Christina Marshall Colville (, Christian Downie; April 10, 1852 – January 7, 1936) was a Scottish temperance leader. She served as president of the British Women’s Temperance Association (BWTA) (Scottish Christian Union).

Biography

Christian Downie was born at Copley,

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, April 10, 1852. Her father was Provost Downie, J.P., of

Kirkintilloch Kirkintilloch (; sco, Kirkintulloch; gd, Cair Cheann Tulaich) is a town and former barony burgh in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It lies on the Forth and Clyde Canal and on the south side of Strathkelvin, about northeast of central Glasgow. ...

. She was educated in private schools and at Glasgow Free Normal College. On August 31, 1885, she married John Colville (1852–1901), M.P., of

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

, who was an active temperance worker. Colville worked in the temperance field for many years, and was prominent in various temperance societies. She served as president of the BWTA (Scottish Christian Union), having been elected to that office in 1915. She was also president of the

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...

Christian Union, president of the

United Evangelistic Association, a director of the Scottish Temperance League, and a member of the executive committee of the Lanarkshire branch of the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

. She took an active part in evangelistic work at home and devoted a great deal of time to foreign missions. Her home was at

Cleland, North Lanarkshire Cleland is a village near Motherwell and Wishaw in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. As of 2018, it has a population of about 3,000. The village has a strong coal mining heritage, and is a typical example of a working class village in North Lanarks ...

, Scotland. Christina Colville died January 7, 1936.

Honours

In 1918, during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, an ambulance named in Colville's honour, the "Christian Colville", was donated by the BWTA to the

Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service The Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Services (SWH) was founded in 1914. It was led by Dr. Elsie Inglis and provided nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers, cooks and orderlies. By the end of World War I, 14 medical units had been outfitted and ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colville, Christina Marshall 1852 births 1936 deaths Christina People from the West Riding of Yorkshire (before 1974) People from Lanarkshire Scottish temperance activists