Marjorie Sykes
Marjorie Sykes | |
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Born | Marjorie Sykes 11 May 1905 Mexborough, Yorkshire, England |
Died | 17 August 1995 | (aged 90)
Nationality |
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Alma mater | Newnham College, Cambridge |
Occupations |
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Marjorie Sykes (11 May 1905 – 17 August 1995) was a British-born Indian educator who went to live in India in the 1920s and joined the Indian independence movement, spending most of the remainder of her life in India. She wrote many books and became acquainted with many of the leading figures in Indian politics and culture, including Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi.
Biography
The daughter of a village schoolmaster, Marjorie Sykes was born in Mexborough, Yorkshire, England on 11 May 1905.[1] Sykes was nine years old when the First World War broke out, forcing a beloved teacher, who happened to be German, to leave her position.[2]: 123 Benefiting from a scholarship, Sykes began college studies in 1923 at Newnham College, Cambridge. There she heard of Mahatma Gandhi from the many Indian students.[3] She graduated with first class honors in English in 1928.[4]
Sykes came to Madras (now called Chennai) in 1928 to serve as a teacher at the Bentinck School, Vepery,[5] remaining a resident of India for more than 60 years. She contributed enormous effort to advancing new forms of education advocated by Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.[3]
In late 1928, a talk by
In 1945, Gandhi invited Sykes to join his team working on
After an illness, at age 85 years, Sykes moved in 1991 from India to Swarthmore, a Quaker residential home in Buckinghamshire, England, where she remained until her death on 17 August 1995.[3][8]
The Marjorie Sykes room at Friends House, London, UK is named after her.[9]
Works about Sykes
Sykes' life and work has been the focus of books, chapters, and newspaper articles. In 2005, a decade after her death, the centenary of Sykes' birth was observed in a lengthy biographical article published in The Hindu.[3] An earlier article in Gandhi Marg had also described her life.[10] Sykes was also the focus of an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,[11] and of a chapter in a doctoral dissertation in History by Sharon M. H. MacDonald (2010).[2] A book-length biography of Sykes was published two years before her death.[12][13]
Selected works
Books authored by Marjorie Sykes include:
- Sykes, Marjorie; Dart, Martha (Ed.) (1999). In Quaker friendship: Letters from Marjorie Sykes to Martha Dart 1967 to 1994. York: William Sessions Ltd. OCLC 41582224. (133 pages)
- Sykes, Marjorie; Carnall, Geoffrey (Ed.) (1997). An Indian Tapestry: Quaker threads in the History of India, Pakistan & Bangladesh: from the Seventeenth Century to Independence. York: Sessions Book Trust. OCLC 59624845.
- Maw, Geoffrey Waring; Conacher, Gillian M.; Sykes, Marjorie (1997). Pilgrims in Hindu holy land: sacred shrines of the Indian Himalayas. York: Sessions Book Trust. OCLC 37199052.
- Sykes, Marjorie; Dart, Martha (Ed.) (1995). Transcending tradition: Excerpts from the writings and talks of Marjorie Sykes. York, England: W. Sessions in association with Woodbrooke College. OCLC 37400713. (104 pages)
- Sykes, Marjorie (1988). The story of Nai Talim : fifty years of education at Sevagram, 1937-1987 : a record of reflections. Sevagram, Wardha: Nai Talim Samiti. OCLC 21280322.
- Patel, Jehangir P.; Sykes, Marjorie (1987). Gandhi: His Gift of the Fight. Rasulia: Friends Rural Centre. OCLC 22506192.
- Sykes, Marjorie (1980). Quakers in India: A forgotten century. London: Allen and Unwin. OCLC 7772558.
- Sykes, Marjorie (1954). A picture and programme of post basic education (adolescent education in Nai Talim). Sevagram, Wardha: Hindustani Talimi Sangh. OCLC 8957351.
- Arnold, Channing; Sykes, Marjorie (1954). The story of the OCLC 3368450.
- Sykes, Marjorie (1950). The story of Rabindranath Tagore. Bombay: Orient Longmans. OCLC 14369601.
- OCLC 2015692.
Writings by others that were edited by Marjorie Sykes include:
References
- ^ Williams, J. S. (9 December 2014). "Marjorie Sykes". WANMEC (Washington Nuclear Museum and Educational Center). Retrieved 10 July 2015.
- ^ OCLC 896786575.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Rengarajan, La. Su. (24 July 2006). "A Gandhian Life". The Hindu. Retrieved 9 July 2015.[dead link]
- ^ Hallam Tennyson (20 September 1995). "Marjorie Sykes: India's faithful Friend". The Guardian. p. 16.
- ^ Sridhar, Asha (21 January 2013). "From 21 students to 2,000". No. Chennai. The Hindu. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
- ^ ""The Other West": Gandhian Quaker, Marjorie Sykes (1905–1995)" (PDF). Università Ca' Foscari Venezia. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
- ^ K. K. Singh, S. Ali (2001). "Rural Development Strategies in Developing Countries". Retrieved 16 March 2024.
- ^ Anonymous. "Famous Deaths for August 1995". HistoryOrb. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
- ^ "Meeting Rooms". Friends House. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- ^ Purushotham, Surendran (2003). "Marjorie Sykes: A Disciple of Christ and Gandhi". Gandhi Marg. 25 (1): 90–95.
- required.) (1116 words)
- OCLC 29471229. (159 pages)
- S2CID 162369060. ("the book provides an outline sketch of the events of Marjorie Sykes's life [but] was clearly intended as much more... [at which] the book is unsatisfactory", p. 137)