# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Wilson, Mrs.

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WILSON, MRS.,
An Englishwoman, who deserves an honoured place among the distinguished of her sex, for her noble self-sacrifice in going out to India, to introduce the light of female education into that region of moral darkness. She also founded the first orphan refuge, or asylum for female native children, established under the British sceptre in the East. This beginning of female instruction was introduced but little more than thirty years ago; the East India Company had held rich possessions and controlling power in India for morel than a century, yet no man had sought to remedy or remove the horrible degradation and ignorance of the female sex. The spirit of selfishness or sin reigned paramount in the hearts of men; and ​their "enmity" to the moral or intellectual influence of women was and is still, there wrought out in the most awful oppressions and brutal practices the corrupt mind can devise. Mrs. Wilson has done much, for she made the beginning. We glean the following particulars from an article in "Chambers' Journal," written, evidently, by a lady. She tells us that Mrs. Wilson, then Miss Cook, went out to India in 1821.
"Up till this time, the education of natives had been confined to boys, for whom a number of schools had been opened; and as no attempt at conversion was allowed, there was no prejudice against them. One of the most benevolent founders of schools for boys was David Hare, a person who, having amassed a considerable fortune in that city, determined to spend it there instead of in his native land; and not only did he spend his money, but his life, in benefitting the city where he had so long resided. These attempts, as we have said, met with no opposition on the part of the natives; on the contrary, they warmly seconded them, and the schools were crowded with boys willing to learn after the English fashion instead of their own; but the prejudices against educating females were not to be so easily overcome. For the woman, no education of any kind but such as related to making a curry or a pillau had ever been deemed necessary. As long as infancy and childhood lasted, she was the pet and plaything of the family; and when, with girlhood, came the domestic duties of the wife, she entered on them unprepared by any previous moral training. All intellectual acquirements were out of place for one who was not the companion, but the drudge and slave of her husband; and the more ignorant she was, the less intolerable would be the confinement and monotony of her life. In India, all females above the very lowest ranks, and of respectable character, are kept in seclusion after betrothment; and after marriage, none of any rank, except the very highest, are exempt from those duties which we should consider menial, though not really so when kept in due bounds. A wife can never be degraded by preparing her husband's repast; but it is humiliating to be considered unworthy to partake of it with him, and not even to be permitted to enliven it with her conversation. Those females, again, whose station is not high enough to warrant the privileges of seclusion, present a picture painful to contemplate; the blessing of liberty cannot make up for the incessant toil and drudgery to which they are invariably condemned; and the alternations of the climate, added to the exposure, render the woman in the prime of life a withered crone, either depressed into an idiot or irritated into a virago. Though in the present day something has been effected in the way of elevating the social position of the Hindoo female, thirty years ago even that little was considered unattainable. It was evident that while one entire sex remained so utterly uncared for, the instruction of the other would fail to produce the desired effects: and that if India was to be regenerated, her female as well as her male population must be instructed. The task was difficult; for whilst the government was indifferent, the natives of India were all strongly opposed to any measures for ameliorating the condition, social or intellectual, of their women. One zealous friend, however, devoted herself to the task. The work was to be done, and Mrs. Wilson did it.
