Marjorie Sykes

{{Infobox person

| name = Marjorie Sykes

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = Marjorie Sykes

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1905|05|11}}

| birth_place = Mexborough, Yorkshire, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1995|08|17|1905|05|11}}

| death_place = United Kingdom

| alma_mater = Newnham College, Cambridge

| nationality = {{ubl|British (1905–1947)|Indian (1947–1995)}}

| other_names =

| occupation = {{Plainlist|

Educator
Author
Independence worker

}}

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.{{cite web |last1=Williams |first1=J. S. |date=9 December 2014 |title=Marjorie Sykes |url=http://www.toxipedia.org/display/wanmec/Marjorie+Sykes |website=WANMEC (Washington Nuclear Museum and Educational Center) |access-date=10 July 2015}}

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.{{rp|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. She graduated with first class honors in English in 1928.{{cite news|title=Marjorie Sykes: India's faithful Friend|author=Hallam Tennyson|work=The Guardian|date=20 September 1995|page=16}}

Sykes came to Madras (now called Chennai) in 1928 to serve as a teacher at the Bentinck School, Vepery,{{cite news|last1=Sridhar|first1=Asha|title=From 21 students to 2,000|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/from-21-students-to-2000/article4326537.ece|access-date=6 November 2015|agency=The Hindu|issue=Chennai|date=21 January 2013}} 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.

In late 1928, a talk by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari inspired Sykes' interest in participating in the independence movement.

Late in 1938, she met both Rabindranath Tagore (traveling to his school at Shantiniketan) and Mahatma Gandhi (traveling to his ashram at Sevagram). Beginning in 1939 she joined Santiniketan, working closely with Tagore and becoming acquainted with C.F. Andrews, later in 1944-46 holding the C.F. Andrews Memorial Chair at Santiniketan while working on Andrews' biography.

In 1945, Gandhi invited Sykes to join his team working on Nai Talim (New Education), and she later became Principal of Gandhi's Basic Education Programme at Sevagram. In the 1960s Sykes served in efforts to bring peace in Nagaland, as well as living and conducting nonviolence training in Kotagiri in the Nilgiris Hills, and becoming increasingly active among Quakers, at Rasulia (Madhya Pradesh) as well as outside India. She also acquired Indian citizenship upon Indian independence in 1947.{{Cite web |title="The Other West": Gandhian Quaker, Marjorie Sykes (1905–1995) |url=https://www.unive.it/pag/fileadmin/user_upload/dipartimenti/DSLCC/documenti/DEP/numeri/n37/09_MacDonald.pdf |website=Università Ca' Foscari Venezia |access-date=16 March 2024 }}{{Cite web |title=Rural Development Strategies in Developing Countries |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=crFwQcm_KW0C&dq=naturalised+indian&pg=PA60 |author=K. K. Singh, S. Ali |date=2001 |access-date=16 March 2024 }}

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.{{cite web |last1=Anonymous |title=Famous Deaths for August 1995 |url=http://www.historyorb.com/deaths/date/1995/august |website=HistoryOrb |access-date=10 July 2015}}

The Marjorie Sykes room at Friends House, London, UK is named after her.{{cite web |title=Meeting Rooms |url=https://www.friendshouse.co.uk/meeting-rooms/ |website=Friends House |access-date=3 January 2023}}

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.{{cite news |last1=Rengarajan |first1=La. Su. |title=A Gandhian Life |url=http://www.thehindu.com/mag/2005/07/24/stories/2005072400130400.htm |access-date=9 July 2015 |work=The Hindu |date=24 July 2006}}{{dead link|date=April 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

An earlier article in Gandhi Marg had also described her life.{{cite journal |last1=Purushotham |first1=Surendran |title=Marjorie Sykes: A Disciple of Christ and Gandhi |journal=Gandhi Marg |date=2003 |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=90–95 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GM8-AQAAIAAJ&q=marjorie+sykes}}

Sykes was also the focus of an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,{{cite ODNB |last1=Carnall |first1=Geoffrey |year=2004 |title=Sykes, Marjorie (1905–1995) |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/66/101066993/|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/66993 |access-date=9 July 2015}} (1116 words) and of a chapter in a doctoral dissertation in History by Sharon M. H. MacDonald (2010)."Marjorie Sykes (1905-1995)" (Chapter 4, pp. 121-147) in {{cite book |last1=MacDonald |first1=Sharon M. H. |title=Neither Memsahibs nor Missionaries: Western Women who Supported the Indian Independence Movement |date=2010 |publisher=University of New Brunswick (Department of History) |location=New Brunswick, Canada |isbn=9780494827642 |oclc=896786575}}

