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40-657: Born on 28 June 1839 at West Stafford rectory, Dorset , he was the second son in the large family of Reginald Southwell Smith (1809–1896); his mother was Emily Genevieve Simpson, daughter of Henry Hanson Simpson of Bitterne Manor House, Hampshire, and 12 Camden Place, Bath. His was an invalid suffering from tuberculosis . Bosworth Smith was brought up mostly by his mother, in a rectory family of 12 children, most of whom were infected by tuberculosis with some dying young. From Milton Abbas school, near Blandford , Bosworth Smith went on in August 1855 to Marlborough College , where he

80-594: A prominent family and soon started working as a journalist. Blyden's ideas remain influential to this day. Blyden was born on 3 August 1832 in Saint Thomas , Danish West Indies (now known as the American Virgin Islands ), to free black parents who claimed descent from the Igbo people of present-day Nigeria . The family lived in an English speaking, Jewish neighborhood. Between 1842 and 1845

120-582: A teacher for five years in the British West African colony of Sierra Leone in the early twentieth century. His major writing were on pan-Africanism , which later became influential throughout West Africa, attracting attention in countries such as the United States as well. His ideas went on to influence the likes of Marcus Garvey , George Padmore and Kwame Nkrumah . Blyden was recognised in his youth for his talents and drive; he

160-584: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Edward Wilmot Blyden Edward Wilmot Blyden (3 August 1832 – 7 February 1912) was an Americo-Liberian educator, writer, diplomat, and politician who was primarily active in West Africa . Born in the Danish West Indies , he joined the waves of black immigrants from the Americas who migrated to Liberia . Blyden became

200-494: Is a village and civil parish in southwest Dorset , England , situated in the Frome valley 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Dorchester . In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 291. The village contains the public house 'The Wise Man Inn', and St Andrew's Church. The river Winterbourne runs beside the village and 2 miles south lies the village of West Knighton . Thomas Hardy , when training as an architect, assisted in

240-604: Is the dominant race, before which, in cringing self-surrender and ignoble self-suppression they lie in prostrate admiration. Due to his belief in Ethiopianism and that African Americans could return to Africa and help in the rebuilding of the continent, Blyden saw Zionism as a model to look up to and supported the creation of a Jewish state in Israel , praising Theodor Herzl as the creator of "that marvelous movement called Zionism ". Herzl died in 1908 roughly 44 years before

280-555: The Church Defence Institution as a pamphlet Reasons of a Layman and a Liberal for opposing Disestablishment . On 9 August 1865 Bosworth Smith married Flora, fourth daughter of the Rev. Edward Dawe Wickham, rector of Holmwood, Surrey (1851–1893), and sister of Archdale Palmer Wickham ; the fifth daughter, Alice Bertha, was wife of Bosworth's elder brother, Henry John Smith (1838–1879). Bosworth Smith's own handwriting

320-715: The diaspora to that of the Jews ; he supported the 19th-century Zionist project of Jews returning to Palestine. In their book Israel in the Black American Perspective , Robert G. Weisbord and Richard Kazarian write that in his booklet The Jewish Question (published in 1898, the year after the First Zionist Congress) Blyden describes that while travelling in the Middle East in 1866 he wanted to travel to "the original home of

360-687: The 1830s by the American Colonization Society (ACS) in West Africa, where he thought Blyden would be able to use his talents. Later in 1850, Blyden sailed to Liberia. One year later, Blyden enrolled in Alexander High School in Monrovia, where he studied theology, the classics, geography, mathematics, and Hebrew in his spare time. Blyden also acted as principal of the school when needed, and in 1858 he became

400-561: The 20th century has been compared to Smith's. In a controversy arising towards the end of 1887, Isaac Taylor went further in attacking existing Christian missionary activity, and in particular its commercial links. Smith allied himself with the Church Missionary Society , rebutting Taylor's propositions, and raising the question of plagiarism, since they were not novel. He found himself in rough consensus with Thomas Patrick Hughes , Harry Johnston , Joseph Thomson : on

