William Pettigrew

William Pettigrew (5 January 1869 – 19 January 1943) was a British Christian missionary who went to India in 1890, eventually brought western education in Manipur and introducing Jesus Christ to the Tangkhul Naga tribe, inhabiting Ukhrul district and he became the main catalyst for the surge in current Christian population in Manipur.

Personal life

William Pettigrew was born at Edinburgh on 5 January 1869. Pettigrew later married his high school sweetheart Alice Goreham on 13 November 1896, at Calcutta, and they lived in India till 1933 before they departed for England. From Ukhrul Headquarter, Hunphun, education and schools swiftly spread to the surrounding villages including Humbum (Hungpung), Talla (Talloi), Faling (Halang), Paoyi (Peh), Chingjui (Chingjaroi), Phadang (Phalee), Somdal, Horton, Longpi (Nungbi), Khangkhui, and Nambisha. These villages with their schools were structured under a 'single teacher school' system. By 1897, the Manipur State Government also started to award the students with stipend scholarship of 3 Rupees, in order to encourage them into education.

Imparting western education was followed by converting 12 Tangkhuls from their primal religion of nature-worshiping to Christianity on 29 September 1901. This day is regarded as the day, Phungyo Baptist Church, the first church of Manipur, was born in the State. Thereafter, Christianity grew at a rapid rate, leading to the entire conversion of the Tangkhul Nagas into Christianity. Pettigrew returned to the United Kingdom in 1933, and lived out the rest of his live in England before his death in 1943.

Other works and contributions For his contribution towards spreading Western education and his service in the rural areas, the Imperial British India awarded him with the honour of Kaisar-I-Hind Medal. From 1917-1919, Pettigrew also enlisted 2,000 Manipur men into the Tangkhul Naga Labour Corps for service on the Western Front, serving as a captain in the corps. While working at Hunphun, Pettigrew was a member of the Honorary British Foreign Bible Society, the Asiatic Linguistic Society and the Manipur State Educational Standing Committee.