Martha Julia Cartmell (December 14, 1845; March 20, 1945) was a Canadian Methodist/United Church missionary and educator in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. She founded the Toyo Eiwa Jogakuin school in 1884 which now includes Toyo Eiwa University.

Life

The daughter of James Cartmell, a stone cutter, and his wife Sarah, she was born in Thorold and was educated in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

and Toronto. Her mother died when she was five. Cartmell became a missionary and left San Francisco for Japan in 1882 and established a Christian school for girls, Toyo Eiwa Jogakuin, two years later in

Roppongi is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, famous for the affluent Roppongi Hills development area and popular night club scene. A few foreign embassies are located near Roppongi, and the night life is popular with locals and foreigners alike. It is ...

. Cartmell was forced to resign due to poor health in 1887. She recovered in Canada, working at the General Mission in Victoria, British Columbia from 1890 to 1892, and returned to Tokyo. After four more years in Japan, she again returned to Canada in 1896 and worked with Japanese people at the General Mission in Victoria for two more years before retiring for good in 1898. The school grew to also include Toyo Eiwa University. In 2013, the alumni association for the Toyo Eiwa school donated cherry trees in her honour to Hamilton and to Thorold.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cartmell, Martha 1846 births 1945 deaths Canadian Methodist missionaries Foreign educators in Japan Female Christian missionaries Canadian expatriates in Japan People from Thorold Heads of schools in Japan University and college founders Women founders Methodist missionaries in Japan Canadian founders