440-714: The Interior (1880–82). Blyden contested the 1885 presidential election for the Republican Party , but lost to incumbent Hilary R. W. Johnson . From 1901 to 1906, Blyden directed the education of Sierra Leonean Muslims at an institution in Sierra Leone where he lived in Freetown . This is when he had his relationship with Anna Erskine; they had five children together. He became passionate about Islam during this period, recommending it to African Americans as

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480-633: The Jews–to see Jerusalem and Mt. Zion, the joy of the whole earth". While in Jerusalem he visited the Western Wall. Blyden advocated for the Jewish settlement of Palestine and chided Jews for not taking advantage of the opportunity to live in their ancient homeland. Blyden was familiar with Theodor Herzl and his book The Jewish State , praising it for expressing ideas that "have given such an impetus to

520-573: The Negro Race (1887), promoted the idea that practicing Islam was more unifying and fulfilling for Africans than Christianity . Blyden believed that practicing Christianity had a demoralizing effect on Africans, although he continued to be a Christian. He thought Islam was more authentically African, as it had been brought to Sub-Saharan areas by people from North Africa. His book quickly became controversial. At first many people did not believe that an African had written it; his promotion of Islam

560-619: The Salisbury Diocesan Synod, and a member of the house of laymen in the representative church council at Westminster. After a long illness he died at Bingham's Melcombe on 18 October 1908, and was buried beside his parents and brothers in the churchyard of West Stafford. A portrait of Bosworth Smith was painted by Hugh Goldwin Rivière , presented by old pupils at Harrow and engraved by the Fine Arts Society . He

600-573: The Turkish character, and insisted on the danger to India of Russia's forward policy . In 1885 he urged the permanent British occupation of the Sudan, and in 1892 he protested against the evacuation of Uganda, which was not carried out. On 20 October 1892, speaking for a deputation of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society to Lord Rosebery , then Foreign Secretary, he pleaded for "the continuity of

640-633: The United States where he spoke to major black churches about his work in Africa. Blyden believed that Black Americans could end their suffering of racial discrimination by returning to Africa and helping to develop it. He was criticized by African Americans who wanted to gain full civil rights in their birth nation of the United States and did not identify with Africa. In suggesting a redemptive role for African Americans in Africa through what he called Ethiopianism , Blyden likened their suffering in

680-475: The butler was unwilling to serve Hardy. Bosworth Smith travelled frequently in his vacations. In 1895 he purchased an old manor house at Bingham's Melcombe , Dorset, and there he resided on his retirement from Harrow in 1901. He was J.P. for Dorsetshire, a member of the education committee of the county council, vice-president of the Dorset Field Club, to which he lectured more than once, a member of

720-781: The design of Talbothays Lodge and the cottages opposite. The village is also accepted as the setting for part of Hardy's novel Tess or the D'Urbevilles , during the period when Tess works at the Talbothays Dairy. Reginald Bosworth Smith , schoolmaster, author and President of the Oxford Union , was born in West Stafford on 28 June 1839. His father, Reginald Southwell Smith , was the fourth son of Sir John Wyldbore Smith , Baronet, of Sydling St Nicholas , Dorset. [REDACTED] Media related to West Stafford at Wikimedia Commons This Dorset location article

760-784: The family lived in Porto Bello, Venezuela , where Blyden discovered a facility for languages, becoming fluent in Spanish . According to the historian Hollis R. Lynch, in 1845 Blyden met the Reverend John P. Knox, a white American, who became pastor of the St. Thomas Protestant Dutch Reformed Church. Blyden and his family lived near the church, and Knox was impressed with the studious, intelligent boy. Knox became his mentor, encouraging Blyden's considerable aptitude for oratory and literature. Mainly because of his close association with Knox,

800-429: The garden. For more than 30 years Bosworth Smith mainly devoted his time to his duties at Harrow. In his form teaching, he leavened the classical tradition with history, scripture, geography, and English literature, especially John Milton . Not being in holy orders , he at that period was not considered eligible to become Harrow's headmaster. The writer Thomas Hardy was born near West Stafford, at Higher Bockhampton in

