Blackmore, Sophia (1857– 1945) Australian Methodist missionary. She was the first woman missionary sent by the Methodist Women’s Foreign Missionary Society to Singapore, arriving in July 1887. She served for 40 years. During that time, she set up the Methodist Girls’ School (MGS) and the Fairfield Methodist Girls’ School, and helped develop the first Baba Malay (Peranakan) Church.

Her first project, the Tamil Girls’ School, opened in August 1887 in a two- room shophouse at 33 Short Street. Classes were attended by nine daughters of Tamil businessmen, who provided the sole teacher’s monthly salary and donated furniture. Enrolment eventually reached 100, and the school moved to Middle Road. It was renamed the Methodist Girls’ School in the 1890s. Younger brothers of the students— including future president Benjamin Sheares and future Methodist bishop T.R. Doraisamy— were allowed to attend classes at the school.

Sophia Blackmore is commemorated in the address of the MGS site since 1992, Blackmore Drive.

Photo credit: The Methodist Church Archives, Singapore