George Washburn (educator)

George Washburn (March 1, 1833 – February 15, 1915) was an American educator, Christian missionary, and second president of Robert College.[1][2]

George Washburn
President of Robert College
In office
1878 – 20 September 1903
Preceded byCyrus Hamlin
Succeeded byCaleb Frank Gates
Personal details
Born(1833-03-01)March 1, 1833
Middleboro, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedFebruary 15, 1915(1915-02-15) (aged 81)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Resting placeNemasket Hill Cemetery
41°54′15.9″N 70°54′06.3″W
Spouse
Henrietta Loraine Hamlin Washburn
​
​
(m. 1859)​
RelativesCyrus Hamlin (father-in-law)
Education
OccupationEducator, missionary
Signature
Rev. Geo. Washburn, c. 1893

Biography

George Washburn was born on March, 1, 1833 in Middleboro, Massachusetts.[3] His father Philander Washburn was a manufacturer and his mother Elizabeth Homes was a housewife. He attended Pierce Academy in his hometown of Middleboro and Phillips Academy in Andover,[4] and graduated from Amherst College in 1855. Spending a year traveling Europe and the Middle East, he then attended Andover Theological Seminary in 1859 for one year.[4][5][6]

He initially went to Constantinople as the treasurer of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, an early American Christian missionary organization and, in 1859, married Henrietta Loraine, the daughter of Robert College president Cyrus Hamlin. Washburn returned to the Andover Seminary to complete his education in 1862, and was ordained as a Congregational minister the next year. Being appointed as a missionary for the American Board of Commissioners in Constantinople, he returned to the city, and subsequently became professor of philosophy in Robert College.

Leaving Constantinople to pursue Christian work in New York City, he returned a year later at the request of Christopher Robert, founder of Robert College, and became acting president of the school between 1870 and 1877, replacing his father-in-law.[4][1] Washburn was appointed president in 1878, and retained his role until September 20, 1903.[4] He was an authority on the political questions of southeastern Europe. In 1876 he was instrumental, together with Dr. Albert Long, in sounding the first alarm and publicizing the Turkish massacres in Bulgaria.[7][8][9] During the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago, in 1893, he delivered an address on Islam.[10] He contributed many articles regarding current affairs, history, and geology to English and American periodicals such as The Contemporary Review and the American Journal of Science. He was offered the role of the United States ambassador to Turkey, but denied it due to a potential conflict of interest relating to his missionary work.[4] He was also the Founder Principal of American College, Madurai.

He died at his home in Boston on February 15, 1915.[3][4]

Honors

Notes
  1. Wright Jr., Walter L. (1936). "Washburn, George". In Malone, Dumas (ed.). Dictionary of American Biography. Vol. 19 (Troye-Wentworth). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 500–501. Retrieved August 3, 2016 – via Internet Archive.
  2. Washburn, George (1909). Fifty Years in Constantinople and Recollections of Robert College (1 ed.). Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. Retrieved March 19, 2016 – via Internet Archive.
  3. "Rev Dr Washburn Dies of Pneumonia". The Boston Globe. February 16, 1915. p. 2. Retrieved June 16, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Washburn, George". Dictionary of American Biography. Vol. Comprehensive Index. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1990.
  5. Ward, William Hayes (October 1914). "George Washburn, Amherst 1855". Amherst Graduates' Quarterly. IV: 293–298. hdl:2027/mdp.39015075085533.
  6. Leonard, John. W., ed. (1900). WHO'S WHO IN AMERICA; A Biographical Dictionary of Living Men and Women of the United States 1899-1900 (1 ed.). Chicago: A.N. Marquis & Company. p. 769. Retrieved August 29, 2018 – via Internet Archive.
  7. Chary, Frederick B. (2011). The Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations: THE HISTORY OF BULGARIA. Santa Barbara, CA; Denver, CO; Oxford, England: Greenwood, An Imprint of ABC-Clio, LLC. p. 33.
  8. See Pears, Edwin (1916). Forty Years in Constantinople, The Recollections of Sir Edwin Pears 1873-1915 (1 ed.). London: Herbert Jenkins Limited. p. 16. Retrieved March 31, 2016 – via Internet Archive.
  9. Косев, Константин; Жечев, Николай; Дойнов, Дойно (1976). История на Априлското въстание 1876. София: Партиздат. p. 482.
  10. Washburn, George (1893). "The Points of Contact and Contrast between Christianity and Mohammedanism". In Barrows, John Henry (ed.). The World's Parliament of Religions. Vol. 1. Chicago, IL: The Parliament Publishing Company. pp. 565–582. Retrieved November 5, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  11. Washburn, George (1909). Fifty Years in Constantinople and Recollections of Robert College (1 ed.). Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 147. Retrieved November 11, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  12. Panaretoff, Stephan (April 1, 1915). "Dr. George Washburn and Bulgaria". The New York Times: 14.

Selected bibliography

References
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Reynolds, Francis J., ed. (1921). "Washburn, George" . Collier's New Encyclopedia. New York: P. F. Collier & Son Company.
  • Wright Jr., Walter L. (1936). "Washburn, George". In Malone, Dumas (ed.). Dictionary of American Biography. Vol. 19 (Troye-Wentworth). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 500–501. Retrieved August 30, 2018 – via Internet Archive.
  • Ward, William Hayes (October 1914). "George Washburn, Amherst 1855". Amherst Graduates' Quarterly. IV: 293–298. hdl:2027/mdp.39015075085533.
  • Bryce, Viscount (October 1914). "The Late Dr. George Washburn (From the Manchester Guardian )". Amherst Graduates' Quarterly. IV: 299–300. hdl:2027/mdp.39015075085533.
  • "Book Review: Fifty Years in Constantinople and Recollections of Robert College by George Washburn, D.D., LL.D. xxxi and 317 pp. and illustrations, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York, 1909, $3". Bulletin of the American Geographical Society. 42 (7): 536–537. 1910. JSTOR 199547.
Miss Washburn and Mr. George Washburn together with alumni of Robert College in 1902
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