840-451: The major religion most in keeping with their historic roots in Africa. As a writer, Blyden has been regarded by some as the "father of Pan-Africanism " and is noted as one of the first people to articulate a notion of "African Personality" and the uniqueness of the "African race". His ideas have influenced many twentieth-century figures including Marcus Garvey , George Padmore and Kwame Nkrumah . His major work, Christianity, Islam and

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880-497: The moral policy of England." His letters were reprinted as a pamphlet. In the autumn of 1885 he defended the Church of England against W. E. Gladstone 's and Joseph Chamberlain 's menaces of disestablishment. To an early evangelical background he added a liberal tolerance, but his loyalty as churchman was intense. Gladstone replied vaguely to his appeal for some reassuring message to liberal churchmen. Smith's letters were published by

920-478: The nascent study of comparative religion as represented by Max Müller , with a "cheerful evolutionism". Smith's overall theme was "responsibilities attaching to British imperial and military power." Other books were: Bosworth Smith intervened in political, religious, and debates, mainly through letters to The Times or articles in the reviews. During the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) he defended

960-638: The official principal of Alexander High school. That same year, Blyden was ordained as a Presbyterian minister. Starting in 1860, Blyden corresponded with William Ewart Gladstone , who would later become a significant Liberal leader and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Gladstone offered Blyden an opportunity to study in England in 1861, but Blyden declined due to his obligations in Liberia. Blyden married Sarah Yates, an Americo-Liberian from

1000-638: The parish of Stinsford . During the mid-1870s he became established as a family friend with the Smiths: he knew Bosworth Smith's father as "Canon Smith", and his mother, whose urbanity impressed him, as Geneviève. Bosworth Smith himself became a personal friend. This was despite a socially awkward moment at dinner in the rectory in 1874: the Smiths were entertaining with the help of James Pole, John Floyer's butler. Hardy and Cassie Pole, James Pole's daughter, had been walking out some years earlier, before breaking up, and

1040-592: The positive contributions in Africa of Islam, and negative points; and on the value and prospects of Christian missionary work. This debate was concurrent with one on an atrocity in Bosnia-Herzegovina reported by Henry Liddon and Malcolm MacColl from a steamer journey on the Sava . Andrew Walls called Mohammed and Mohammedanism "strangely influential", the work of "one of nature's amateurs" who knew no Arabic. He saw Smith as influenced by F. D. Maurice and

1080-466: The prominent Yates family. She was the daughter of Hilary Yates and his wife. Her paternal uncle, Beverly Page Yates , served as vice-president of Liberia from 1856 to 1860 under President Stephen Allen Benson . Blyden and Sarah had three children together. Later, while living for several years in Freetown , Sierra Leone , Blyden had a long-term relationship with Anna Erskine, a Liberian woman from Clay-Ashland who had moved to Freetown in 1877. She

1120-580: The real work of the Jews as will tell with enormous effect upon their future history". Later in life Blyden became involved in Islam and concluded that it was a more "African" religion than Christianity for African Americans and Americo-Liberians. Participating in the development of the country, Blyden was appointed the Liberian Secretary of State (1862–64). He was later appointed as Secretary of

1160-483: The young Blyden decided to become a minister, which his parents encouraged. In May 1850, Blyden, accompanied by Reverend Knox's wife, went to the United States to enroll in Rutgers Theological College, Knox's alma mater. He was refused admission due to his race. Efforts to enroll him in two other theological colleges also failed. Knox encouraged Blyden to go to Liberia , the colony set up in

1200-635: Was a granddaughter of James Spriggs-Payne , who was twice elected as the President of Liberia . Blyden and Erskine had five children together. In the 21st century, many Blyden descendants living in Sierra Leone identify as part of the Creole population. Among these descendants is Sylvia Blyden , publisher of the Awareness Times . Blyden died on 7 February 1912 in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where he

1240-492: Was all but illegible, and Flora copied out what he wrote for publication, and most of his important private letters. She survived him, and died in 1927. Their children included: [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Lee, Sidney , ed. (1912). " Smith, Reginald Bosworth ". Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement) . Vol. 3. London: Smith, Elder & Co. West Stafford West Stafford

