User:Lauraosull/Douglas A. L. Hooper

Douglas Arthur Lowndes Hooper (1862-1918) was a Catholic British physician who worked as a Church Missionary Society medical missionary in East Africa, especially in Uyui, Kahuhia, and Jilore. He established a Church Missionary medical station with a hospital called Nassa in Uyui, created an economic plan for missionary stations, and was succeeded by his son who continued his work.

Early Life and Education
Douglas Hooper was born in 1862 in Balham, England to his parents William and Annie Hooper. Shortly after, he was baptized at an Ecclesiastical parish called St. Mary’s in Wandsworth, England. He was educated at Harrow School and later earned his Bachelor of Arts at Cambridge University at Trinity Hall and Ridley Hall. In 1885, he was accepted as a missionary of the Church Missionary Society in East Equatorial Africa, which he remained a part of until 1909. In 1890, he met his first wife, Edith Baldey who died three short years later. He remarried in 1895 to Elizabeth Mary Wells ("Biographies," n.d., p. 1).

Mission and Service
Hooper began his missionary work in 1885 to fulfill what he thought was his religious duty. To aid him in his missionary work, he recruited Mr. S. Burr, Mildmay, and Mr. W. Taylor (Douglas Arthur, n.d.). In 1887, he began work in Uyui where he soon established his own station and hospital called Nassa, in which he remained from 1888-1889 ("Church Missionary," 1893, p. 1). While serving in Mombasa in 1890, Hooper formulated an economic plan that would later prove helpful and efficient to other missionaries. He later became the head missionary at Jelori Lake in 1891 (Douglas Arthur, n.d.).

Death and Legacy
In 1916, when Hooper was ill, he was succeeded by his son, Handley Douglas Hooper who continued his work. Douglas Hooper died in 1918 at the age of 56 at Tooting Graveney in England ("Douglas Arthur," n.d., p. 1). His legacy included his economic plan as well as the station he established in Uyui, which continued well beyond his death (Douglas Arthur, n.d.).