Eleanor Blackmore
Eleanor Blackmore | |
|---|---|
 Eleanor Blackmore, from a 1916 publication | |
| Born | Eleanor Maud Blackmore 17 April 1873 Havant, UK |
| Died | 24 August 1943 Wellington, Somerset, UK |
| Occupation(s) | Baptist missionary and nurse in Nicaragua |
Eleanor Maud Blackmore (17 April 1873 – 24 August 1943) was an English Baptist missionary supported by the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society. She helped to establish the first Baptist church and schools in Nicaragua.
Early life
[edit]Blackmore born in Havant, near Portsmouth, the daughter of William Blackmore and Maria Blackmore. She trained as a nurse while studying at the Baptist Deaconess Home in Chester.[1]
Career
[edit]Blackmore was already working in Central America by 1902, when she went to Costa Rica to assist during a yellow fever outbreak, and nearly died when she contracted the illness herself.[1][2] She was commissioned in 1916 as the first general missionary in Nicaragua supported by the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society.[3][4] She began a school in Managua.[5] In 1917 she and José S. Mendoza opened the First Baptist Church of Managua.[6] She helped to lead revival meetings throughout Nicaragua in 1924, with pastors Harry Strachan (father of missionary Robert Kenneth Strachan) and Roberto Valenzuela Elphick of Chile.[7] Her reports from the field often described intense opposition from Roman Catholic leaders and their parishioners,[8] noting, "I am not a pessimist or I would not have stuck at this field for 26 years."[9]
Blackmore attended an international missionary meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1910.[3] In 1920, she spoke at a convention in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[10] Blackmore retired from the mission field in 1938, and returned to England.[11]
Personal life and legacy
[edit]Blackmore died in Wellington, Somerset, in 1943, aged 70 years.[12] Universidad Politécnica de Nicaragua traces its origins in part to Blackmore's co-educational 1917 school.[13]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Hull, Eleanor (1975). Women who carried the good news. Internet Archive. Valley Forge, Pa. : Judson Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-8170-0651-8.
- ^ Hayne, Coe (March 1921). "Going Forward with the Book in Nicaragua (part 2)". Missions: American Baptist International Magazine. 12: 146–150.
- ^ a b Anderson, C.; Anderson, Justice (2005). An Evangelical Saga. Xulon Press. p. 445. ISBN 978-1-59781-495-9.
- ^ "The New Field at Nicaragua" Missions (November 1916): 854. via Internet Archive
- ^ "The School of the Living Christ" Missions: American Baptist International Magazine 15(April 1924): 216.
- ^ Smith, Calvin L. (2007-03-31). Revolution, Revival, and Religious Conflict in Sandinista Nicaragua. BRILL. p. 57. ISBN 978-90-474-1935-8.
- ^ "A Stirring Revival in Nicaragua" Missions: American Baptist INternational Magazine 15(October 1924): 543.
- ^ Hayne, Coe (February 1921). "Going Forward With the Book in Nicaragua: Dramatic Incidents in the Life of Eleanor Blackmore, a Pioneer in Central America in Perilous Days". Missions: American Baptist International Magazine. 12: 68–70.
- ^ "Minus Twenty Cents!" Missions: American Baptist International Magazine 15(March 1924): 173.
- ^ Neisser, Rittenhouse (November 6, 1920). "Pennsylvania Convention". The Baptist. 1: 1401.
- ^ Butler, Mary (May 1942). "The Shoemaker Evangelist of Nicaragua". Missions. 33: 280–281 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "They Served their Day and Generation: Eleanor M. Blackmore". Missions. 34: 611. December 1943 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ ""La huella de los bautistas en la educación"". Universidad Politécnica de Nicaragua. Archived from the original on 2021-07-12. Retrieved 2021-07-12.
External links
[edit]- "La misteriosa Srita. Eleanore M. Blackmore: Pinceladas históricas de la relación entre las iglesias bautista y centroamericana" Camino al centenario CBN: Blog Oficial de la Convención Bautista de Nicaragua (CBN)(30 May 2016); a long blog post about Blackmore and her colleagues (in Spanish)
- Hayne, Coe, By-paths to forgotten folks; stories of real life in Baptist home mission fields (1921); a Christian education book about missionaries, including "A Pioneer in Peril" and "Reenforcements", chapters about Blackmore