Ms. Emma Robarts
Prayer Union
A movement created from a concern for the spiritual welfare of women and girls.
History
The YWCA Global Movement
The beginnings of a global movement
The YWCA’s 171-year story has two separate beginnings. Each took place in England in 1855, and both were efforts by women to improve the situation of their fellow women that had been created by the industrial revolution and the Crimean War. Inspired by the core principles of Christian faith that recognize the equal value of all human beings, this movement has grown into one of the largest international organizations for women.
Mrs. Mary Jane Kinnaird
Training Institute
An initiative established to house nurses returning from the Crimean War.
Unaware of each other’s efforts, both groups continued to grow rapidly – and it was over a cup of tea in 1877 at Lady Kinnaird’s home that the two women decided to merge their movements into one, the YWCA, with the Blue Triangle as its symbol.
In the decades that followed, the movement spread beyond Britain, with YWCAs emerging in several countries and building a growing international network. In 1894, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden and the United States came together to establish the World YWCA, and its first world conference in London in 1898 brought together 326 participants from 17 countries.
By 1892, nine countries
- Great Britain
- Sweden
- Norway
- Denmark
- France
- Germany
- Switzerland
- USA
- Canada
A constitution, written together
In 1892, representatives from the various developing YWCAs in the nine countries met at the invitation of Great Britain, in London. At the request of the delegates a Constitution was drawn up by Great Britain and the United States.
The World YWCA is formed
In 1894, four existing National Associations – Great Britain, USA, Norway and Sweden – formed the World YWCA with London as headquarters. The Constitution was adopted by Great Britain and the USA, and shortly after by Norway and Sweden.
The first World Council
The first International YWCA conference, known as the World Council since 1929, took place in London in 1898, attended by China, Egypt, Finland, France, Hungary, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey. The headquarters stayed in London until 1930, then shifted to Geneva.
The YWCA in the Indian Subcontinent
The movement finds its way to the Indian subcontinent
In 1874, Miss Harriette M. Butt came to India as a missionary of the Indian Female Normal School and Instruction Society, ‘the society of the long name,’ as it was then called. The following year, in 1875, Miss Butt, with the help of Miss Mary Vitters, Miss Eliza McRitchie, and Miss Mary Sorabji, organised a YWCA in Bombay. Though predating the formal 1877 merger in London, the Bombay association grew from the same movement inspired by Emma Robarts’ original English ‘Prayer Union’, carrying its vision of fellowship, prayer and service to young women in India. From this early beginning, the YWCA movement gradually spread to other parts of the Indian subcontinent, establishing branches in cities including Calcutta, Madras, Lahore, Kandy and Colombo by the turn of the century.
In 1875, as new opportunities and challenges were beginning to reshape the lives of women in India, a small association took root in Bombay. Miss Harriette M. Butt, a missionary of the Indian Female Normal School and Instruction Society, gathered a small group of women in a prayer circle that became the first YWCA association in India. The founding group brought together women from different backgrounds, including Miss E. McRitchie, Miss Sorabji, and Miss Mary Vitters, reflecting the diverse communities within Bombay at the time.
Their early work was rooted in practical acts of compassion and service. They launched the ‘Pillow Mission’ and ‘Flower Mission’, bringing comforting texts, flowers, and handwritten letters to patients in local hospitals and workhouses. Weekly ‘Dorcas meetings’ were held to sew clothing for the poor and the families of soldiers, while a lending library provided members with opportunities for reading and learning.
The movement soon spread beyond Bombay as women relocated and carried the association’s ideals with them. In 1878, Miss Vitters helped Mrs. Small establish a branch in Poona. The branch developed into an ambitious local association and eventually raised funds for a YWCA building, which was opened by Lady Harris in July 1890. This growing network demonstrated how the movement could take root in new communities through the initiative of local women.
