Notes for Candidates 1 Type your abstract on the other side of this sheet. 2. Use single-space typing. Limit your abstract to one side of the sheet. 3. Please submit this copy of your abstract to the Research Degree Examinations Office, Room 261, University of London, Senate House, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HU, at the same time as you submit copies of your thesis. 4. This abstract will be forwarded to the University Library, which will send this sheet to the British Library and to ASLIB (Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux) for publication in Index to Theses. For official use Subject Panel/Specialist Group BLLD....................................... Date of Acceptance ProQuest Number: 10731701 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10731701 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 UNIVERSITY OF LONDON S e e over for Abstract of Thesis notes on completion Author (full names) ....sJpMbTHA'J..... fetr/.P.T.Z.. J k < * ? .£.................... £ . Title of thesis f .•????/. h$.Y.<r. /7f *. 7777TT.f..fX+/s./y. ! . fT'TT:*?' / * ............................................... ......................................................................... Degree ................... This project examines the ways in which missionary periodicals served as a vehicle for ideas about India in the first half of the nineteenth century. Focusing on Baptist missions in Bengal, it traces the parallel themes of ‘the family’ and ‘the heathen’ in published missionaries’ accounts and explores how they served pragmatic and rhetorical functions throughout the period. By reconstructing these narratives and following these themes over time, we can get a better sense of the role they played in developing the connections between missionaries and converts, metropole and periphery. Beginning with the establishment of the Serampore mission in 1800, I utilize the parallel stories of the ‘Serampore mission family’ and two families of converts to show how these concepts underpinned the structure and organization of the mission and were incorporated into the missionaries’ narratives. As the years progressed, these themes—often closely interrelated—assumed more rhetorical value as missionaries became more conscious of the role of their own narratives in generating support among their home audiences, especially women and children. From Serampore I broaden the perspective from individuals to communities. With the establishment of ‘Christian villages’ for converts and the development of what I call ‘spotlight’ mission stations, many missionaries became keenly aware of the central role of their narratives in the maintenance and extension of missions. From communities I shift to institutions, examining the increasingly rhetorical nature of these themes in connection with the Baptists’ schools in Calcutta The study ends with the 1855 conference of Baptist missionaries in Bengal, which represented a turning point in both management and narration as both became more centralized, and as these themes had fully evolved from structural to rhetorical. University of London School of Oriental and African Studies ‘We may have read—but the reality!’: Narrating Baptist Missions in Bengal, 1800-1855 A Thesis by Jonathan Brooke Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy I hereby declare that the work included here is my own. Jonathan Brooke 3 Abstract This project examines the ways in which missionary periodicals served as a vehicle for ideas about India in the first half of the nineteenth century. Focusing on Baptist missions in Bengal, it traces the parallel themes of ‘the family' and ‘the heathen’ in published missionaries’ accounts and explores how they served pragmatic and rhetorical functions throughout the period. By reconstructing these narratives and following these themes over time, we can get a better sense of the role they played in developing the connections between missionaries and converts, metropole and periphery. Beginning with the establishment of the Serampore mission in 1800, I utilize the parallel stories of the ‘Serampore mission family’ and two families of converts to show how these concepts underpinned the structure and organization of the mission and were incorporated into the missionaries’ narratives. As the years progressed, these themes—often closely interrelated— assumed more rhetorical value as missionaries became more conscious of the role of their own narratives in generating support among their home audiences, especially women and children. From Serampore I broaden the perspective from individuals to communities. With the establishment of ‘Christian villages’ for converts and the development of what I call ‘spotlight’ mission stations, many missionaries became keenly aware of the central role of their narratives in the maintenance and extension of missions. From communities 1 shift to institutions, examining the increasingly rhetorical nature of these themes in connection with the Baptists’ schools in Calcutta. The study ends with the 1855 conference of Baptist missionaries in Bengal, which represented a turning point in both management and narration as both became more centralized, and as these themes had fully evolved from structural to rhetorical. H Acknowledgements The author is grateful to a number of individuals and institutions for their kind assistance in the research and writing of this thesis. My supervisor, Avril A. Powell, provided expert guidance, a critical eye, and steadfast support from its inception to its completion. The staff at the SOAS library and Council of World Mission Library, the Oriental and India Office Collection at the British Library, the Center for the Study of the Life and Work of William Carey, D.D. at William Carey University, and the Angus Library, Regents Park College, Oxford, provided incalculable aid and service. The members of the South Asia seminar at SOAS, the Imperial History seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, and the Henry Martyn Seminar at Westminster Theological College, Cambridge, heard several portions of this research, and offered valuable comment and criticism. Thanks are due to SOAS for an Additional Award for Fieldwork, and to the University of London’s Central Research Fund, for funds toward travel and research in India. While there I enjoyed the kindness and hospitality of the faculty, staff, and students of Serampore College and Bishop’s College. Friends in London and the U.S. provided much-needed support and encouragement. Especial thanks go to my wife, Kim, for her unwavering love, patience, and grace. r Contents Abstract 3 Acknowledgements 4 Contents 5 List of Illustrations 6 List of Abbreviations 7 Introduction 9 Pity, Pence, and Participation Idealised Visions: The Heathen and the Family in Missionary Writing Sources and Methodology Chapters Chapter 1: The Family and the Heathen in the Nineteenth Century 35 Evangelical Families: Defining the Self W om an’s Influence Heathen Families: Defining the Other Chapter 2: The Serampore Mission Family 64 Envisioning the Mission Family Establishing the Mission Family Modeling the Mission Family Chapter 3: Model Converts—Model Heathens 84 Krishna Pal and Gokol ‘Violent Passions’ and ‘Foolish Quarrels’ Denouement Chapter 4: Christian Villages and Village Christians 114 Christianpore and the City of Hope Lakhyantipore and Khari Barisal Chapter 5: Baptist Mission Schools in Calcutta 172 Early Efforts Reaching ‘the rising generation’ New Faces, New Challenges New Schools, Old Problems ‘We may have read—but the reality!’ Chapter 6: The Calcutta Conferences of 1855 206 Shifting Priorities The Conferences Conclusions 222 Appendix 227 Bibliography 229 c Illustrations Figure Page 1. Map of Baptist Mission Stations and Villages 8 2. A Field Labourer’s Wife 51 3. The Hindoo Mother 55 4. A Whole Heathen Family Taking Offerings 56 to Hindoo Gods 5. Krishna Pal 85 6. William Ward 85 7. Baptism of Kristno, A Hindoo Convert 89 8. Christian Villagers at Serampore 117 9. Kalinga Native Chapel 129 10. A Native Indian Village 130 11. Chapel at Khari 137 12. Providential Deliverance—Floods at 139 Mukherjea-Mahal, 1833 13. Baptist Chapel at Lakhyantipore 147 14. New Chapel at Lakhyantipore 151 15. Chapel at Dhandoba 163 16 Chobikarpar Chapel, Backergunge 166 17. Denonath Bose: ‘I am a Christian’ 173 18. Native Girls’ School— Intally 179 19. Native Youth of India Pleading with the 197 Church for Education 20. Interior of the Benevolent Institution 198 9 Abbreviations BCM Baptist Children ’s Magazine BM Baptist Magazine BMS Baptist Missionary Society CMS Church Missionary Society EM Evangelical Magazine FOI Friend o f India JMH Juvenile Missionary Herald JMM Juvenile Missionary Magazine LMS London Missionary Society MC Missionary Chronicle MM Missionary Magazine MH Missionary Herald PA Periodical Accounts of the Baptist Missionary Society SPA Serampore Periodical Accounts SPG Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts Sadamahal Dmajpoie Monsaiu Malda B