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1280-494: Was already in Winwood Reade 's Savage Africa . The contrasting adversarial stance against Islam, of William Muir 's Life of Mahomet and The Coran , and followed by John Drew Bate and William St. Clair Tisdall , drew on oriental studies and established missionary views on conversion as an imperative. Bosworth Smith's conciliatory approach also had the support of Sayyid Ahmad Khan . The work of W. Montgomery Watt in

1320-721: Was buried at Racecourse Cemetery . In honour of him, the 20th-century Pan-Africanist George Padmore named his daughter Blyden. Soon after his immigration to Liberia in 1850, Blyden began work in journalism. He began as a correspondent for the Liberia Herald (the only newspaper in Liberia at the time) and was appointed editor from 1855 to 1856, during which he also authored his first pamphlet, "A Voice From Bleeding Africa". He also spent time in British colonies in West Africa, particularly Nigeria and Sierra Leone , writing for early newspapers in both colonies. In Sierra Leone, he

1360-673: Was commemorated by tablets in Harrow school chapel and in the church at Bingham's Melcombe, and in his memory were erected a portion of the reredos in the church at West Stafford and (by friends and pupils) a stone balustrade in the terrace gardens at Harrow. Bosworth Smith is now mainly remembered for Mohammed and Mohammedanism: Lectures Delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in February and March 1874 (1874). The book excited controversy, and ran to several editions. It

1400-489: Was disputed. In later printings, Blyden included his photograph as the frontispiece. His book included the following: 'Let us do away with the sentiment of Race. Let us do away with our African personality and be lost, if possible, in another Race.' This is as wise or as philosophical as to say, let us do away with gravitation, with heat and cold and sunshine and rain. Of course, the Race in which these persons would be absorbed

1440-520: Was educated and mentored by John P. Knox, an American Protestant minister in Sankt Thomas who encouraged him to continue his education in the United States. In 1850, Blyden was refused admission to three Northern theological seminaries because of his race. Knox encouraged him to go to Liberia, a colony set up for free people of color by the American Colonization Society . Blyden emigrated in 1850 and made his career and life there. He married into

1480-470: Was elected to a classical fellowship at Trinity College, Oxford , and he was appointed tutor of the college, and lecturer both there and at Corpus Christi. He proceeded M.A. in 1865. On 16 September 1864 Bosworth Smith began work as a classical master at Harrow School , on the nomination of the headmaster Henry Montagu Butler . He married the following year, and from 1870 he was housemaster of The Knoll, which he built at his own expense, and where he designed

1520-472: Was head boy under successive headmasters— George Edward Lynch Cotton , and George Granville Bradley . At Michaelmas 1858 Bosworth Smith matriculated with an open classical scholarship at Corpus Christi College, Oxford , and he graduated B.A. in 1862 with first-class honours both in classical moderations and in the final classical school. In the same year he was president of the Oxford Union . In 1863 he

1560-474: Was the founder and editor of The Negro newspaper in the early 1870s. He maintained ties with the American Colonization Society and published in their African Repository and Colonial Journal . In 1861 Blyden became professor of Greek and Latin at Liberia College . He was selected as president of the college, serving 1880–1884 during a period of expansion. As a diplomat Blyden served as an ambassador for Liberia to Britain and France . He also traveled to

1600-792: Was translated into Arabic. Smith's views on Christianity and Islam drew on Heinrich Barth , Theodor Waitz and John Pope Hennessy . They can be placed in a "conciliatory" tradition represented by the Mahometanism Unveiled (1829) of Charles Forster (1787–1871), and The Religions of the World (1846) of F. D. Maurice . They were later supported by Edward Wilmot Blyden , a Liberian Christian missionary who argued that Islam had brought clear advantages to Africans. Blyden and Bosworth Smith met, through Arthur Penrhyn Stanley , became friends, exchanged visits, and corresponded at length. Smith's deprecation of Christian missionary efforts in Africa

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