John Murdoch (literary evangelist)

John Murdoch (July 22, 1819 - August 10, 1904) was a Scottish Christian missionary who served in Ceylon and India in the 19th century. Murdoch first journeyed to Ceylon in order to serve as a head-master of the schools located in Kandy, yet shortly after his arrival he resigned due to concerns with the state-mandated curriculum. Murdoch instead began to work with various Christian societies within the country producing Christian tracts. After a successful career with the Ceylon Tract Society, he became the Agent and Travelling Secretary in India for the Christian Vernacular Education Society, located in India, working with this mission for the rest of his career. He retired from full-time missionary work in 1903, yet continued to publish his written works on a variety of sources which included politics, religion, and sociology. He died in India after becoming weakened by pneumonia in 1904 having never married yet leaving behind a legacy in his written work. John Murdoch was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 22 July 1819 to John and Margret Murdoch, the third in a family of twelve children. When he was ten years of age, Murdoch attended the Glasgow High School where he showed great aptitude in both the classics as well as in the field of art. Thus, in 1838, when he was only nineteen years of age, Murdoch left Glasgow and moved to Amsterdam with the intention of studying the classic works of art contained in the local galleries. Despite devoting himself to his artistic lifestyle he was unable to support himself by selling his paintings and was forced to return home to Glasgow. It was at this point Murdoch decided to become an educator. To this end, he began to attend classes at the University of Glasgow as well as enrolling himself in the Glasgow Normal Seminary, a school established by David Stow which devoted itself entirely to training teachers. After completing his education he obtained a position as the assistant master, later promoted to headmaster, of the English Department of the Private Seminary for children of the wealthier class where he remained until the school was closed in 1842.