (1726–1798) was a German Lutheran Protestant missionary in India.

Schwartz of Tanjore by Jesse Page 1921. Published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (Great Britain) Archive.org.

• The Life of John Thomas, Surgeon of the Earl of Oxford, East Indiaman, and First Baptist Missionary to Bengal [1757-1801] by C B Lewis, Baptist Missionary 1873 Archive.org
• ‪Memoir of an Indian Chaplain, the Reverend Charles Church, M.A‬, of the Madras Establishment of the East India Company, by Rev James Hough 1859 Google Books
• Bishop Wilson's journal letters, addressed to his family, during the first nine years of his Indian episcopate Edited by his son, Daniel Wilson 1863 Archive.org
• Josiah Nelson Cushing, Missionary and Scholar, Burma by Wallace St. John 1912 archive.org. American Baptist Mission. Josiah Nelson Cushing was born 1840.
• Medical Missions : as illustrated by some letters and notices of the late Dr. Elmslie. Printed for the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society 1874. Archive.org. Dr. Elmslie (William Jackson) arrived in Srinagar in 1865 to work for the Kashmir Medical Mission, and died in 1871.
• Four years' campaign in India by William Taylor 1876 Archive.org. He was a Wesleyan/Methodist missionary, who arrived in India in 1870.
• Irene Petrie, Missionary to Kashmir by Mrs Ashley Carus-Wilson 1901 Archive.org. Irene Petrie, 1864-1897, was with the Church Missionary Society.
• Robert Clark of the Panjab : pioneer and missionary statesman by Henry Martyn Clark 1907 Archive.org. Born 1825, he joined the Church Missionary Society and was sent to India where he arrived in 1852 and was posted to Amritsar. He partially retired in 1898, completely in 1900, but died soon after.
• At work : letters of Marie Elizabeth Hayes, M.B. Missionary Doctor Delhi, 1905-8 1909 Archive.org
• A Glimpse of India being a collection of extracts from the letters Dr. Clara A. Swain, first medical missionary to India of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America 1909 Archive.org

Clara A. Swain, M.D.: first medical missionary to the women of the Orient by Mrs. Robert Hoskins. 1912 Archive.org

Palace of Healing: the story of Dr. Clara Swain, first woman missionary doctor, and the hospital she founded [at Bareilly] by Dorothy Clarke Wilson 1968. Archive.org Lending Library

• Beyond the Pir Panjal : life among the mountains and valleys of Kashmir by Ernest F. Neve 1912. Archive.org. The author was a doctor who worked at the Kashmir Medical Mission.
• Pennell of the Afghan frontier; the life of Theodore Leighton Pennell, M.D., B. SC., F.R.C.S. Kaisar-i-Hind medal for public service in India by Alice Maud Pennell 1914. Dr Pennell of the Bannu Medical Mission died at the age of 44.
• Shelton of Tibet by Flora Beal Shelton 1923 Archive.org. Dr Albert Leroy Shelton, 1875-1922, was a medical missionary, for the Foreign Christian Missionary Society of Cincinnati, USA, from 1903 until killed by bandits.
  • "The amazing adventures of Sue in Tibet and her creator" by Tricia Kehoe 16 March 2016. BBC News.Dorris Shelton Still was the daughter of Dr Albert Shelton and his wife Flora, and spent her childhood in Tibet. Includes photographs.