{{Short description|British missionary (1874–1958)}} {{About|the American missionary|the British politician|Samuel Higginbottom|the American businessman|Samuel L. Higginbottom}} {{EngvarB|date=February 2019}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2019}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Sam Higginbottom | image = Sam_Higginbottom.jpg | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1874|10|27}} | birth_place = Manchester, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1958|7|11|1874|9|27}} | death_place = Frostproof, Florida, U.S. | field = Agricultural economics<br />Rural sociology | work_institutions = Ewing Christian College<br />Allahabad Agricultural Institute<br /> | alma_mater = Princeton University <br /> Ohio State University | native_name = | spouse = Jane Ethelind Cody }}

'''Samuel Higginbottom''' (27 October 1874 &ndash; 11 June 1958) was an English-born Christian missionary in Allahabad (now Prayagraj), India, where he founded the Allahabad Agricultural Institute. Higginbottom was born in Manchester, England.<ref name=founder>[http://shiats.edu.in/history.asp History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114090857/http://www.shiats.edu.in/history.asp |date=14 November 2016 }}, Allahabad Agricultural Institute website</ref>

==Early life== Higginbottom was born in Manchester, England in 1874, his mother being Welsh and his father, English. When he was a child, the family moved to Ty'n-y-Groes and then Llandudno in North Wales. His Welsh-speaking mother attended the Rehoboth Welsh Calvinistic Methodist chapel in Llandudno, while Sam was brought up the English-speaking Presbyterian Church of Wales. It was here he became a communicant under the ministry of Revd C.T. Astley.<ref name=dbenreessam/>

Sam left school early and working at different times as a butcher's boy, cab driver, and milk deliverer.<ref name=founder/> However, he had a strong youthful interest in the Christian gospel, and resolved to become a preacher or missionary.<ref name=founder/>

Higginbottom left Llandudno aged twenty for the United States of America. He attended Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts from 1894 to 1899.<ref name=founder/> He continued his education at Amherst College and Princeton University in the United States, receiving a bachelor's degree from Princeton in 1903.<ref name=founder/><ref name=dbenreessam>{{cite book |last=Rees |first=David Benjamin |author-link=David Benjamin Rees |title=Vehicles of Grace and Hope: Welsh Missionaries in India 1800-1970 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8rMKm-Ee1dYC&q=Sam+Higginbottom+-institute&pg=PA59 |year=2002 |publisher=William Carey Library |isbn= 9780878085057|page=59}}</ref><ref name=Time/><ref>{{cite journal|title=Sam Higginbottom. An Appreciation| journal=Indian Farming| volume=5| issue=10| pages=446–448| year=1944|author=[J.N.W.]}}</ref>

==Work in India== thumb|left|Sam Higginbottom with his wife and three children, from a 1914 publication On the recommendation of Henry Forman, Higginbottom arrived in India in 1903 as part of the North India Mission of the Presbyterian Church.<ref name=AAIDU>[http://www.aaidu.org/history.htm Dr. Sam Higginbottom (1874-1958)], Allahabad Agricultural Institute website.</ref> From then until 1909 he taught economics and science in Allahabad Christian College (now Ewing Christian College).<ref name=dbenreessam/><ref name=AAIDU/> In 1904 he married Jane Ethelind Cody, of Cleveland, Ohio, who joined him in his work.<ref name=Time>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121023145230/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,800711-1,00.html Padre Sahib], ''Time magazine'', 19 September 1949</ref> They had five children together.<ref name=dbenreessam/>

In 1909, he returned to the United States and spent three years studying agriculture at Ohio State University, after which he went back to Allahabad, to teach scientific methods of farming.<ref name=dbenreessam/><ref name=Time/> His educational programs grew into the founding of Allahabad Agricultural Institute in 1919. In 2009, Allahabad Agricultural Institute was rechristened as Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences (SHUATS) in honour of the founder.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.shiats.edu.in/notice_chName.asp |title=NEW NAME & Clarification |access-date=24 November 2012 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304073453/http://www.shiats.edu.in/notice_chName.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Higginbottom wrote two books: a book about his work published in 1921 and an autobiography published in 1949. While in India, he developed close friendships with Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.<ref name=dbenreessam/> He retired in Florida in 1945. Higginbottom died in Frostproof, Florida at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Charles Coates.<ref name=UV1>{{cite web | url=http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=uva-sc/viu03396.xml#subseries3 | title=A Guide to the Additional Papers of Sam Higginbottom and Jane Ethelind Cody Higginbottom 1844-1971 | publisher=University of Virginia Library | access-date=2 February 2019 }}</ref>

== Collections == Higginbottom's papers are housed at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia.<ref name=UV1 />

==Bibliography== *Sam Higginbottom. ''The Gospel and the Plough, Or, The Old Gospel and Modern Farming in Ancient India''. 1921. London: Central Board of Missions and Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Republished in 2006: {{ISBN|1-4254-8665-7}} *Sam Higginbottom. ''Sam Higginbottom, Farmer: An Autobiography''. 1949. Republished in 2007: {{ISBN|978-0-548-44200-5}}

==References== {{reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Higginbottom, Sam}} Category:English Presbyterian missionaries Category:English emigrants to the United States Category:Scholars from Allahabad Category:1874 births Category:1958 deaths Category:Clergy from Manchester Category:Presbyterian missionaries in India Category:Northfield Mount Hermon School alumni Category:Princeton University alumni Category:Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences alumni Category:Amherst College alumni Category:Moderators of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America Category:British missionaries in India