Branches in Patna and Calcutta followed, and by the late nineteenth century YWCA work had appeared in cities including Madras, Mhow, Hyderabad, Kandy, Lahore, and Simla. Yet these associations remained scattered and operated with considerable independence. A new phase of coordination began with the visits of the Hon. Emily Kinnaird and her sister, the Hon. Gertrude Kinnaird, whose work across India, Burma, and Ceylon helped strengthen links between existing associations and encouraged the development of a more organised movement. These efforts contributed to the ‘Appeal of 1892’, drawn up in Madras and sent to Great Britain and America, requesting trained full-time secretaries to support the growing work.
YWCA of India, Burma and Ceylon
A movement comes together
By the 1890s, YWCA associations across India, Burma and Ceylon had grown into an increasingly connected movement, creating the need for a unified national structure. In February 1896, the National YWCA of India, Burma and Ceylon was established on the principles of the World YWCA, bringing these growing associations together under a common organisation. Its headquarters were established in Calcutta, and in 1897 the new national association became affiliated with the World YWCA, formally linking the movement in the region to the growing international network.
From local associations to a national movement
By the 1890s, the YWCA associations across India and Ceylon had grown far beyond the scattered beginnings of earlier decades. Bombay, Calcutta, Madras and Colombo had each become centres for groups of Associations, while other branches and smaller groups were emerging across the region.
The growing network was increasingly connected with the World YWCA, which had begun to function internationally in 1894. It was in this changing landscape that the idea of bringing the Associations together under a national organisation took shape.
In December 1896, a conference was convened in Calcutta alongside the national convention of the Young Men’s Christian Association. James Stokes, who had been asked by the World YWCA Executive Committee to examine women’s Association work during his travels, believed the time had come to establish a national movement.
From December 26 to 31, delegates gathered to consider the future of the work, and unanimously resolved to establish a National Association of the YWCA in India on the principles of the World YWCA. Calcutta was chosen as the national headquarters, an Executive Committee was constituted to represent the different regions, and Miss Agnes G. Hill was appointed the first National General Secretary.
A simple union would become the beginning of something much larger
The new organisation was designed to connect the growing Associations without taking away their independence.
The national body was intended to provide a common centre for communication, encouragement and coordination, while individual Associations retained their autonomy.
The Resolution
Three decisions that marked the beginning
A National Association
A National Association of YWCAs in India be established on the principles of the World’s YWCA.
National Headquarters
Calcutta be established as the National Headquarters.
A Day of Praise & Prayer
Monday, February 1st, be set apart as a special day of praise and prayer to mark the inauguration of the National Association.
The scale of the movement was already considerable: the report accompanying the formation of the National Association recorded 47 English branches and 40 vernacular branches, with work being carried out in Bengali, Kanarese, Marathi, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindustani. Together, these branches reflected the growing reach of the YWCA across different communities and languages.
Many branches, One emerging movement
- 26 Hindustani branches
- 6 Malayalam branches
- 5 Tamil branches
- 1 Bengali branch
- 1 Kanarese branch
- 1 Marathi branch
The movement finds its footing
The new National Association quickly became part of the wider international fellowship of the YWCA. Mrs. Waller was appointed to represent India, and a delegation of 19 from India and Ceylon attended the first World’s Conference in London in June 1898. After spending six months in England consulting with the World’s Committee, Miss Agnes Hill returned in October 1897 to begin the demanding work of organising and systematising the Associations already established. Her subsequent journeys covered an extraordinary range of places, from Ceylon and the southern districts of India to the Punjab and the North-West Provinces, strengthening existing branches, helping to establish new ones, and bringing distant groups into closer contact with the National Committee.
The years that followed saw the Association develop far beyond its original prayer meetings and local Bible classes. Work among students became an important part of the movement: by 1898, twenty Student Branches were recorded in schools and colleges across India. In 1900, a dedicated Student Department was established, with workers appointed for different regions, while camps and gatherings created new opportunities for young women to meet, learn and develop leadership. In Madras, a Student Hostel was opened to provide accommodation for Indian women pursuing higher education, and the 1900 Camp Goodwill introduced a model of residential Christian fellowship and teaching that would influence later Association work.