A book-length biography of Sykes was published two years before her death.{{cite book |last1=Dart|first1=Martha|title=Marjorie Sykes: Quaker - Gandhian |date=1993 |publisher=Sessions Book Trust in association with Woodbrooke College |location=[York] |isbn=9781850721253 |edition=Indian |oclc=29471229}} (159 pages){{cite journal|last1=Mendlesohn |first1=Frank |title=Marjorie Sykes: Quaker Gandhian (review) |journal=Quaker History |date=1994 |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=137–138 |doi=10.1353/qkh.1994.0021|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)

Selected works

Books authored by Marjorie Sykes include:

{{cite book|last1=Sykes |first1=Marjorie |last2=Dart |first2=Martha (Ed.) |title=In Quaker friendship: Letters from Marjorie Sykes to Martha Dart 1967 to 1994 |date=1999 |publisher=William Sessions Ltd. |location=York |isbn=9781850722236 |oclc=41582224}} (133 pages)
{{cite book |last1=Sykes |first1=Marjorie |last2=Carnall |first2=Geoffrey (Ed.) |title=An Indian Tapestry: Quaker threads in the History of India, Pakistan & Bangladesh: from the Seventeenth Century to Independence|date=1997|publisher=Sessions Book Trust|location=York|isbn=9781850721352 |oclc=59624845}}
{{cite book |last1=Maw |first1=Geoffrey Waring |last2=Conacher |first2=Gillian M. |first3=Marjorie |last3=Sykes |title=Pilgrims in Hindu holy land: sacred shrines of the Indian Himalayas |date=1997 |publisher=Sessions Book Trust |location=York |isbn=9781850721901 |oclc=37199052}}
{{cite book|last1=Sykes|first1=Marjorie|last2=Dart|first2=Martha (Ed.)|title=Transcending tradition: Excerpts from the writings and talks of Marjorie Sykes|date=1995|publisher=W. Sessions in association with Woodbrooke College|location=York, England|isbn=9781850721703 |oclc=37400713}} (104 pages)
{{cite book |first1=Marjorie |last1=Sykes |title=The story of Nai Talim : fifty years of education at Sevagram, 1937-1987 : a record of reflections |date=1988 |publisher=Nai Talim Samiti |location=Sevagram, Wardha |oclc=21280322}}
{{cite book |first1=Jehangir P. |last1=Patel |first2=Marjorie |last2=Sykes |title=Gandhi: His Gift of the Fight |url=https://archive.org/details/gandhihisgiftoff00pate |url-access=registration |date=1987 |publisher=Friends Rural Centre |location=Rasulia |oclc=22506192}}
{{cite book |last1=Sykes |first1=Marjorie |title=Quakers in India: A forgotten century |date=1980 |publisher=Allen and Unwin |location=London |isbn=9780042750033 |oclc=7772558}}
{{cite book |first1=Marjorie |last1=Sykes |title=A picture and programme of post basic education (adolescent education in Nai Talim) |date=1954 |publisher=Hindustani Talimi Sangh |location=Sevagram, Wardha |oclc=8957351}}
{{cite book |first1=Channing |last1=Arnold |first2=Marjorie |last2=Sykes |title=The story of the Mahabharata |date=1954 |publisher=Orient Longmans |location=Bombay |oclc=3368450}}
{{cite book |last1=Sykes |first1=Marjorie |title=The story of Rabindranath Tagore |date=1950 |publisher=Orient Longmans |location=Bombay |oclc=14369601}}
{{cite book |first1=Banārasīdāsa |last1=Caturvedī |author-link1=Banarsidas Chaturvedi |first2=Marjorie |last2=Sykes |title=Charles Freer Andrews; a narrative |date=1950 |publisher=Harper |location=New York |oclc=2015692}}

Writings by others that were edited by Marjorie Sykes include:

{{cite book |first1=Charles Freer |last1=Andrews |author-link1=Charles Freer Andrews |first2=Marjorie |last2=Sykes |title=Representative Writings |date=1973 |publisher=National Book Trust, India |location=New York |oclc=1302816}}
{{cite book |last1=Vinobā |author-link1=Vinoba Bhave |first2=Marjorie |last2=Sykes |title=Shanti sena |date=1963 |publisher=Sarva Seva Sangh Prakashan |location=Rajghat |oclc=1995857}}

Marjorie Sykes

Biography

Works about Sykes

Selected works

References