Sophia Blackmore

Sophia Blackmore (18 October 1857 – 3 July 1945) was an Australian Christian missionary. She founded the Fairfield Methodist Schools, and also Methodist Girls' School in Singapore. She was the first woman missionary sent by the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church to Singapore. She also set up a boarding home for girls, supported the early Methodist Straits Chinese Christian work, published a Christian periodical in Baba Malay, and is closely associated with the founding of Kampong Kapor Methodist Church. Early life Born 100 miles off Sydney, Australia, Blackmore came from a devout Christian family from London who had migrated south in the 1850s. Her mother's family had had associations with missionary greats such as Robert Morrison, Robert Moffat and David Livingstone while her father was an established solicitor in New South Wales. She was one of eight children. Missionary work in Singapore Under the auspices of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society (WFMS) of the American Methodist Episcopal Church as single women serving as missionaries were unusual and Blackmore's Australian church did not support such a venture. However, Blackmore found no permanent position when she arrived in India. Then in Madras, she met Reverend William Oldham who had gone to India for a conference. This chance meeting opened the doors for Blackmore to contribute to the growing missionary field in Malaya. To prepare for her move, Blackmore took Malay lessons from a family in Moradabad. The couple had previously resided in Singapore. It was also in Moradabad that Blackmore was officiated into the Methodist Episcopal Church.