Hester Needham (author)

Needham lived during the Victorian era of British history and practiced Evangelicalism. For a brief period, she attended a school in Weston-super-Mare. In London, from her mid-twenties onward, she covered different duties associated with her church, such as visiting St George's Hospital to school-teaching on Sundays. As part of the branch, she opened the Princess House in London in 1878. The building served as a living and education facility for young women. Especially combined with Victorian revivalism, Missionary societies received particular attention and funding, Female missionaries started to be increasingly needed in the colonies because they were thought to be more appropriate to teach and civilize other women. In the late 1880s, the Rhenish Missionary Society sought female evangelists to join missionary projects internationally. In 1888, Schreiber, one of its principal ministers, went to a conference in London. Needham attended the conference and decided to join. She was sent to Sumatra. == Her work in Sumatra ==

In December 1889, she landed in Sibolga and some days later she arrived at the missionary station in Pansur Napitu, in North Sumatra, north of Padangsidempuan. Throughout her stay in Sumatra, she undertook several occupations, mainly revolving around the religious conversion of the local people, the Batak, to Christianity. She held several Bible classes per week and she held meetings and classes especially for women as sometimes for children too. Once she learned the local language, she helped to translate the Bible into the local language and she preached. She engaged in philanthropic activities: she helped the local people affected by leprosy or by poverty and she helped the blind Bataks. In March 1891, the Princess House of Pansur Napitu opened. She funded its construction and, once opened, she lived there while managing the house and holding meeting and classes there. In the spring of 1892, several earthquakes hit the island. She started collecting money and food for the most severely hit Sangir Island. In January 1893, she moved to Sipoholon, a bigger village where more conversion work was needed. One year later, a second Princess House opened where she worked until June 1895. In June 1895, Needham moved to another region of Sumatra where the Mandailing people live. After a long journey, which lasted two months, she settled in Muara Sipongi. In the spring of 1896, she moved to Malintang, south of Padangsidempuan. She was also appointed as the superintendent of Bartimeus, a local man, for the British and Foreign Bible Society. In December 1896, she moved to Maga where she was hosted by the local sultan. On 12 May 1897, she died in Maga in Mandailing. The cause of death is unknown but the last illness she had was dropsy. File:God First or Hester Needham's work in Sumatra-title page.jpg|Title page of God First. File:God First or Hester Needham's work in Sumatra-page 84.jpg|Photo of Princess House in Pansur Napitu. File:God First or Hester Needham's work in Sumatra-page 167.jpg|The night school at Sipoholon, showing sister Kate and Andreas. File:God First or Hester Needham's work in Sumatra-page 240.jpg|Picture of Needham and a local Christian family in Maga, Mandailing. == References ==