Hester Needham (author)

Last updated

Hester Needham
God First or Hester Needham's work in Sumatra-frontispiece.jpg
Hester Needham in 1874 and her signature
Born23 January 1843
London, England, United Kingdom
Died12 May 1897
Maga, Mandailing, Tapanuli, Dutch East Indies
OccupationMissionary ∙ Travel writer
Era Victorian era
Notable workGod First or Hester Needham's work in Sumatra
RelativesWilliam Needham (father)
Camilla Bosanquet (mother)

Hester Needham (23 January 1843 - 12 May 1897) was a British missionary and travel writer. She is known for the posthumous publication of God First or Hester Needham's work in Sumatra, a travel book published in 1899. A copy is part of one of the Special Collections of Maastricht University. [1] It is the only known book written by a female missionary in Indonesia during those times. The book comprises Needham's letters and diaries, arranged by Mary Enfield. It also includes a preface by Sarah Geraldine Stock and a chapter about the author's biography. [2] Needham stayed in Sumatra from 1889 to 1897, where she died. [2] She traveled there to take part in the missionary work of the Rhenish Missionary Society as the first evangelist woman of the mission. [3]

Contents

Early life

Needham lived during the Victorian era of British history and practiced Evangelicalism. [4] For a brief period, she attended a school in Weston-super-Mare. In London, from her mid-twenties onward, she covered different duties associated with her church, such as visiting St George's Hospital to school-teaching on Sundays. [4] In 1873, she started a small branch of the YWCA, a women’s organisation emblematic of the so-called Social Gospel: the idea that social progress is God's blessing. [5] [6] As part of the branch, she opened the Princess House in London in 1878. The building served as a living and education facility for young women. [4]

Evangelicalism was the foundational tenet of missionary societies. [7] Especially combined with Victorian revivalism, [6] the process of Christianizing the non-Christians in the colonies came mainly from the British population. [8] Missionary societies received particular attention and funding, [8] and women contributed to their activities. In the beginning, they played only a symbolic function and were often seen as the domicile wives of the male missionaries. [9] Female missionaries started to be increasingly needed in the colonies because they were thought to be more appropriate to teach and civilize other women. [9] [10]

In the late 1880s, the Rhenish Missionary Society sought female evangelists to join missionary projects internationally. [3] In 1888, Schreiber, one of its principal ministers, went to a conference in London. [3] Needham attended the conference and decided to join. [2] She was sent to Sumatra. [2] [3]

Her work in Sumatra

Map of Sumatra from the book God First or Hester Needham's work in Sumatra-page 28.jpg
Map of Sumatra from the book

In December 1889, she landed in Sibolga and some days later she arrived at the missionary station in Pansur Napitu, in North Sumatra, north of Padangsidempuan. [2] Throughout her stay in Sumatra, she undertook several occupations, mainly revolving around the religious conversion of the local people, the Batak, to Christianity. She held several Bible classes per week and she held meetings and classes especially for women as sometimes for children too. [2] Once she learned the local language, she helped to translate the Bible into the local language and she preached. She engaged in philanthropic activities: she helped the local people affected by leprosy or by poverty and she helped the blind Bataks. [2]

In March 1891, the Princess House of Pansur Napitu opened. She funded its construction and, once opened, she lived there while managing the house and holding meeting and classes there. [2] In the spring of 1892, several earthquakes hit the island. She started collecting money and food for the most severely hit Sangir Island. [2] In January 1893, she moved to Sipoholon, a bigger village where more conversion work was needed. One year later, a second Princess House opened where she worked until June 1895. [2]

In June 1895, Needham moved to another region of Sumatra where the Mandailing people live. After a long journey, which lasted two months, she settled in Muara Sipongi. [2] In the spring of 1896, she moved to Malintang, south of Padangsidempuan. She was also appointed as the superintendent of Bartimeus, a local man, for the British and Foreign Bible Society. [2] In December 1896, she moved to Maga where she was hosted by the local sultan. On 12 May 1897, she died in Maga in Mandailing. The cause of death is unknown but the last illness she had was dropsy. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Sumatra</span> Province of Indonesia

North Sumatra, also called North Sumatra Province, is a province of Indonesia located in the northern part of the island of Sumatra, just south of Aceh. Its capital and largest city is Medan on the east coast of the island. It is bordered by Aceh on the northwest and Riau and West Sumatra on the southeast, by coastlines located on the Indian Ocean to the west, and by the Strait of Malacca to the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Batak</span> Ethnic group in Indonesia

Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Toba, Angkola, Mandailing and related ethnic groups with distinct languages and traditional customs (adat).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen</span> German Lutheran missionary (1834–1918)

Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen was a Danish Lutheran missionary to Batak lands, North Sumatra who also translated the New Testament into the native Batak language and the first Ephorus (bishop) of Batak Christian Protestant Church. Stephen Neill, a historian of missions, considered Nommensen one of the greatest missionaries of all time. He is commemorated as a missionary on 7 November in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church with John Christian Frederick Heyer and Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Batak Christian Protestant Church</span> Church of Protestant Christian denomination

The Batak Christian Protestant Church abbreviated as HKBP, is an Evangelical Lutheran church among the Batak people, generally the Toba Batak in Indonesia. This church uses an Ecumenical worship style influenced by the Dutch Reformed Church due to the influence of Dutch colonialism in Indonesia, as well as the legacy obtained from the Rhenish Missionary Society when the church was founded. With a membership of 4,133,000, the church synod is the largest among the Protestant churches in Indonesia it is one of the largest Protestant churches in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, making it the third largest religious organization in Indonesia after Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah. Its present leader is Ephorus (bishop) Victor Tinambunan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katharine Bushnell</span> American physician and missionary

Katharine Bushnell was a medical doctor, Christian writer, Bible scholar, social activist, and forerunner of feminist theology. Her lifelong quest was for biblical affirmation of the integrity and equality of women, and she published God's Word to Women as a correction of mistranslation and misinterpretation of the Bible. As a missionary and a doctor, Bushnell worked to reform conditions of human degradation in North America, Europe, and Asia. She was recognized as a forceful and even charismatic speaker.

The Rhenish Missionary Society was one of the largest Protestant missionary societies in Germany. Formed from smaller missions founded as far back as 1799, the Society was amalgamated on 23 September 1828, and its first missionaries were ordained and sent off to South Africa by the end of the year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandailing people</span> Ethnic group

The Mandailing people are an ethnic group in Sumatra, Indonesia that is commonly associated with the Batak people. They are found mainly in the northern section of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. They came under the influence of the Kaum Padri who ruled the Minangkabau of Tanah Datar. As a result, the Mandailing were influenced by Muslim culture and converted to Islam. There are also a group of Mandailing in Malaysia, especially in the states of Selangor and Perak. They are closely related to the Angkola and Toba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bible translations into Chinese</span>

Since the arrival of Christianity in China, the Bible has been translated into many varieties of the Chinese language, both in fragments and in its totality. The first translations may have been undertaken as early as the 7th century AD, but the first printed translations appeared only in the nineteenth century. Progress on a modern translation was encumbered by denominational rivalries, theological clashes, linguistic disputes, and practical challenges at least until the publication of the Protestant Chinese Union Version in 1919, which became the basis of standard versions in use today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity in Indonesia</span>

Christianity is Indonesia's second-largest religion, after Islam. Indonesia also has the second-largest Christian population in Southeast Asia after the Philippines, the largest Protestant population in Southeast Asia, and the third-largest Christian population in Asia after the Philippines and China. Indonesia also has the second-largest Christian population in the Muslim world, after Nigeria, followed by Egypt. Indonesia's 29.4 million Christians constituted 10.47% of the country's population in 2023, with 7.41% Protestant and 3.06% Catholic. Some provinces in Indonesia are majority Christian. In Indonesia, the word Kristen refers to Protestantism, while Catholicism is referred to as Katolik. In the 21st century the rate of growth and spread of Christianity has increased, especially among the Chinese minority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herman Neubronner van der Tuuk</span>

Herman Neubronner van der Tuuk was a Bible translator and linguist specialising in the languages of the Dutch East Indies.

Characteristic of Christianity in the 19th century were evangelical revivals in some largely Protestant countries and later the effects of modern biblical scholarship on the churches. Liberal or modernist theology was one consequence of this. In Europe, the Roman Catholic Church strongly opposed liberalism and culture wars launched in Germany, Italy, Belgium and France. It strongly emphasized personal piety. In Europe there was a general move away from religious observance and belief in Christian teachings and a move towards secularism. In Protestantism, pietistic revivals were common.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indonesia–United Kingdom relations</span> Bilateral relations

Indonesia and the United Kingdom established diplomatic relations in 1949 and have maintained strong relations since then. Indonesia has an embassy in London while the United Kingdom has an embassy in Jakarta. The United Kingdom considers Indonesia an increasingly important partner globally and is committed to efforts to take bilateral relations to new heights. Both nations are members of G-20 major economies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toba Batak people</span> Group of the Batak people in Indonesia

