The Civilising Mission and the English Middle Class, 1792–1850: The ‘Heathen’ at Home and Overseas

368 Pages·2009·4.554 MB·English

by  Alison Twells (auth.)

The Civilising Mission and
the English Middle Class,
1792–1850
The ‘Heathen’ at Home and Overseas
Alison Twells
The Civilising Mission and the English Middle Class,
1792–1850
AlsobyAlisonTwells
BRITISHWOMEN’SHISTORY:ADocumentaryHistoryfromtheEnlightenment
toWorldWarI
The Civilising Mission and
the English Middle Class,
1792–1850
The ‘Heathen’ at Home and Overseas
Alison Twells
PrincipalLecturerinHistory,SheffieldHallamUniversity,UK
©AlisonTwells2009
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2009 978-1-4039-2040-9
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Twells,Alison.
ThecivilisingmissionandtheEnglishmiddleclass,1792–1850:the“heathen”
athomeandoverseas/AlisonTwells.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
ISBN-13:978–1–4039–2040–9(hardback)
ISBN-10:1–4039–2040–0(hardback)
1. Missions—England—History—18thcentury. 2. Missions—England—
History—19thcentury. 3. Missions,English—History—18thcentury.
4. Missions,English—History—19thcentury. 5. England—Churchhistory—
18thcentury. 6. England—Churchhistory—19thcentury. 7. Middle
class—England—History—18thcentury. 8. Middleclass—England—
History—19thcentury. I. Title.
BV2863.T942008
266(cid:2).02342—dc22 2008030096
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09
For my mother, Jean Powditch, and in memory of my
grandmother, Helen Twells
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
ListofFigures x
Acknowledgements xi
ListofAbbreviations xiv
Introduction: The Missionary Movement, the Local
andtheGlobal 1
Themiddleclassandthecivilisingmission 4
Womenandmissionaryphilanthropy 7
Missions,powerandcolonialism 10
The ‘heathen’ at home and overseas: issues of race
andclass 12
TheBibleandculturalhistory 16
Thelocal,thenationalandtheglobal 20
1 ‘One Blood’: The ‘Heathen’ at Home and Overseas
in Late-Eighteenth and Early-Nineteenth-Century
Missions 25
‘Like Cherokees and Mohawks, but more wicked’:
earlyMethodistmissions 27
OldDissentand‘alltheworld’ 30
Themissionaryimpulse:collaborationsandconflicts 34
‘AsortofBotanyBayexperiment’:HannahMoreand
themissionarysolution 37
PhilanthropicwomenandtheCorpusChristianum 43
Conclusion 50
2 Charity Begun at Home: Missionary Philanthropy
andtheNewMiddleClassinSheffield 52
Middle-classmenandphilanthropicnetworks 54
Themonitorialsystemandglobalcivilisation 64
Women,domesticreformandthevisitingsystem 69
vii
viii Contents
Womenandthemissionarypublic 76
Conclusion 81
3 MissionaryDomesticityand‘Woman’sSphere’:
TheReadsofWincobankHall 83
Making Christian children: the evangelical mother’s
mission 86
HappyEnglishchildrenandthe‘heathenother’ 89
Missionarydomesticity:WincobankHall 99
Missionarydomesticityandwoman’ssphere 103
Missionarymothersandpublicmen 110
Conclusion 112
4 ‘BringingabouttheWorld’sRestoration’:
MissionaryWomenandtheCreationofa
GlobalChristianCommunity 115
MissionarywomenandglobalChristianity 118
HannahKilham’sdomesticmission 123
Wretchedcabins,littlepalaces:domesticreform
inIreland 127
Africanhuts:GambiaandSierraLeone,1823–1832 133
Conclusion 142
5 TremblingPhilanthropists?Missionary
PhilanthropyunderPressure 144
Littleblackclimbingboys:theearlyevangelical
critiqueofoverseasmissions 146
A‘repugnantperversionoftraditionalChristian
values’:politicaleconomy,Christianityand
civilisation 154
‘Pluckoutfirstthebeamoutofthineowneye’:
missionarypriorities 156
Medicalmen,phrenologyandthechallenge
ofscience 161
SecularknowledgeandtheMechanics’
Institute 165
The‘wantsofmankindathome’:‘physical
civilisation’anddomesticmissions 168
Conclusion 175
Contents ix
6 ‘AChristianandCivilizedLand’:TheEnglish
MissionaryPublicandtheSouthPacific 178
‘A moral miracle’: evangelical representations of the
SouthPacific 180
‘Nothingbehindourowncountrymen’:God’sfamily
on earth 192
Missionarydisappointmentsandanxietiesof
conversion 198
‘Theassociationsawakenedbytheirpresence’:
England’scivilisation 205
Conclusion 209
Conclusions 211
Notes 220
Bibliography 292
Index 338