George Howells (11 May 1871 – 7 November 1955) was a Welsh academic and writer, who was Principal of

Serampore College Serampore College is located in Serampore, in West Bengal, India. Established in 1818, it is the fourth oldest college in the country after Old Seminary, Kottayam (Established 1815), CMS College, Kottayam and Presidency College in Kolkata, a ...

, India from 1907 to 1932.

Life

Howells was born on 11 May 1871 in Cwm,

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...

in south Wales. He was educated at schools in Cwm and

Pengam Pengam is a former coal village and community in the Rhymney Valley, Caerphilly county borough, in Wales. It is also a community, containing itself and the nearby village of Fleur de Lys, and at the 2001 census it has a population of 3,842, ri ...

before winning a scholarship to Regent's Park Baptist College, London. After graduating with a degree awarded by the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, he studied at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

(at Mansfield College and Jesus College), at

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...

He is not listed, however, in Venn, ''

Alumni Cantabrigienses ''Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900'' is a biographical register of former members of the University of Cambridge whic ...

''. and at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

, obtaining degrees from a total of four universities. He travelled to India in 1895 for the Baptist Missionary Society to deal with literary and educational work. In 1907, he became Principal of

, a post he held until 1932. During this time, he also served as a Fellow and examiner of the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

(1913 to 1929) and was a member of the

Bengal Legislative Council The Bengal Legislative Council ( was the legislative council of Bengal Presidency. It was the legislature of the Bengal Presidency during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After reforms were adopted in 1937, it served as the upper house of ...

in 1918. After returning to Britain in 1932, he was lecturer in Hebrew at Rawdon Baptist College until 1935. He received honorary degrees from the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

, Serampore College and the

University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...

. During his retirement, he moved to Castleton, south Wales and he died on 7 November 1955.

Works

His writings included ''The Soul of India'' (1913), derived from lectures he delivered at the University of London, and ''The Story of Serampore'' (1927), of which he wrote the majority and edited the whole. He also wrote for Indian periodicals on problems in education and theology.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howells, George 1871 births 1955 deaths Alumni of Mansfield College, Oxford Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge University of Tübingen alumni Welsh Baptists Welsh scholars and academics Welsh non-fiction writers Alumni of Regent's Park College, London