Arthur Colborne Lankester (1868-1963) worked for the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and took station in Punjab, Peshawar, and Sindh, India before the Indian Parition. Lankester was a religiously motivated medical missionary who developed more efficient hospital designs that are still in use today and also contributed to disease prevention in India.[1][2]
Early Life
Family
Lankester was born in Leicester, United Kingdom as the child of Henry Lankester and Rachel Crosby Squire. His family was a long line of doctors and missionaries, his father being a surgeon and educational missionary.[3] Arthur Lankester married Alice Grace Fox in 1899, the sister of Rev. George Townshend Fox (clergyman and missionary in Northern Nigeria 1907-1912). Alice Grace Fox gave birth to Stephen Lankester in 1917, Lankester's only son.
Education
At age 22, Lankester earned Membership of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons and became a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians from the St. Thomas Hospital. One year later, he earned his Bachelor of Medicine degree from from the University of London in 1891. During his time at the University of London, Lankester developed an interest in doing medical work abroad.[4] Following this, he became a house surgeon at the St. Thomas Hospital until October 8th, 1891 when he began missionary work in Punjab.[4]
Medical Mission
Overview
Lankester operated within the Amritsar Medical Mission. Originally, this mission launched schools and aimed to evangelize residents in Punjab. However, when Lankester began his missionary work 40 years later, he transformed it into a medically focused mission. He aimed to spread the Gospel while performing his medical duties, treating conditions such as cataracts and general sickness.[5] The Indian government also tasked him with mitigating tuberculosis.[2]
Serai System
Lankester designed and managed the construction of the new Peshawar hospital in 1904, currently known as the Peshawar Mission Hospital.[6] It had two in-patient sections of the building, the second of which was called the "James Serai." There, patients could stay with their family and friends. Lankester brought this idea over from British hospitals and spread it to the South Asian medical system.[1] This was one of the first large-scale implementations of what later became known as the Serai System.
With the implementation of the Serai System, women who feared leaving their husbands were able to finally receive treatment. Additionally, having family and belongings around during treatment reduced any alarm caused by foreign medical practices.[1] Because of this, Lankester's hospital became very popular in British India by missionaries and indigenous people alike. To further this, Lankester spoke about the Serai System at the 1912 Medical Mission Auxiliary. Building on his speech in 1905, where he also mentioned the System, he demonstrated why the System was needed in the North West frontier.[7][8]
After other missionary groups saw the success of Lankester's hospital, the Serai System began to spread worldwide.[8] The Mengo hospital in Uganda adopted the Serai System and was subsequently able to treat more patients. Other African regions copied this style as well, with the Gierku mission building West African hospitals with space for family and belongings.[9] Eventually, most North-Western British Indian hospitals had "James Serai" rooms to treat patients.
Dr. H.M. Clark
Lankester worked closely with fellow missionary Dr. H.M. Clark. Dr. Clark focused primarily on the spread and treatment of Malaria. As such, Lankester studied insects and their ability to spread disease along with Dr. Clark. This research contributed to the inevitable finding that female mosquitos spread Malaria through biting.[10] Through this, the spread of Malaria was mitigated.
Legacy
Lankester's popularization of the Serai System allowed missionary groups around the world to build more effective hospitals and medical programs. Without this, indigenous populations would have been more reluctant to accept care as shown by Lankester's experience before adopting the System. His efforts to advocate for the System advanced medical work in India and made it easier for missionaries to provide assistance.
Furthermore, his work with the Indian government and Dr. Clark reduced the spread of disease. With the government, he fought the spread of tuberculosis and treated suffering patients. His research with Dr. Clark helped conclude that insects can spread disease. Eventually, this realization led to Malaria prevention programs in India.
References
- ^ a b c Ebrahimi, Sara Honarmand (2022). "Medical Missionaries and the Invention of the "Serai Hospital" in North-western British India".
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at position 53 (help) - ^ a b "Beginnings in India, by Eugene Stock (1917)". anglicanhistory.org. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
- ^ "Henry Lankester (1825-1902) - Find a Grave..." www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
- ^ a b Church Missionary Society (1894). "Register of Missionaries (1804-1894)". Church Missionary Society Periodicals.
- ^ Lankester, Arthur Colborne (1895). "Annual Medical Mission Breakfast". British Medical Association: 77–81 – via Church Missionary Society Periodicals.
- ^ "From Tomb to Hospital: Pakistan Army's Conservation of Peshawar's Heritage Monument". Pakistan Defence. 2023-05-20. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
- ^ Lankester, Arthur (1912). "The Needs of the N. W. Frontier". Mercy and Truth 16. 16: 297.
- ^ a b "The Annual Meeting". Preaching and Healing: The Report of the CMS Medical Mission Auxiliary for 1905-1906: 24. 1906.
- ^ "Keswick Convention Medical Mission Meeting". Mercy and Truth. 106: 296. 1905.
- ^ "Henry Martyn-Clark 1857 - 1916". Henry Martyn-Clark 1857 - 1916. Retrieved 2023-12-09.