The Serampore Mission, 1827

"RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE."

The Serampore Mission

BOSTON RECORDER AND TELEGRAPH

1827

In 1827, the Serampore missionaries and the Baptist Missionary Society in London agreed to a separation from each other. This development occurred after a dispute over several issues: 1) the monies--separate from BMS support--earned by the Serampore missionaries, 2) the management of Serampore College, which had been established by the missionaries, and 3) the monetary support for the missionary stations established by the Serampore missionaries. John Dyer, the BMS Secretary, and Joshua Marshman both signed the document of separation. As a result of the separation, the BMS and the Serampore missionaries operated as "two distinct and independent missionary bodies."

William Ward arrived in Britain in 1819 in an effort to resolve the conflict. Some of Ward's views and warm feelings toward England, the BMS, and Serampore may be read here. Later, both John Clark Marshman and his father, Dr. Joshua Marshman, visited Britain in an effort to resolve the conflict.

The following article, published in two separate weeks' issues of the Boston Recorder and Telegraph, recounts the problem between the Serampore Mission and the Baptist Missionary Society. The story derives from the Society's July, 1827, report in the Baptist Magazine (London), and conveys an unfortunate development—though resolved later—in the history of the Serampore Mission, the lives of the Serampore Trio, and the BMS.

Vol. XII No. 43

Friday, October 26, 1827