Hopestill Harland Pillow (28 June 1857 – 28 May 1895) was a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

to India.

Early life

Pillow was born in 1857 in

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

, Kent, England. She was the third child of Thomas Pillow and Ann Aspin.

New Zealand

Pillow emigrated with her family to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, New Zealand. She attended Oxford Terrace Baptist Church.

Missionary work and death

In 1889, Pillow departed Christchurch to join the

Zenana Missions The zenana missions were outreach programmes established in British India with the aim of converting women to Christianity. From the mid 19th century, they sent female missionaries into the homes of Indian women, including the private areas of h ...

, in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, India. The ''

Lyttelton Times The ''Lyttelton Times'' was the first newspaper in Canterbury, New Zealand, publishing the first edition in January 1851. It was established by the Canterbury Association as part of its planned settlement of Canterbury and developed into a libera ...

'' records the meeting at Oxford Terrace Baptist Church to mark her departure:

Last evening the Oxford Terrace Baptist schoolroom was well filled with friends assembled to say “farewell” to Miss Hopestill Pillow, on the occasion or her leaving as a missionary in the Zenana work... Mr Carey, on behalf of the Rev Mr Driver, Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society of New Zealand, proposed the following resolution : —“That we hereby acknowledge our gratitude to Almighty God for having raised up from our midst a messenger to carry the gospel to the women of India, and we desire to convey to our sister. Miss H. H. Pillow, the assurance of continued sympathy with her in the work to which she has been called, and pray that she may be granted a safe voyage, and that good health and abundant blessings may attend her labours as an agent of the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society.”

After six years in India, Pillow fell ill and died on 28 May 1895 in Calcutta. She is buried in Calcutta. The ''

Christchurch Press ''The Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand owned by media business Stuff Ltd. First published in 1861, the newspaper is the largest circulating daily in the South Island and publishes Monday to Saturday. One comm ...

'' announced her death three months later, in August 1895.

Legacy

In 1896, following Pillow's death, Oxford Terrace Baptist Church erected a stone tablet in Pillow's memory. Following the

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...

and subsequent rebuilding of the church, the porch no longer remains, although the plaque is stored on site.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pillow, Hopestill People from Christchurch New Zealand Baptist missionaries 1857 births 1895 deaths 19th-century Baptists