The Serampore Trio was the name given to three pioneering English missionaries, namely William Carey (1761-1834), Joshua Marshman, (1768-1837), and William Ward (1769-1823). William Carey arrived in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

in 1793 and Marshman and Ward arrived in 1799. They selected as their base the village of

Serampore Serampore (also called ''Serampur'', ''Srirampur'', ''Srirampore'', ''Shreerampur'', ''Shreerampore'', ''Shrirampur'' or ''Shrirampore'') is a city of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarter of the Srirampore ...

north of

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commer ...

. They became known as the Serampore Trio. *William Carey *Joshua Marshman *William WardStennett's "Memoirs of the Life of William Ward", 1825

New college in Serampore

On 5 July 1818, Carey, Marshman and Ward issued a prospectus (written by Marshman) for a proposed new "College for the instruction of Asiatic, Christian, and other youth in Eastern literature and European science". Thus was born

Serampore College , founders = William Ward, William Carey, & Joshua Marshman , religious_affiliation = Baptist , rector = , location = 8, William Carey RoadSerampore – 712201West Bengal, India , established = , principal = Vansanglura V ...

- which still continues to this day. At times funds were tight, and after a brief and false rumour alleging misapplication of funds caused the flow of funds being raised by Ward in America dried up, Carey wrote, "Dr. Marshman is as poor as I am, and I can scarcely lay by a sum monthly to relieve three or four indigent relatives in Europe. I might have had large possessions, but I have given my all, except what I ate, drank, and wore, to the cause of missions, and Dr. Marshman has done the same, and so did Mr. Ward." The trio's aim was to give an education in arts and sciences to students of every "

caste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultur ...

, colour or country" and to train people for ministry in the growing church in India (See:

Christianity in India Christianity is India's third-largest religion with about 27.8 million adherents, making up 2.3 percent of the population as of the 2011 census. The written records of the Saint Thomas Christians state that Christianity was introduced to th ...

). From its beginning the College has been ecumenical but this means that it has no automatic basis of support from any one branch of the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

church. Prior to 1818, the Serampore Trio had worked together in providing education for their own children and the children, including females, of the native Indians.

Pictures

File:William Carey.jpg, William Carey File:WWard.jpg, William Ward File:John.C.Marshman.jpg, Joshua Marshman

References

*Arts of transitional India twentieth century, Volume 1 By Vinayak Purohit *National Council of Churches review, Volume 126 *Muslims and missionaries in pre-mutiny India By Avril Ann Powell *Banglapedia: national encyclopedia of Bangladesh, Volume 3 *Encyclopedia of evangelicalism By Randall Herbert Balmer
Christianity Today
19th century in Kolkata Baptist missionaries in India {{Christianity-bio-stub