Ellen Arnold (1858–1931) was a

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

n teacher and the first and longest serving Australian

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

Early life

Ellen Arnold was born on 5 July 1858 in

Aston Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Located immediately to the north-west of Birmingham city centre, Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a wards of the United Kingdom, war ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

, England to Alfred Arnold and Ellen Jane Seager. Her father was a jeweller in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Ellen Arnold brummie australian missionarys family

They migrated to

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

in 1879, where they became members of

Flinders Street Baptist Church Flinders Street Baptist Church is a heritage-listed Baptist church located at 71-75 Flinders Street, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The church is affiliated with the Australian Baptist Ministries. History In response to a call by George F ...

. She became a teacher, after being in the first intake of the

Adelaide Teachers' College The University of South Australia is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1991, it is the successor of the former South Australian Institute of Technology. Its main campuses along North Terrace are ...

Career

Arnold was influenced by her pastor,

Silas Mead Silas Mead (16 August 1834 – 13 September 1909) was an English Baptist minister who founded the Flinders Street Baptist Church and South Australian Baptist Association in Adelaide, South Australia, and is remembered for the missionary work in ...

, who had founded the

Australian Baptist Missionary Society Baptist Mission Australia, formerly Global Interaction, the Australian Baptist Missionary Society, and originally the Australian Baptist Foreign Mission, is a Christian missionary society founded by Baptists in Australia in 1864. The national offi ...

in 1864. After some medical training, she and Marie Glibert went to Furreedpore (then part of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

) in October 1882, the first missionaries sent by the newly formed Society, undertaking "

zenana Zenana (, "of the women" or "pertaining to women"; ; ; ) is the part of a house belonging to a Muslim family in the Indian subcontinent, which is reserved for the women of the household. The zenana was a product of Indo-Islamic culture and was ...

work".

Arnold returned to Australia in 1884 suffering illness and undertook a tour of the

colonies A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

which became known as the "crusade of Ellen Arnold." This led to the establishment of the

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

and New Zealand Baptist Missionary Societies. Four other young women decided to join her (becoming known as the " Five Barley Loaves") in

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

, which then became the primary mission field for

Australian Baptists Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

. Arnold purchased land in

Comilla Comilla (), officially spelled Cumilla, is a metropolis on the banks of the Gomti River in eastern Bangladesh. Comilla was one of the cities of ancient Bengal. It was once the capital of Tripura kingdom. Comilla Airport is located in the Duli ...

and began building a mission house in 1889, before moving there in 1890. She spent her life preaching, establishing schools and dispensing medicine. She became fluent in

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and helped establish the East Bengal Baptist Union. She later moved to Pubna where there were tensions with other missionaries, particularly as the men, who had arrived later, controlled the finances and movements of the women. In 1912 she was instructed by the Australian society to "stop interfering in the Pubna men's department or come home." From 1913, she lived in a thatched, mud-floored village hut among the local people rather than in the typical

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

style properties of her colleagues. Arnold retired to Australia in 1930, with the East Bengal Baptist Union taking over her work, but returned to India as a voluntary worker and died in Ataikola on 9 July 1931 after refusing surgery for a malignant growth.

Honours

In 1919 Arnold was awarded the

Kaisar-i-Hind Medal The Kaisar-i-Hind Medal for Public Service in India was a medal awarded by the Emperor/Empress of India between 1900 and 1947, to "any person without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex ... who shall have distinguished himself (o ...

for public service in India, but declined to accept it. The Ellen Arnold Memorial Dispensary at Ataikola was established in her name and the Bangladesh Baptist Union observes the day of her death as "Ellen Arnold Day." In 2014 Rosalind Gooden published her biography.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnold, Ellen 1858 births 1931 deaths People from Birmingham, West Midlands People from Adelaide 19th-century Baptists Australian Baptist missionaries Baptist missionaries in Bangladesh Recipients of the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal 19th-century Australian women 20th-century Australian women