Edward Fenton Elwin

Edward Fenton Elwin (1853–1921) was an Anglican priest and missionary who spent almost four decades in India, much of that time in and around Poona. He served with the Society of St John the Evangelist, Cowley, whose mission work in India became the subject of one of his books.

Elwin drew on his firsthand experiences in works including Indian Jottings: From Ten Years’ Experience in and Around Poona City (1907), Thirty-Four Years in Poona City (1911), Thirty-Nine Years in Bombay City (1913), and India and the Indians (1913). He also wrote Stories of Indian Boys, including the 1914 mission story Moses and Benedict: The Two Chums.

His writing combines religious reflection, missionary history, social observation, and anecdotes from daily life. Although shaped by the attitudes of his era, his books remain a detailed record of the places and communities he encountered in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century India.