Appendix C: Chronology of the Life and Times of Amy Carmichael

“So teach us to number our days, That we may get us a heart of wisdom.”

— Psalm 90:12, ASV

The dates below are meant as orientation. Dates given in Amy Carmichael’s own early books, or agreed by the main sources, are given plainly. Where the sources disagree, the disagreement is noted. Where a date rests only on the later biographies, it is marked as such.

1820s - Dohnavur Founded

The German missionary Charles Rhenius, of the Church Missionary Society, founds Dohnavur in the Tinnevelly district as a refuge for persecuted converts, named after a Prussian benefactor, Count Dohna.

1859 - The Ulster Revival

A great religious revival sweeps the Presbyterian north of Ireland, shaping the piety of the generation into which Amy is born.

1867 - Birth

Amy Beatrice Carmichael is born on 16 December at Millisle, County Down, the eldest of seven children of David Carmichael, miller, and Catherine Jane Filson. The Children’s Special Service Mission is founded the same year.

1875 - The Keswick Convention

Canon T. D. Harford-Battersby and Robert Wilson found the Keswick Convention for the deepening of spiritual life.

c. 1880-1883 - Harrogate

Amy attends a Methodist girls’ boarding school in Harrogate, Yorkshire.

1883 - Conversion

At about fifteen she puts her trust in Christ at a children’s mission in Harrogate. Some sources give 1882; most give 1883.

c. 1883 - Belfast

The family, whose milling business is in decline, moves to Belfast. Accounts differ on the exact year.

1885 - Her Father’s Death

David Carmichael dies, leaving the family in financial difficulty. About this time Amy begins to suffer from neuralgia.

Mid-1880s - The Fountain and the Shawlies

On a Sunday morning in Belfast the words of 1 Corinthians 3:12-14 confront her as she helps an old woman with a bundle. She begins a Sunday class for the shawlies, the mill girls, at Rosemary Street Presbyterian Church.

1886 - Glasgow

At a convention in Glasgow she receives an assurance, from the words of Jude 24, that Christ is able to keep her.

1887 - Keswick

She attends the Keswick Convention and hears Hudson Taylor. She probably first meets Robert Wilson about this time.

1887 or 1889 - The Welcome Hall

An iron hall for the shawlies, paid for by a gift of five hundred pounds, is opened at Cambrai Street, Belfast, and named the Welcome. Some sources give 1887; others give the opening as January 1889.

1889 - Manchester

Amy and her mother move to Manchester to work among mill girls. Amy lives in a poor district, and her health breaks down.

1890 - Broughton Grange

She goes to live with Robert Wilson at Broughton Grange, Cumberland, as his companion and adopted daughter in all but law, and later takes the name Wilson-Carmichael.

1892 - The Call

On 13 January, at Broughton Grange, she becomes convinced that she is called to go overseas. She applies to the China Inland Mission and is rejected on medical grounds. The Keswick Convention agrees to send her as its first missionary.

1893-1894 - Japan

She sails in March 1893 and joins Barclay Buxton’s band at Matsue, Japan. She stays about fifteen months, and leaves in the summer of 1894 in poor health.

1894 - Ceylon and Home

A short stay in Ceylon ends when news reaches her late in the year that Robert Wilson has had a stroke. She returns to England by the end of 1894.

1895 - India

From Sunrise Land is published. Accepted by the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society, she sails for India in October and arrives at Madras in November. She goes to Bangalore to learn Tamil.

1896 - Tinnevelly

She joins Thomas Walker of the Church Missionary Society and his wife in the Tinnevelly district, first at Palamcottah and then at Pannaivilai.

1897-1901 - The Band

With Ponnammal and other Indian women she travels the villages as an itinerant band. A small number of converts, among them Arulai, join the household. Part of 1900 is spent at Dohnavur.

1901 - Preena

A seven-year-old girl who has run away from a temple household arrives at Pannaivilai; she is brought to Amy, by the usual date, on 7 March. Later that year the household settles at Dohnavur.

1901-1902 - Visitors

Two friends from home visit and persuade her to make her letters into a book.

1903 - Things as They Are

Published in April by Morgan and Scott, with a preface by Eugene Stock; reprinted in August 1903 and in following years. A later edition adds confirmatory notes from missionaries and from Pandita Ramabai.

c. 1904 - Babies

Babies begin to be brought to Dohnavur, and nurseries are built over the following years.

1905 - Robert Wilson’s Death

The Dear Old Man dies in England.

1906 - Overweights of Joy

A sequel to Things as They Are, telling the joys of the work.

1909 - Lotus Buds

Published in November with fifty photographs of the children of Dohnavur.

1912 - Walker’s Death

Thomas Walker dies in August, away from Dohnavur. A dispute over land and a compound wall follows. About this time Amy begins to pray about boys in danger.

1913 - Her Mother’s Death

Catherine Carmichael dies in England on 14 July. About a hundred and thirty children are now in the family at Dohnavur.

c. 1914 - A Charge of Kidnapping

According to the later biographies, a charge is brought in connection with a girl named Muttammal, and Amy faces possible arrest; the case is eventually dropped. The First World War begins in August.

1915 - Ponnammal’s Death

Ponnammal dies after a long illness.

1916 - Sisters of the Common Life; Walker of Tinnevelly

In March Amy forms the Sisters of the Common Life. Her memoir of Thomas Walker is published.

1918 - The First Boy

In January a baby boy is brought to Dohnavur, and the boys’ work begins. Ponnammal: Her Story is published about this time.

Early 1920s - Raj

She comes to know the outlaw she calls Raj, who is later killed by the police. Raj, Brigand Chief follows in 1927. Ragland, Spiritual Pioneer is published in 1922 and Mimosa in 1924.

1924-1925 - Stephen Neill

Stephen Neill works at Dohnavur and leaves in November 1925 after a painful disagreement.

1925-1927 - Independence

The link with the Zenana Society ends in 1925. The Dohnavur Fellowship is registered in 1927.

Late 1920s - The Hospital

With doctors among its members, the Fellowship opens its own hospital, named in Tamil the Place of Heavenly Healing.

1930 - Reform Stalls

Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy, who has brought forward proposals to end temple dedication in the Madras Legislative Council, resigns her seat in protest at Gandhi’s arrest; the bill lies dormant.

1931 - The Fall

On 24 October she falls into an uncovered pit in a building being prepared for the work, at Kalakadu according to her biographers, breaking her leg, dislocating her ankle and injuring her spine. She is largely confined to her room for the rest of her life.

1932-1938 - Books from a Room

Gold Cord (1932), Rose from Brier (1933) and If (1938), among others.

1939 - Arulai’s Death

Arulai, one of the leaders of the Fellowship, dies after a long illness. The Second World War begins.

1947 - Independence and the Madras Act

India becomes independent on 15 August. On 9 October the Madras Devadasis (Prevention of Dedication) Act is passed, outlawing the dedication of girls to temples in the Madras Presidency. Popular accounts sometimes give 1948.

1951 - Death

Amy Carmichael dies at Dohnavur on 18 January, aged eighty-three, and is buried in God’s Garden under a bird-bath inscribed Amma.

1953 and After

Frank Houghton’s Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur is published (1953), followed in later decades by Elisabeth Elliot’s A Chance to Die (1987) and Iain Murray’s Amy Carmichael: Beauty for Ashes (2015). The Dohnavur Fellowship continues its work in Tamil Nadu under Indian leadership.