Maria Newell Gützlaff (4 August 1794 – 16 February 1831) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 ...

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

and

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

. Maria was born at

Stepney Stepney is a district in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The district is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name appl ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, the child of Samuel Newell, tallow chandler, and Mary Duchesne. Maria studied Chinese under Robert Morrison during his furlough in the 1820s, and was appointed the first female missionary of the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational miss ...

(LMS). The plan was for her to carry on

female education Female education is a catch-all term of a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women. It is frequently called girls ...

among the Chinese immigrants. Before this time sending unmarried female missionaries was absolutely unheard of. She sailed from England on 11 April 1827 (in the company of

Maria Dyer Maria Dyer (née Tarn) (c. 1803 – 21 October 1846), was a British Protestant Christian missionary to the Chinese in the Congregationalist tradition, who worked among the Chinese in Malaya. Life She was born in London in about 1803. She ...

) and reached

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 ...

, Straits Settlements, on 26 August 1827. On 26 November 1829 she was married to

Karl Gutzlaff Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austria ...

, after their marriage she went with her husband to

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 mi ...

on 11 February 1830. "These two devoted themselves to studying Siamese and translating, hardly allowing themselves time to eat or sleep, and daily employing a number of copyists. Thus they succeeded in evolving a very imperfect translation of the whole Bible in Siamese, a considerable portion of it into the Lao and Cambodian languages, and preparing a dictionary and grammar of the Siamese and Cambodian. These translations were later delivered by Mr. Gutzlaff to Mr. Robinson of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and the dictionary was taken over by Mr. Jones of the Baptist Board and became the foundation of the dictionary later prepared by Eliza Grew Jones."George Bradley McFarland, ''Historical Sketch of Protestant Missions in Siam 1828-1928'', Bangkok: Bangkok Times Press, 1928, p. 4 On 16 February 1831 Maria gave birth to twin daughters at

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

. She died a few hours later. One child died at birth, the other was left for a time with her Siamese nurse, later, when it became possible she was put in the care of a Mrs. Thomson 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 ...

, she lived about four months. Maria and the small children were buried by special permit at the upper side of the Portuguese Consulate gate. This plot continued to be the burial ground of the missionaries and others until

King Mongkut Mongkut ( th, มงกุฏ; 18 October 18041 October 1868) was the fourth monarch of Siam (Thailand) under the House of Chakri, titled Rama IV. He ruled from 1851 to 1868. His full title in Thai was ''Phra Bat Somdet Phra Menthora Ramathibod ...

made a grant for this purpose in 1853, and in 1893 this earliest cemetery which had eventually been bought by the Baptist Mission, was sold and the graves moved to the new Protestant Cemetery.

References

Bibliography

*Valerie Griffiths, ''Not Less Than Everything: The Courageous Women Who Carried the Christian Gospel to China'', Kregel Publications, 2004. *Mary Raleigh Anderson, ''Protestant Mission Schools for Girls in South China, 1827 to the Japanese Invasion'', Heiter-Starke Printing Co., 1943. {{DEFAULTSORT:Newell, Maria People from Stepney English Congregationalist missionaries English translators Lutheran missionaries in Thailand Congregationalist missionaries in Malaysia 1794 births 1831 deaths 19th-century British translators 19th-century Lutherans Missionary linguists Deaths in childbirth