Animated with a determination to spare no personal exertion, she ​had herself trained to the business of general instruction, and did not fear the effects of an Indian climate. Physically, morally, and intellectually, she was fitted for her task. Her health was excellent; her spirits elastic; her temper even; her mind clear, quick, and shrewd; her manners most engaging, though dignified; and her will indomitable. On arriving in India, her first efforts were devoted to acquiring a knowledge of Bengalee, the language of the native of Calcutta; and as soon as she could make herself understood by those around her, she took up her abode in the midst of the native population, and courted and encouraged pupils. Slowly and suspiciously they came in, attracted by a small gratuity each received as a reward for daily attendance. In time others followed their example; and a school which could scarcely be said to aspire to the dignity of ragged, being literally a naked one, was established. The premises occupied by Mrs. Wilson were so confined, that when the pice, not the learning, attracted more pupils, she was obliged to open classes in various parts of the bazaar, and go from one to the other. This occasioned much loss of time; and none but those of the very lowest rank could be enticed even by a fee to attend the school. Any one less earnest would have lost heart, and been disgusted to find that all her efforts were to be so confined. But Miss Cook hoped, and trusted, and determined to remedy what appeared remediable. She was convinced that a large house, in a more respectable part of the native town, would be one means of attracting pupils of rather a higher caste; and she determined to secure this. A rajah, who at that time was anxious to pay court to the government, presented the "Ladies' Society for Promoting Native Female Education" with a piece of ground in a very eligible situation; a European gentleman furnished the plan, and kindly superintended the erection of the buildings; and in about five years after her first arrival in Calcutta, Mrs. Wilson took possession of the Central School, a large, airy, and handsome abode. Five years had accustomed the natives to the anomaly of teaching girls, and a somewhat better class than had at first attended were now to be seen congregated round their energetic teacher, seated cross-legged on the floor, tracing their crabbed characters on a slate; reading in sonorous voices the translations of the parables and miracles; or even chanting hymns, also translated. Still none came, unless brought by the women who were employed to go the rounds of the bazaar in the morning, and who received so much for each child: bribery alone ensured attendance; and none of the pupils remained more than two or three years at the most. As for the natives of the upper classes, all attempts to gain a footing amongst them proved total failures. The examinations of the school were attended by all the native gentlemen of rank who professed to take an interest in education; but none of them favoured it sufficiently to desire its benefits for his own daughters, though Mrs. Wilson offered to attend them privately, when not engaged in the duties of the school. At length the same rajah who had given the ground informed her that his young wife insisted on learning English. She had already learned to read and write Bengalee; but as this did not satisfy her, he requested Mrs. Wilson's services, which were immediately given; and she found her pupil a very apt scholar, eager for information of all kinds. In the course of a few weeks, the lady succeeded in obtaining her husband's permission to visit ​Mrs. Wilson at the Central School, and to he introduced to some more English ladies.
In a few weeks the lessons were discontinued; her husband fell into well-merited disgrace. This, however, was the first and last pupil Mrs. Wilson had in the highest ranks, hut the disappointment was more than compensated by the accomplishment of another scheme, perhaps more important, for the amelioration of the main character, namely, the establishment of an asylum for female orphans. We cannot here detail the several circumstances, apparently fortuitous, to us evidently providential, which contributed to the success of this scheme, nor relate all the noble efforts made by Mrs. Wilson to promote its accomplishment, suffice it to say that as soon as suitable buildings at Agiparah, about fourteen miles from Calcutta, were completed, "Mrs. Wilson removed thither with her large orphan family, and discontinued her attendance at the day schools, and almost her connexion with the outer world. All within the precincts of the establishment professed Christianity; and no more enticing example to follow its precepts could have been afforded than Mrs. Wilson's conduct displayed. Her great aim and object in educating the native girl was to elevate the native woman; not merely to teach reading, writing, arithmetic, the use of the needle, etc., but to purify the mind, to subdue the temper, to raise her In the scale of being, to render her the companion and helpmate of her husband, instead of his slave and drudge. Many of the European patronesses of distinction, as soon as they heard of the plan of an Orphan Refuge, hailed it as a most admirable one for rearing a much better class of ladies'-maids or ayahs than was generally to be found in Calcutta, and who could speak English withal; but they little comprehended Mrs. Wilson's scheme. She did not educate for the benefit of the European, but of the native. A few of the most intelligent were taught to read and write English, but all knowledge was conveyed through the medium of their own language; and none were allowed to quit the refuge until they were sought in marriage by suitable native Christians, or till their services were required to assist in forming other orphan retreats. As soon as the dwellings were finished, a place of worship was erected, and steps taken to induce a missionary and his wife to proceed to India to preside over this singular establishment. For all these undertakings finds were never wanting; and though their avowed purpose was to spread Christianity, many rich and influential natives contributed to them, and one Brahmin of high caste, when bequeathing a handsome sum, said he did so under the conviction that their originator was more than human. Before all Mrs. Wilson's plans were brought to maturity, many had gone and done likewise; and influential societies of various denominations were formed to promote female education in the East. There are now several Orphan Refuges in Calcutta, and one in almost every large station in India. It Is not my purpose to speak of these: I wish only to record whence they all spring, and who led the way in the good and great work. Mrs. Wilson is no longer with her lambs, but her deeds do follow her; and wherever the despised and outcast native female child may hereafter find a Christian home, and receive a Christian training, she should be taught to bless the name of Mrs. Wilson, as the first originator of the philanthropic scheme.