Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mullens, Joseph

by Samuel Pasfield Oliver

MULLENS, JOSEPH (1820–1879), missionary, born in London on 2 Sept. 1820, entered Coward College in 1837, and in 1841 graduated B.A. at the London University. In June 1842 he offered himself to the London Missionary Society (congregationalist) for service in India, and after spending one session at Edinburgh in study of mental philosophy and logic, he was ordained to the congregationalist ministry 5 Sept. at Barbican Chapel, and sailed for India in the company of the Rev. A. F. Lacroix [q. v.] Arriving in Calcutta, he entered on his work at Bhowanipore, where he married Lacroix's daughter in 1845. In 1846 he succeeded to the pastorate of the native church at the same place. He remained there twelve years. During this period he prepared a series of statistics of missions in India and Ceylon.

In 1858 he returned to England, and in 1860 took a prominent part in the missionary conference in Liverpool. In 1861 he received from William College, Massachusetts, the degree of D.D., and in the same year his wife died. In 1865 Mullens became joint foreign secretary of the London Missionary Society, and in 1868 sole foreign secretary. In the earlier capacity he visited the missionary stations of the society in India and China, returning to England in 1866. In 1867 he received from the university of Edinburgh the degree of D.D. In 1870 he attended the annual meeting of the American Board of Foreign Missions, and remained to advocate the claims of the society in Canada. In 1873 he visited Madagascar to confer with the missionaries there, and he published the results in 'Twelve Months in Madagascar' (1857). After the death of Dr. Thomson of the mission on Lake Tanganyika, Mullens left England, 24 April 1879, with Mr. Griffith and Dr. Southon, to proceed to Zanzibar for the purpose of reinforcing the mission in Central Africa. On arrival at Zanzibar, Mullens resolved to accompany the inexperienced members of the mission to the scene of operation. At Kitange, 5 July, 150 miles from Saadani, Mullens caught a severe cold, and he died on 10 July 1879 at Chakombe, eight miles beyond. He was buried at the mission station of Mpwapwa.

Mullens, by his organising power, mastery of details, and statesmanlike supervision, largely increased the efficiency of the London Missionary Society. In addition to many reports, essays, articles, and notices, he wrote:

1. 'Missions in South India visited and described,' 1854.
2. 'The Religious Aspects of Hindu Philosophy discussed,' 1860.
3. 'Brief Memorials of the Rev. Alphonse Francois Lacroix,' 1862.
4. 'A brief Review of Ten Years' Missionary Labour in India, between 1852 and 1861,' London, 1863.
5. 'London and Calcutta compared in their Heathenism, their Privileges, and their Prospects,' 1868.
6. 'Twelve Months in Madagascar,' 1874; 2nd edit. 1875.

Mrs. Mullens wrote 'Faith and Victory: a Story of the Progress of Christianity in Bengal.'

[The Chronicle of the London Missionary Society, October 1879.]

S. P. O.