EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1800; ELLEN ARNOLD /84

 

In this post I will continue to share the story of a woman named Ellen Arnold. She lived from 1858 - 1931. Ellen purchased land in Comilla 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 Bangali and helped establish the East Bengal Baptist Union. 

Ellen 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, Ellen lived in a thatched, mud-floored village hut among the local people rather than in the typical British Raj style properties of her colleagues.

Ellen returned 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.