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Emily Tiptaft Banks, 1886
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"Behind
every great man stands a strong woman," so the saying goes. I have seen
this quote repeatedly play out in my years of studying our family's history,
but none more so than my husband's great-grandmother, Emily Tiptaft Banks. Each
chapter of her extraordinary life plays out like a series of action dramas
filled with courage, strength, faith, and distinction. From 17th-century London
to the darkest of Africa, she and her husband served as missionaries and
doctors, healing the bodies and souls of the tribes in the Congo. Here is her
incredible story.
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Charles Blair Banks, Unknown Date
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Emily
and her twin sister, Fanny, were born on 12 March 1865 to Herbert Tiptaft of
Kent and Sarah Braithwaite of Middlesex, England. They were followed by two
sisters and five brothers. Though she lived in the golden age of Victoria, as
her father was a silver engraver for the Queen at Windsor Castle, her dream was
to be a missionary to China. To that end, Emily and her sister, Fanny, attended
religious meetings at one of Dame Agnes Weston's Royal Sailors Rests. There, in
1885, through a mutual friend, Fanny met a recently returned missionary to the
Congo, Charles Blair Banks. Mr. Banks, a dashing young merchant seaman who felt
the calling to the mission field, allied with the American Baptist Mission
Union (ABMU) who sent him to the upper reaches of the Belgian Congo in 1883.
Having seen the medical needs of the natives there, he returned to England to
study medicine at the University of London. At a meeting, he spotted Fanny and
went to speak to her. The young woman turned to face him and said, "Sir, I
believe you have mistaken me for my sister." It was Emily, not Fanny! A
friendship blossomed into courtship, and the two married in Hackney, England,
in 1886. Emily's mission field was to be Congo, not China.
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Emily & Charles Banks, 1886
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Charles
and Emily left England the following year for Africa, arriving at Wangata, Etat
Independent du Congo, many weeks later, where they would remain for 13 years.
While there, they lived in a clay hut like the rest of the natives. The natives
initially did not believe she was real, saying that she could not be a woman as
she was made entirely of cloth due to the English dress style. They called her
Ndoki (ghost) as she would wear a white dress and a white scarf over her helmet
to protect her from the scorching sun. They had never seen a white woman
before, let alone one dressed entirely in white, and they were suspicious and
frightened of her. But Emily's tender ways toward them soon earned her the name
"White Mama."
Charles
and Emily welcomed their first child, Marguerite, in 1888. The natives adored
Marguerite, calling her Bona Owa Wangata—Child of Wangata--and marveled at her
whiteness and beauty. When Marguerite was five months old, Charles and Emily
traveled further up the Congo River with other missionaries. Suddenly, while
passing a village on the riverbank, men in war paint and carrying bows and
arrows approached them in their canoes. Alarmed, the captain of the steamship
called out to them that they were friends, but the natives paid no attention
and boarded the ship. Holding baby Marguerite, Emily stood bravely on the deck
as the chiefs crowded around Emily, staring at the white baby in wonder. After
questioning the ship's captain, they seemed satisfied that they were no threat
and left the boat. They continued steaming up the river with Emily on the prow,
holding Marguerite, while natives watched until they were out of sight. The
unusual sight of a white baby likely saved their lives!
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Emily & Charles Banks. Bolenge, Congo, c. 1890
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"The
Fever" swept through the Congo, and Emily was no exception. In June 1889,
after enduring a relentless illness, Emily and Marguerite returned to England
to her family. They delighted in little Marguerite but were shocked at Emily's
sickly appearance. After many months of care and treatment, she recovered
enough to return to where her heart lay: With Charles and their work with the
natives of the Congo. Heart-breaking sacrifices seemed to be her destiny. Leaving
Marguerite behind in the care of her parents and sisters to resume her work in
Wangata was one of the most difficult for this devoted Christian woman. When
she reunited with Charles, she found that he had built them a home in the
village of Bolenge, four miles down the river from Wangata. He built it
entirely by hand, surrounding it with acres of cleared ground, shrubbery, and
gardens.
