Isabella Thoburn Biography 
Isabella Thoburn was an American Christian missionary best remembered for establishing educational institutions and missionary work in North India during British rule. She was a missionary belonging to Methodist Episcopal Church. Well-known educator and philosopher Lilavati Singh started her professional career as a teacher in one of the schools started by Isabella in India. When Isabella Thoburn opened a new school, she hired her former student Lilavati Singh as a teacher in 1892. She later became the professor of literature and philosophy at Isabella Thoburn College. Following the death of Isabella Thoburn, Singh was appointed as the Vice Principal.
Isabella Thoburn was born on March 29, 1840 near St. Clairsville, Ohio. She attended Wheeling Female Seminary in Wheeling, Virginia. After that she served as a teacher for many years before she moved to India in 1869 as asked by her brother James Mills Thoburn, a Methodist Episcopal missionary in India. Her brother requested her to assist him in missionary work as well as set of educational institutions, which she agreed. Initially asked her help in 1866, she delayed her journey for three years and finally reached India in 1869.
As an educationalist she is best known for starting a college for women in Lucknow in 1870. The school was named as Isabella Thoburn College. She also established Methodist High School in Kanpur. These two institutions were among the early ones started in colonial India. Anglo Indian population in Awadh was most benefitted with these institutions. For a brief period she moved to US to study at Chicago Training School for City, Home, and Foreign Missions in Illinois, and later returned to India. She spent her last years in India and died in Lucknow in 1901.
Published: January 28, 2019
Updated: January 28, 2019
