The 1910 Edinburgh World Missionary Conference and comparative colonial education

Abstract

In 1910 some 1200 delegates from Protestant missionary societies came together in Edinburgh, Scotland to attend a World Missionary Conference. In preparation for this event eight commissions were established to research various topics of importance to missionary societies. Commission III was dedicated to ‘Education in Relation to the Christianization of National Life’ and presented a volume of 470 pages as its report to the Conference based on over 200 responses to a list of questions under 14 broad topics. One of these topics pertained to the working relationship between missionaries and governments. This paper examines the discussion within the report regarding governmental attitudes to missionary education within colonial spaces. It provides a comparison between the aims of missionary education and the recorded experiences under various governments, particularly at times when they contrasted and conflicted. Taking a broadly comparative view, the paper shows the differences in concerns and objectives that various missionary bodies had in different colonial spaces, as well as the commonalities across colonial spaces in relation to governmental attitudes towards missionary education. This paper demonstrates the fruitfulness of a comparative approach to writing colonial histories of education, through elucidating both specificities and commonalities between different colonial education policies and practices.