Sam Higginbottom was an English-born Christian missionary

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

 in Allahabad

Allahabad

Allahabad , or Settled by God in Persian, is a major city of India and is one of the main holy cities of Hinduism. It was renamed by the Mughals from the ancient name of Prayaga , and is by some accounts the second-oldest city in India. It is located in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,...

, India, where he founded the Allahabad Agricultural Institute

Allahabad Agricultural Institute

The Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, formerly , is a university in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. This is one of the oldest agricultural institutes in South Asia....

.

Early life

Higginbottom was born in Greenheyes, Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, England. He grew up in poverty, leaving school early and working at different times as a butcher's boy

Butcher

A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...

, cab driver, and milk deliverer. However, he had a strong youthful interest in the Christian gospel, and resolved to become a preacher or missionary.

An introduction to evangelist

Evangelism

Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....

 Dwight L. Moody

Dwight L. Moody

Dwight Lyman Moody , also known as D.L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts , the Moody Bible Institute and Moody Publishers.-Early life:Dwight Moody was born in Northfield, Massachusetts to a large...

 led to Higginbottom's attending Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, which was founded by Moody, from 1894 to 1899. Higginbottom continued his education at Amherst College

Amherst College

Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...

 and Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, receiving a bachelor's degree

Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

 from Princeton.

Work in India

Higginbottom arrived in India in 1903 as part of the North India Mission of the Presbyterian Church. From 1903 to 1909 he taught economics and science in the Allahabad Christian College (now Ewing Christian College

Ewing Christian College

Ewing Christian College was established in 1902, as Allahabad Christian College on the banks of river Jamuna in Allahabad, U.P. by the American Presbyterian Mission....

). In 1904 he married Jane Ethelind Cody, of Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

, who joined him in his work. They had five children together.

In 1909 he embarked on a project of teaching farming methods. He returned to the United States and spent three years studying agriculture at Ohio State University

Ohio State University

The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...

, after which he went back to Allahabad to teach scientific methods of farming. His educational programs grew into the founding of Allahabad Agricultural Institute in 1919.

Higginbottom wrote two books: a book about his work published in 1921 and an autobiography

Autobiography

An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...

 published in 1949.

Higginbottom retired in Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

in 1945.

Higginbottom died in Port Washington, Long Island at the home of his daughter, Mrs Charles Coates.