https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Isabella_ThoburnIsabella Thoburn - Revision history2026-07-31T11:00:59ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Isabella_Thoburn&diff=474147&oldid=prevDigitalcreator at 19:04, 3 March 20262026-03-03T19:04:27Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|American missionary (1840–1901)}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Isabella Thoburn<br />
| image = IsabellaThoburn1901.png<br />
| alt = A white woman missionary with her dark hair center-parted and swept up in back; she is wearing a uniform-like plain dark jacket with buttons down the front, and a high collar<br />
| caption = Isabella Thoburn, missionary and educator, from a 1901 publication<br />
| birth_date = March 29, 1840<br />
| birth_place = Ohio, US<br />
| death_date = September 1, 1901<br />
| death_place = Lucknow, India<br />
| occupation = Missionary educator, college administrato<br />
}}<br />
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'''Isabella Thoburn''' (March 29, 1840 – Sept. 1, 1901) was an American [[Christians|Christian]] [[missionary]] of the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]] best known for her establishment of educational institutions and [[Mission (Christian)|missionary work]] in [[North India]], subsequent to the [[East India Company]]'s relinquishment of power to the British government in India.<br />
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==Biography==<br />
Isabella Thoburn was born in 1840 near [[St. Clairsville, Ohio]]. She attended local schools and the [[Wheeling Female Seminary]] in [[Wheeling Creek (West Virginia)|Wheeling]], Virginia (now in West Virginia).<br />
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Thoburn was invited to [[Cincinnati]] to train [[Christian mission]]aries and [[deaconess]]es to serve, resulting in the formation of [[The Christ Hospital]].<ref name="Oldham1902">{{cite book |last1=Oldham |first1=William Fitzjames |title=Isabella Thoburn |date=1902 |publisher=Jennings & Pye |page=34 |language=en}}</ref><br />
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In 1866, after she had taught for several years, Isabella was invited by her brother [[James Mills Thoburn]], a Methodist Episcopal missionary in India, to assist him in his educational and missionary work in India. She delayed her departure until 1869 when the formation of the [[Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church|Women's Foreign Missionary Society]] of the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]] enabled her to undertake missionary work under denominational affiliation and auspices.<ref name=thoburn418-420>[[#thoburn1903|Thoburn, 1903]], pp. 418-420</ref><br />
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In India, Thoburn's work culminated in the founding of an important woman's college, [[Isabella Thoburn College]] in [[Lucknow]] (1870), as well as a [[Methodist High School, Kanpur|Methodist High School]] in [[Kanpur]]. These two educational establishments were among the first in [[colonial India]], catering to the educational and religious needs of an emergent [[Anglo Indian]] population in [[Awadh]].<ref name=thoburn418-420/><br />
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Thoburn returned to the United States for a period to study at [[Lucy Rider Meyer]]'s [[Chicago Training School for Home and Foreign Missions|Chicago Training School for City, Home, and Foreign Missions]] in Illinois. In 1887, Meyer appointed her as the first house mother and superintendent of the school's new Methodist Deaconess Home for training female deacons.<ref name=keller>Keller, Rosemary Skinner, Rosemary Radford Ruether, and Marie Cantlon. ''Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America: Women and religion: methods of study and reflection''. Vol. 1. Indiana University Press, 2006, pp. 824-38.</ref><br />
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She died in 1901 in Lucknow, [[India]], at the age of 61.<br />
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==See also==<br />
*[[List of bishops of the United Methodist Church]]<br />
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==Citations==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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===Sources===<br />
* {{cite book |last=Buck |first=Oscar MacMillan |editor=[[Dumas Malone|Malone, Dumas]] |title=Dictionary of American biography: Thoburn |volume=XVIII |publisher=New York: Charles Scribner's Sons |author-mask= |year=1936 |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer18amer/page/n5/mode/2up |pages=418–420 |ref=malone18}}<br />
*Methodism: Ohio Area (1812–1962), edited by John M. Versteeg, Litt.D., D.D. (Ohio Area Sesquicentennial Committee, 1962).<br />
*{{cite book |title=Life of Isabella Thoburn |last=Thoburn |first=J. M. |author-link=James Mills Thoburn |year=1903 |publisher=Jenkins and Graham |location=Cincinnati, OH <br />
|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeisabellatho00thobgoog |ref=thoburn1903 }}<br />
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==External links==<br />
{{Library resources box|by=yes|viaf=72927039}}<br />
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Isabella Thoburn}}<br />
* [http://www.itcollege.ac.in/ Isabella Thoburn College (website)]<br />
* [http://www.bu.edu/missiology/missionary-biography/t-u-v/thoburn-isabella-1840-1901/ Isabella Thoburn's biography at the Boston University School of Theology website]<br />
* {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Thoburn, Isabella|short=x}}<br />
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{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thoburn, Isabella}}<br />
[[Category:Methodists from Ohio]]<br />
[[Category:People from St. Clairsville, Ohio]]<br />
[[Category:1840 births]]<br />
[[Category:1901 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Methodist missionaries in India]]<br />
[[Category:American biographers]]<br />
[[Category:American missionary educators]]<br />
[[Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges]]<br />
[[Category:Female Christian missionaries]]<br />
[[Category:19th-century American philanthropists]]<br />
[[Category:Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church]]<br />
[[Category:19th-century American women philanthropists]]<br />
[[Category:American missionaries in India]]</div>Digitalcreator