Ruth Elton

Ruth Elton (7 September 1933 – 30 August 2025) was a British-Nigerian Christian missionary. She was the only child of Sydney Granville and Hannah Elton, deceased British missionaries who are commonly regarded as pioneers of the Pentecostal revival movement in Nigeria.

Early life and missionary work Ruth Elton relocated to Nigeria along with her parents in July 1937 at about the age of 3. Her father, Sydney Granville "Pa" Elton,

Like her parents, Ruth became a missionary and served in Egbe, Ebirra, Okene, Koton Karfe and other parts of present-day Kogi, Ondo, Oyo and Osun states before retiring from active missionary work and permanently settling in Ilesa.

At some point in her early years, Ruth trained in sewing, handwork and arts at a technical college in the United Kingdom. Elton, who remained celibate and unmarried her whole life, was polyglot - she spoke English, Yoruba and Ebira languages fluently. In 1975, she had to renounce her British citizenship to naturalize as a Nigerian, as it was impossible then to hold a dual citizenship.

Together with her missionary work, she contributed to taming infant mortality owing to poor childcare and hygiene and the practice of force-feeding, particularly in Okene, Kogi during the late colonial and early postcolonial years.

Elton died on 30 August 2025, at the age of 91.