Ellen Lakshmi Goreh

GOREH, Ellen Lakshmi. b. Benares (now Varanasi), India, 11 September 1853; d. Cawnpore (Kanpur), 1937. Her father, Nehemiah Goreh (later to become an influential priest of the Indian Church) had been excommunicated from his Brahmin caste for converting to the Christian faith. Her mother, Lakshmibai Jongalekar, died less than three months after her birth. Ellen was adopted by a Mrs Smailes, an indigo planter’s wife. The Smailes lost their estate in the Indian Mutiny (1857-8) and were unable to keep Ellen. She was re-adopted by a missionary couple, the Reverend and Mrs W. T. Storrs, who brought her to England in 1865 when they came on furlough. She attended a private school in York, and then...