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Eleanor Blackmore

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Eleanor Blackmore
Eleanor Blackmore, from a 1916 publication
Born
Eleanor Maud Blackmore

17 April 1873
Havant, UK
Died24 August 1943
Wellington, Somerset, UK
Occupation(s)Baptist missionary and nurse in Nicaragua

Eleanor Maud Blackmore (17 April 1873 – 24 August 1943) was an English Baptist missionary supported by the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society. She helped to establish the first Baptist church and schools in Nicaragua.

Early life

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Blackmore born in Havant, near Portsmouth, the daughter of William Blackmore and Maria Blackmore. She trained as a nurse while studying at the Baptist Deaconess Home in Chester.[1]

Career

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Blackmore was already working in Central America by 1902, when she went to Costa Rica to assist during a yellow fever outbreak, and nearly died when she contracted the illness herself.[1][2] She was commissioned in 1916 as the first general missionary in Nicaragua supported by the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society.[3][4] She began a school in Managua.[5] In 1917 she and José S. Mendoza opened the First Baptist Church of Managua.[6] She helped to lead revival meetings throughout Nicaragua in 1924, with pastors Harry Strachan (father of missionary Robert Kenneth Strachan) and Roberto Valenzuela Elphick of Chile.[7] Her reports from the field often described intense opposition from Roman Catholic leaders and their parishioners,[8] noting, "I am not a pessimist or I would not have stuck at this field for 26 years."[9]

Blackmore attended an international missionary meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1910.[3] In 1920, she spoke at a convention in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[10] Blackmore retired from the mission field in 1938, and returned to England.[11]

Personal life and legacy

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Blackmore died in Wellington, Somerset, in 1943, aged 70 years.[12] Universidad Politécnica de Nicaragua traces its origins in part to Blackmore's co-educational 1917 school.[13]

References

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  1. ^ a b Hull, Eleanor (1975). Women who carried the good news. Internet Archive. Valley Forge, Pa. : Judson Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-8170-0651-8.
  2. ^ Hayne, Coe (March 1921). "Going Forward with the Book in Nicaragua (part 2)". Missions: American Baptist International Magazine. 12: 146–150.
  3. ^ a b Anderson, C.; Anderson, Justice (2005). An Evangelical Saga. Xulon Press. p. 445. ISBN 978-1-59781-495-9.
  4. ^ "The New Field at Nicaragua" Missions (November 1916): 854. via Internet Archive
  5. ^ "The School of the Living Christ" Missions: American Baptist International Magazine 15(April 1924): 216.
  6. ^ Smith, Calvin L. (2007-03-31). Revolution, Revival, and Religious Conflict in Sandinista Nicaragua. BRILL. p. 57. ISBN 978-90-474-1935-8.
  7. ^ "A Stirring Revival in Nicaragua" Missions: American Baptist INternational Magazine 15(October 1924): 543.
  8. ^ Hayne, Coe (February 1921). "Going Forward With the Book in Nicaragua: Dramatic Incidents in the Life of Eleanor Blackmore, a Pioneer in Central America in Perilous Days". Missions: American Baptist International Magazine. 12: 68–70.
  9. ^ "Minus Twenty Cents!" Missions: American Baptist International Magazine 15(March 1924): 173.
  10. ^ Neisser, Rittenhouse (November 6, 1920). "Pennsylvania Convention". The Baptist. 1: 1401.
  11. ^ Butler, Mary (May 1942). "The Shoemaker Evangelist of Nicaragua". Missions. 33: 280–281 – via Internet Archive.
  12. ^ "They Served their Day and Generation: Eleanor M. Blackmore". Missions. 34: 611. December 1943 – via Internet Archive.
  13. ^ ""La huella de los bautistas en la educación"". Universidad Politécnica de Nicaragua. Archived from the original on 2021-07-12. Retrieved 2021-07-12.
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