Maria Dyer (née Tarn) (c. 1803 – 21 October 1846), was a British

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Christian

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

to the Chinese in the Congregationalist tradition, who worked among the Chinese in

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

Life

She was born in London in about 1803. She was the eldest daughter of

Joseph Tarn Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

, Director of London Missionary Society. She arrived in

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

in 1827 with her husband,

Samuel Dyer Samuel Dyer (台約爾, 20 February 1804 – 24 October 1843) was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China in the Congregationalist tradition who worked among the Chinese in Malaysia. He arrived in Penang in 1827. Dyer, his wife Ma ...

. The Dyers lived in

Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...

and then finally in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Maria was known for founding the oldest girls' school in Singapore and East Asia. It was known as the "Chinese Girls' School" when it was founded in 1842 (it still exists called

St. Margaret's Secondary School St. Margaret's School (Secondary) (SMSS) is a government-aided autonomous girls' secondary school in Bukit Timah, Singapore, under the purview of the Anglican Diocese of Singapore. It is the first girls' school in Singapore and often regarded as ...

. Her husband died in

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

in 1843 before being able to bring his family to live in China itself at

Fuzhou Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute t ...

. Maria Tarn was later remarried, to Johann Georg Bausum in 1845, but she died the following year at Penang, at age 43, and was buried in the Protestant Cemetery there. In 1853 the

Society for Promotion of Female Education in the East The Society for Promotion of Female Education in the East was a British Protestant Christian missionary society that was involved in sending workers to China during the late Qing dynasty and to other Asian countries. The society was at work in Nazar ...

sent Sophia Cooke to Singapore to became the Principal of what was still called the "Chinese Girls' School". Dyer's orphaned daughter,

Maria Jane Dyer Maria Jane Taylor ( Dyer, 16 January 1837 – 23 July 1870) was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China, and "Mother" of the China Inland Mission with her husband, founder James Hudson Taylor. She was a pioneer missionary and educ ...

, married

James Hudson Taylor James Hudson Taylor (; 21 May 1832 – 3 June 1905) was a British Baptist Christian missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission (CIM, now OMF International). Taylor spent 51 years in China. The society that he began was respons ...

, the founder of the

China Inland Mission OMF International (formerly Overseas Missionary Fellowship and before 1964 the China Inland Mission) is an international and interdenominational Evangelical Christian missionary society with an international centre in Singapore. It was founded i ...

. Samuel and Maria had five children: Maria Dyer (1829–1831), Samuel Dyer Jr. (1833–1898), Burella Hunter Dyer (1835–1858),

(1837–1870), and Ebenezer Dyer (1842 – aft. Oct. 1843).

References

Bibliography

* Taylor, James Hudson III; Chang, Irene; ''Even to Death - The Life and Legacy of Samuel Dyer''. Hong Kong: OMF Books, 2009.

Life

References

Bibliography

Bibliography

Further reading