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Emily Banks. Bolenge, Congo. c. 1890
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In
March 1891, Charles and Emily welcomed their second child, Charles Sidney James
Banks, to the family. In May 1892, they had a second son, Alan Herbert. Emily's
sister Fanny came to the lower Congo as a missionary, marrying her long-time
beau, Rev. Jack Murphy--the friend who had introduced Charles to Fanny at the
Royal Sailors Rest seven years earlier. However, the climate did not agree with
Fanny, and she suffered recurring fevers. Charles had a furlough due, little
Charles had been sick, and Alan was not as strong as he should be. They decided
to return to England, leaving Jack in charge of the mission in Bolenge. On
their return to London, they found their little Marguerite had grown into a
lovely little girl. They went to North Weald on the East Coast of England to
rest. Charles and Emily were worn down from recurrent attacks of fever and
while they were there, they welcomed another daughter, Emmaline Frances, born
in 1894.
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Emily Banks & the children, Southampton, England, Dec 1900
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Charles
returned to Bolenge when his furlough ended, and Emily followed when Emmaline
was eight months old. They continued their work until their last child, Kenneth
Alexander, was born in 1898. Emily visited the villages one last time to say
farewell and then returned to England. Charles followed several months later
after preparing the mission for its successor. The hard life, fevers, and
climate had taken their toll, and he knew he was leaving Africa for the last
time. He arrived home in May and spent the summer and autumn reacquainting
himself with his children. Despite their long separation from their father,
they adored him fiercely.
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Charles Blair Banks, c.1900
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In December, what began as rheumatic fever soon
revealed itself to be a brain clot. On 29 December 1900, Charles, sensing the
end was near, told a friend, "I long to go; I am so weary, but it does
seem selfish to go away and leave Mrs. Banks alone with five children. I must
get well to help her." But it was too late. After 24 hours of
unconsciousness, Charles Blair Banks died at 43. Through all the perils, the
climate, illness, crude native life, separation from her children, and now her
husband's death, Emily faced the future with fortitude. She had consecrated her
life to Christian service and remained in England for the next nine years,
allowing her children to receive a good education.
In
1903, Roger Casement was hired as British consul for the Congo Free State. At
the British government's behest, he investigated stories of murder,
mutilations, and atrocities performed on the natives of the Congo under
Belgium's King Leopold II. River captains and missionaries, including Emily,
reported on Leopold's reign of terror in harvesting and exporting rubber to
Europe.
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Charles, Alan, Ken, Margaret, Emily & Emmaline Banks. 1904
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In
1909, Emily and the children moved to America, where they reunited with Emily's
sister, Fanny, and her husband, Rev. Jack Murphy. In a letter dated 13 October
1909, Emily told friends in England of her 7,000-mile trip from Bournemouth,
England, to Portland, Oregon, where she made her home for the rest of her life.
She
briefly returned to the Congo in 1928. In letters to her children, she detailed
the changes since her first voyage to the deeper reaches of that African river.
She reunited with old friends from Bolenge, including the chief of Bolenge,
from whom Charles had purchased the land for the mission station years before.
He asked when her children would them, and she replied, 'I told him they would
not come; my children did not love the Congo because it was the cause of their
father's death.' Despite this, her son, Alan, eventually followed in his
father's footsteps, serving as a missionary in the Congo with his wife until
their deaths in 1970. Emily revisited the home her beloved Charles had built
for her on the river with its acres of gardens and close-cropped lawns. But the
reunion was bittersweet without Charles, who had always planned to visit but
never had the chance.
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Emily Banks. Jan 1928
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Emily's
diaries, writings, and stories about her and Charles' missions reveal their
deep love and dedication to the people of the Congo. They exhibited tenacity
and protectiveness toward the natives they served and educated, and above all,
their love of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The natives reciprocated their love,
repeatedly asking Emily in 1928, 'Why do you not send us a son to teach
us? Emily, Fanny, and other female missionaries paved the way for future
women to serve as missionaries. Emily's boldness in confronting the political
leaders of Congo, including King Leopold, for their atrocities showed her
commitment to keeping her people safe. Emily Tiptaft Banks died on 9 October
1942 in Albany, Oregon, at the age of 87 from heart disease. Her writings
culminated in a book, 'White Woman on the Congo, by her son, Charles Sidney J.
Banks, published in 1943. These and her surviving writings and stories
highlight our great-grandmother's remarkable courage and faith, whom the
natives called "Mondele bomoto"—the White Woman.
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Emily Banks. Christmas 1941
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