We are grateful to Liam C. for providing the scans below from The Bijou magazine, the Junior Class magazine of the Ohio Weslyan University for 1907, which gives some information about S P Davey, along with his academic history up until that time.
Davey (full name: Devasahayam) is of interest to us because he helped in starting the work of the Bible Student movement in India. The 1977 IBSA Yearbook gives the following details:
"In 1905, S. P. Davey, a science student who had gone to America, met Charles Taze Russell, the Watch Tower Society’s first president. After spending some time with him in Bible study, Davey returned to his native Madras Province that very year to open up the Kingdom work. Preaching among his fellow Tamil-speaking people, he eventually established some forty Bible study groups in and around Nagercoil, at the extreme southern tip of the Indian peninsula."
Another source states that he translated Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 1, The Divine Plan of the Ages, into Tamil and then Malayalam.
Charles Taze Russell visited India as part of his world tour in 1912. The Yearbook account states:
"Russell and his party…prepared the ground for future expansion by giving lectures throughout India at the religious city of Benares, the historical city of Lucknow, and at Trivandrum, Kottarakara, Nagercoil, Puram and Vizagapatam, as well as the commercial seaports of Calcutta and Bombay.
Upon Russell’s arrival at Trivandrum from Madras, S. P. Davey greeted Russell at the railway station and garlanded him in typical Indian style. The British government representative, known as the Political Resident, received Brother Russell hospitably and invited him to stay at the Residency. He arranged for the Society’s first president to speak at the city’s Victoria Jubilee Town Hall. Russell also spoke at a nearby village called Nyarakad, where Davey lived. Afterward the name of the village was changed to Russellpuram, meaning The Place of Russell, and so it is called to this day."
CTR’s visit to Russellpuram was reviewed in the 1912 convention report, which also carried a photograph of the two men together.
Davey founded a school in Russellpuram, which still exists. His photograph, alongside that of CTR still hangs in the principal’s office.
After the change in administration, Davey did not remain in fellowship with the IBSA. He died in 1939 and was buried close to the school he founded.
This is probably what was written about him in the book below:
ReplyDelete*** jv chap. 22 p. 420 ***
Active witnessing had also been done among the Tamil-speaking people since 1905 by a young man who, as a student in America, had met Brother Russell and learned the truth. This young man helped to establish some 40 Bible study groups in the south of India. But, after preaching to others, he himself became disapproved by forsaking Christian standards.—Compare 1 Corinthians 9:26, 27. (From Benek),
Russellpuram and Davey was also mentioned in the 1915 convention report pp. 99-104, 106. There are several photographs in it, from 1912 and from 1915. (From Benek)
ReplyDeleteThanks Benek, I have seen the references to Davey from the 1912 convention report but cannot find any from the 1915. Grateful for any help locating these 🙏
ReplyDeleteSorry, but this is a SUPPLEMENT to the International Bible Students SOUVENIR Convention Report 1915. The name Davey appears on pp. 99-108. The search engine shows me that this name appears 19 times.
DeleteThe index says this:
*** dx86-24 Convention Reports ***
1915, Souvenir Notes—Bible Students’ Conventions (International Bible Students Souvenir Convention Report) (L. W. Jones):
Souvenir Notes—Bible Students’ Conventions (Supplement to the International Bible Students Souvenir Convention Report) (L. W. Jones):
Thanks 🙏 I found it.
DeleteDavey:
ReplyDelete*** yb93 p. 214 Malaysia ***
First Seeds of Truth Reach Malaya
Charles Taze Russell, the first president of the Watch Tower Society, undertook a round-the-world preaching tour in 1912. His itinerary included the giving of a public discourse in the city of Singapore and another at Penang, in Malaya. Only minimal follow-up work was done after these two lectures, essentially just the sending of tracts by Brother S. P. Davey in India to many of the Indian people who had settled in Malaya. The outbreak of World War I, however, put a halt to any efforts to spread Kingdom seeds in this region. (From Benek)
Two more testimonies about Davey. One positive and one negative:
ReplyDelete*** w86 4/15 p. 22 ***
Light of Truth Comes to India
In 1905 an Indian science student, S. P. Davey, visited the United States of America. While there, he attended a Bible lecture by C. T. Russell, then president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Davey became keenly interested in the truth, returned to his native Madras on India’s east coast, and eventually established 40 Bible study groups.
*** yb77 pp. 37-38 India ***
Sometime after these events, S. P. Davey became addicted to strong drink. He had purchased property for the holding of meetings with money given to him by Brother Russell. But upon getting into financial difficulties, he sold the property to a local religious mission. Those he had gathered into Bible study classes were scattered. Most of them returned to their churches. Others, however, remained faithful and became associated with Brother Joseph in the Kingdom work.