Benjamin Henry Arthur Margoschis (24 December 1852 – 27 April 1908) was a Protestant Christian missionary in India.

[1] He served the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) as an overseas missionary in India.

[3] Reverend Margoschis was responsible for the development of the small town of Nazareth, which is situated at the southern part of Tamil Nadu, India.

Margoschis was brought to India by Robert Caldwell who at that time was ministering in Idaiyankudi of Tirunelveli District in Tamil Nadu.

[5] An adherent of Oxford Movement, Arthur Margoschis, a bachelor, gave up medical school when Caldwell recruited him in London in 1875 for the Nazareth Mission, Tinnevelly.

Margoschis reached Madras, India at the age of 22 in the year 1875 and then he stayed with Caldwell for some time at Edeyengoody.

[7] Arthur Margoschis came to Nazareth in the month of December 1876 after studying and passing a Tamil examination at Edeyengoody.

Margoschis wrote in 1888: “Natives of India do not believe in a religion which costs them nothing, and the magnificent temples and shrines to be seen all over the country are the best proof possible of the idea so firmly rooted in their minds that they should be ready to spend and be spent in the service of God.

In further actual proof of this opinion, we find that all the great Hindoo and Mohammedan temples are richly endowed by native money, and the income accruing is sufficient for the up-keep of many of them forever.

James Hough, also Chaplain of the East India Company, at Palamcottah, started a girls school at Nazareth in the year 1819, and it was closed due to financial constraints.

He provided Educational institutions, Orphanage, Thrift Fund society, Teachers Training School for girls in the year 1887,[26][27] Art Industrial School in the year 1878,[28] Theological Seminary, Railway Station, Spinning Mill, Telegraph facility, Roads and other vital infrastructures to the people of Nazareth.

Margoschis was supported by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (Dursley Branch) and the Indian Famine Orphan Fund.

Thieves were afraid of Arthur Margoschis's influence at the police and judicial departments of the British Government.

At Alvar Thirunagari, Hindus regardless of caste met Margoschis to do him honor with torches and tom-toms, and by bringing temple elephant decorated with howdas.

[36] Madras University conferred on Margoschis the title, "Kaisar-i-Hind" in the year 1901[37] for his public service, a medal was given by the Viceroy of India.

Reverend Margoschis appeared to be a man of short stature with a small beard went round the village on his horseback doing relief work.

In the year 1904, Archbishop of Brisbane, in his article "The East & West" praised Margoschis as "A remarkable instance of the work of a solitary unmarried missionary is to be found in Nazareth"[39] in the medical, industrial, educational and evangelical labour being organised and to a large extent created by Canon Margöschis On appointment to the Nazareth mission, Margoschis was soon at dispute with some of his missionary colleagues, in particular with Sharrock and Vickers.

Margoschis hoped that missionaries could convert caste with true principles of political economy, social science, and morality.

The people who belonged to the shanar caste felt that Bishop Caldwell has depicted them in a bad image.

Margoschis, Y. Gnanamutthoo Nadar, a native of Nazareth, Tamil Nadu, and a Shanar Christian clerk in Tirunelveli courts, protested this publication.

In an unusual untoward incident at the church, A. N. Sattampillai, a catechist and teacher with the SPG mission was suspended by Rev.

Margoschis in his writing stated “In the olden days it was not uncommon for the missionary, to a considerable extent, to arrange the domestic affairs of his flock.

He refused to marry the girl chosen by the missionary, who thereupon, dismissed him from service[45].”Arthur Margoschis was severely handicapped by chronic asthma.