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Missionaries

History: AQA A Level The British Empire, topic 1.4.2

The Role of Missionaries

Missionaries were committed to spreading God's message to the "uncivilised" in the colonies. Missionaries often paved the way for Britain to impose its rule officially.

Types of missionaries

Types of missionaries

  • Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians and Methodists were all branches of Christianity that wanted to spread the Gospel and Bible to Africa.
  • At the start of the 19th Century, conversion was seen by many as a part of a Christian’s duty.
Muscular Christianity

Muscular Christianity

  • Muscular Christianity was a type of British cultural supremacy, which viewed the native traditions of potential territories as inferior and uncivilized.
  • Muscular Christianity placed importance on Christian values, masculinity, and athleticism.
  • This movement occurred mostly within all-boys' public schools in England.
  • At the time, most government and military officials had attended such schools.
The missionaries

The missionaries

  • The missionary movement was also conflated (combined and inseparable) with the Empire.
  • David Livingstone was a missionary, but also explored the Zambezi for natural resources.
  • William Carey was a missionary who was most known for his conversions of Indian people to Christianity in the late 1700s. However, the East India Company didn't support missionaries in India at this time.
  • Missionaries both opened territories to British influence (e.g. Congo and inland China) and followed the British flag (e.g. Punjab in the 1850s).
  • John MacKenzie was a Methodist missionary who put pressure on the British government to establish a protectorate over Bechuanaland (now Botswana) in 1885.
Female missionaries

Female missionaries

  • Women's roles in Victorian society were very restrictive and there was a very conservative worldview with defined gender roles.
  • Becoming a missionary allowed some women to escape strict gender roles.
  • Key female missionaries included:
  • Mary Carpenter, who went to India.
  • Mary Slessor, who went to Nigeria.

Test yourself on Missionaries

  • Which of these is NOT true of muscular Christianity?

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