Lilavati Singh with Isabella Thoburn, 1900
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Courtesy of the General Commission on Archives and History of the United Methodist Church, Madison, New Jersey, 72-4634
Isabella Thoburn College students playing basketball, c. 1900
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Courtesy of the General Commission on Archives and History of the United Methodist Church, Madison, New Jersey, 1000
Isabella Thoburn traveled to India in 1869 and founded a girls’ school the following year. In 1886, she established the Lucknow Women’s College, later renamed the Isabella Thoburn College. Lilavati Singh, a former student at the girls’ school, was devoted to Thoburn’s vision of providing education for young women. She became one of the first students at the college – and later its first Indian professor.