The movement also continued to adapt itself to the languages and circumstances of the women it sought to serve. By the early twentieth century, vernacular branches were an important part of the Association’s work, supported by magazines and local workers in languages including Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil and Malayalam. In the North, one area alone reported 23 branches with a combined membership of 854 in 1910. Such work reflected an increasing effort to develop forms of Association life that could be rooted in the communities where the branches operated.
As the movement expanded, the need for workers who could travel between branches became increasingly evident. In 1903, the National Headquarters moved from Calcutta to Bombay, and in 1905 the Association began a Jubilee Fund to support the training of workers from India. By 1910, the term ‘local worker’ had been dropped, and women from India were being recognised as full secretaries, while workers from overseas were designated as foreign secretaries. This marked an important step in the movement’s gradual transition from dependence on workers sent from abroad towards developing leadership within the country.
By 1916, the National Association had developed into a wide network of branches, student work, vernacular programmes, homes, camps and trained workers spread across India, Burma and Ceylon. What had begun with scattered local Associations had become a coordinated movement with a shared national identity and an established place within the worldwide fellowship of the YWCA. Its history during these two decades was therefore not simply one of expansion, but of a movement learning how to organise, serve and develop leadership across a vast and diverse region.
YWCA of India
A new chapter takes shape
The YWCA of India entered a new chapter as the political map of South Asia changed in the years following the Second World War. In 1947, with India becoming independent and Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon emerging as separate national entities, the long-standing YWCA organisation spanning the region gave way to separate National Associations. The YWCA of India continued its work as an independent national movement, building on more than five decades of experience while developing its own leadership, programmes and institutions. In the years that followed, it strengthened its place within the World YWCA while expanding its work among women and young people across an independent India.
A new national chapter
India’s independence in 1947 brought a fundamental change to the YWCA movement across the region. With Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon becoming separate nations, the National YWCA organisation that had served the wider region gave way to separate National Associations.
The YWCA of India entered this new period with more than fifty years of experience behind it, carrying forward the work, institutions and relationships developed under the earlier organisation. The National YWCA School of Social Work, founded at Isabella Thoburn College in Lucknow in 1946, moved to Delhi in 1947 and, in 1948, became affiliated with the University of Delhi as the Delhi School of Social Work.
The question of India’s continuing place within the wider YWCA movement was formally addressed in the years that followed. At the 1951 Quadrennial National Conference, the Association resolved that India should continue as a separate National Association. At the World Council in Beirut, the newly independent National Associations became directly affiliated with the World YWCA.
In 1954, the National Headquarters moved to New Delhi, establishing the capital as the administrative centre of the YWCA of India.
Building a movement for a new India
The decades after independence were a period of consolidation and institution-building. The YWCA continued to develop places where women could live, study, work and find community, while extending its programme beyond its earlier emphasis on associations and residential work.
In Delhi, the International Guest House began operating in 1962, adding an international dimension to the National Association’s presence in the capital. At Christian Medical College in Vellore, the YWCA’s food-service work developed into a broader activity programme, including training in cookery, dressmaking and flower decoration.
The Association also continued to develop and preserve a network of properties that had become part of its institutional history. In 1968, Fairhavens at Nainital became a national project, while in 1969 ownership of Wyoming at Coonoor was transferred to the YWCA of India.
By 1975, the movement reached a significant milestone: one hundred years had passed since the establishment of the first YWCA association in Bombay in 1875.
The story continues
A legacy in motion.
What began in 1855 continued to unfold across countries, communities and generations – with every chapter shaped by women coming together to create change.
Commemorative stamp · 1975
The YWCA centenary stamp
India's Posts and Telegraphs Department issued this 25-paise stamp on 20 June 1975, a hundred years after the first YWCA in India was formed in Bombay in 1875. Three million were printed.