Bible- Woman

[Caroline]

Just found my 4 x great grandmothers death on SP.

She died at the Fenereze Inn in Barrhead in 1871 and the informant of her death was an Isabella Laird who was living in Main St, Barrhead and it is noted that she was a Bible-Woman.

Has anyone any idea what this was? According to the 1881 census for the Scottish Lowlands there are 75 women who list this as their occupation, but can't anything on the occupation websites or on Google.

Caroline

[ninatoo]

Maybe she sold them door to door?

[emanday]

Hi Caroline,

Found on this site...

http://www.infed.org/thinkers/ranyard.htm

Bible women
One of Ellen Ranyard’s best known innovations was the idea of the ‘Bible woman’.

This missionary cum social worker, a working class woman drawn from the neighbourhood to be canvassed, was to provide the “missing link” between the poorest families and their social superiors… Given a three month training… in the poor law, hygiene, and scripture, Mrs Ranyard agents sought to turn the city’s outcast population into respectable, independent citizens through an invigoration of family life. (Prochaska 1988: 49)

By 1867 there were 234 Bible women working in London. They were the first group of paid social workers in Britain.

The uniqueness of Ranyard’s approach is highlighted by Rank Prochaska (1988: 49):

Using the postal districts, the Mission mapped out London’s streets, courts and alleys and assigned the Bible women to their own neighbourhoods. Familiarity with a district was thought essential id the immediacy of parish life was to be recreated in the bowels of London. Being local, the Bible women could walk about their districts inconspicuously, though they were occasionally insulted and some them had buckets of slop thrown over them. From the beginning, the Mission instructed the Bible women to sell Bibles and to provide domestic advice to wives and mothers. It was argued that the reform of mothers was the most crucial task if the condition of the poor was to be improved. Selling Bibles was found to be much easier when combined with tips on cooking, cleaning, and other household matters. Before long, the poor subscribed to schemes to pay for clothing and furniture… Alert to the dangers of indiscriminate relief, she wished to give every encouragement to self-help.

Ellen Ranyard followed the usual evangelical line of viewing social distress as the outcome of individual failings or personal misfortune rather than something more structural. She believed passionately in the importance of deepening people’s religious knowledge and in conversion. However, she did at least recognize that this was not a wholly individual matter and argued that it was important to work at creating a Christian environment. That environment would ‘transform the poor into accountable, self-respecting members of society’ (ibid.: 50). Much like the YMCA missionaries, she wanted the Bible women to work with people of all faiths. However, she was deeply distrustful of Catholicism and, as a result, she instructed the ‘Bible women’ not to work with people within this Christian tradition.

[Russell]

Hi Mary

thanks for finding that.
I was lurking waiting to see what would come up and you have found not just an explanation but a source of info for the development of social work too.
Great!

Russell
PS There are some very clever searchers on here!

[emanday]

Your welcome, but I'm not clever enough to avoid my post submitting twice...

How'd at happen?

[CatrionaL]

Mary
Second post deleted!
Regards
Catriona

[Jockbird]

Hi Mary,

Thank you for posting that information, what a brilliant insight. I have a bible woman in my family (a GG Aunt) who was the eldest daughter of my errant George Miller I've posted about, which probably made her become one!

Do you know, by any chance, if they were sent abroad to do their work? It's just that mine ended up in South Africa and I don't know if it was escapism or spreading the word.

All the best
Donna
x

[Caroline]

Just to say thanks to everyone for their help with this

Caroline