Journal: Puritan Reformed Journal
Volume: PRJ 05:2 (Jul 2013)
Article: Olive Carey Doke (1891-1972): The Forgotten Pioneer Of Baptist Work In Central Africa
Author: Conrad Mbewe

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PRJ 5:2 (July 2013) p. 219

Olive Carey Doke (1891-1972):
The Forgotten Pioneer Of Baptist Work In Central Africa¹

Conrad Mbewe

In the Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions edited by Gerald H. Anderson, there are two entries on the Doke family: J. J. Doke and Clement M. Doke. The former was the father of Olive Doke and the latter was her brother. Although both did much for the work of missions in Central Africa, the work of Olive Carey Doke far surpasses theirs.1

Olive Doke came as a missionary to live in the jungles of what was then Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) as a single young lady of twenty-five years, having left the more prosperous city of Johannesburg in 1916. She remained single all her life. She immersed herself in gospel labors in Lambaland (in what is now the Copperbelt Province) until her retirement in 1959 and her death in 1972. She was the first missionary of the South Africa Baptist Missionary Society (SABMS) to remain on the mission field after her official retirement.

So who was Olive Doke? Olive Carey Doke was born in Bristol, England, on September 26, 1891. She was the second-born child and only daughter of the Rev. Joseph John Doke and Agness Hannah Biggs. She had three brothers, William Henry, Clement Martyn, and Vincent Comber. Part of her training in toughness must have come from growing up among three boys. She told a journalist later in life, “You see, I had to be a tomboy at an early age. So I had good training.”2

Doke grew up with the theme of missions all around her. On her father’s side, she was related to William Knibb, a nineteenth-century

PRJ 5:2 (July 2013) p. 220

missionary to Jamaica who championed the fight against slavery there. On her mother’s side, she was related to William Carey, the celebrated “founder of modern missions.” Her middle name says it all.

J. J. Doke, Olive’s father, wanted to be a missionary but was prevented from doing so by his poor health. He started his pastoral ministry in England (Chudleigh and Bristol) and then went on to pastor in New Zealand for a few years. It was during these years in New Zealand that Olive Doke was converted to Christ. The family finally settled down in South Africa.

Arriving In Central Africa

Soon after settling in South Africa, in 1913, J. J. Doke and his son, Clement, came to Northern Rhodesia on a fact-finding mission. This was a few years after two British Baptist missionaries, Henry Masters and William Arthur Phillips, opened the first Baptist mission in Kafulafuta, central Africa, in 1905. News had reached J. J. Doke about ...

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