The Toba Batak people are the largest ethnic group of the Batak peoples of North Sumatra, Indonesia. The general term ‘Batak’ is sometimes used to refer to the Batak Toba people, for one thing because the Toba people are the largest sub-group of the Batak ethnicity, for another because they tend to self-identify as merely Batak instead of ‘Toba’ or ‘Batak Toba’, contrary to the habit of the Karo, Mandailing, Simalungun, Pakpak communities who commonly self-identify with their respective sub-groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scottish Protestant missions</span>

Scottish Protestant missions are organised programmes of outreach and conversion undertaken by Protestant denominations within Scotland, or by Scottish people. Long after the triumph of the Church of Scotland in the Lowlands, Highlanders and Islanders clung to a form of Christianity infused with animistic folk beliefs and practices. From 1708 the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge (SSPCK) began working in the area. In 1797 James Haldane founded the non-denominational Society for the Propagation of the Gospel at Home. Dozens of lay preachers, divinity students and English preachers were sent to the region. In the early nineteenth century a variety of organisations were formed to support evangelism to the region.

The Methodist Church in Indonesia or GMI is a body within the Methodist tradition in Indonesia. GMI is jointly presided by two bishops, each representing the component annual conferences within the church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Hanson</span> British physician, missionary and suffragist

Helen Beatrice de Rastricke Hanson was a British physician, missionary and suffragist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Stephen Kennedy</span> Scottish missionary

Margaret Stephen Kennedy was one of the first zenana missionaries in India in the mid nineteenth century. She is most known for her ability to connect with people along all classes and races, her work for the London Missionary Society orphanage in Benares, contributing aid to a leper sanctuary in Almora, and providing an English and Biblical education to the Raja of Coorg’s daughter, Victoria Gouramma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bible Society of Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei</span>

The Bible Society of Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei was a nondenominational Christian organisation committed to translating and distributing the Bible in Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei. It was the successor organisation to the Bible Society of Malaya, a branch of the National Bible Society of Scotland (NBSS). The Bible Society of Malaya prior to 1948 was a branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS).

Batak Muslims or Islamized Bataks refers to the Batak who embraced Islam as their religion. Historically, the Batak people practiced animism, with a strong emphasis on ancestral worship and other traditional beliefs. The transition to Islam among the Batak occurred gradually, with the early historical record started since at least 8th or 9th century, as a result of trade relations, missionary activities, and the influence of nearby Islamic-based monarchs in pre-colonial Indonesia.

Abdul Rasjid Siregar gelar Mangaradja Mahkota Soeangkoepon, commonly known as Dr. Abdul Rasjid, was a politician and physician in the Dutch East Indies. He was elected or appointed to the Volksraad from 1931 to 1942, during which time he sat with the Indonesian nationalist faction. During the 1930s, he became convinced that public health and cooperation with traditional healers should be central to the mission of physicians in the Indies.

References

  1. ↑ "Jesuit collection - About UM - Maastricht University". www.maastrichtuniversity.nl. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Needham, H. (1899). God First or Hester Needham's work in Sumatra. Oxford: Horace Hart, Printer to the Oxford University.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Aritonang, J.S. (2000). "The encounter of the Batak people with Rheinische missions" (PDF).
  4. 1 2 3 Needham, H. (1899). God First or Hester Needham's work in Sumatra. Oxford: Horace Hart, Printer to the Oxford University. pp. 16–17.
  5. ↑ "Young Women's Christian Association | Christian lay movement". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  6. 1 2 Sigsworth, E.M. (1988). In search of Victorian values: aspects of nineteenth-century thought and society. Manchester University Press. pp. 116–128.
  7. ↑ Sigsworth, E. M. (1988). In search of Victorian values: aspects of nineteenth-century thought and society. Manchester University Press. pp. 147–158.
  8. 1 2 Sigsworth, E.M. (1988). In search of Victorian values: aspects of nineteenth-century thought and society. Manchester University Press. pp. 162–177.
  9. 1 2 Midgley, C. (2006). "Can Women Be Missionaries? Envisioning Female Agency in the Early Nineteenth‐Century British Empire". Journal of British Studies. 45 (2): 335–358. doi:10.1086/499791. S2CID   162512436.
  10. ↑ Jacobs, M.D. (2009). White Mother to a Dark Race: Settler Colonialism, Maternalism, and the Removal of Indigenous Children in the American West and Australia, 1880-1940. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 87–100.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.