Mary Ann Aldersey (, 24 June 1797 – 1868) was the first

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

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 ...

woman (married or single) to serve in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

proper (excluding

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Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, where Henrietta Shuck had been working earlier). She founded a school for girls in

Ningbo Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

. Her pioneering the field of mission work for single women in China was the most remarkable outcome of her life.

Biography

Early life

Mary Ann Aldersey was born on June 27, 1797, in the Hackney London, England. Aldersey was a native of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

from a wealthy

nonconformist Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to: Culture and society * Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior *Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity ** ...

family. Aldersey’s father, Joseph, was considered a social leader amongst the small episcopal congregation of Dr. John Pye Smith. Aldersey joined the congregation as a member at the age of twenty-one and worked as the financial secretary of the Ladies’ Bible Association. When Aldersey’s mother, Elizabeth, died in 1822, Aldersey was required to fulfill twice her usual domestic duties. In 1824, Robert Morrison moved to East London and taught English women interested in missionary work (usually as partners to their husbands). to speak and read Chinese She studied

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

under Robert Morrison in

when he was on home leave from 1824 to 1826. Also in attendance were

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 ...

and his wife

Maria Tarn 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 ...

. The friendship that she forged with Maria eventually led to her inviting their orphaned teenage daughters to work with her in China. In London, Aldersey was still attached to family ties, but she made gifts to 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 ...

that enabled Maria Newell to go to

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 ...

(1827), where Newell met and married pioneer missionary

Karl Gützlaff Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff (8 July 1803 – 9 August 1851), anglicised as Charles Gutzlaff, was a German Lutheran missionary to the Far East, notable as one of the first Protestant missionaries in Bangkok, Thailand (1828) and in Korea (1 ...

. In 1837, she herself was able to go to Surabaya, where she started a school for Chinese girls. When the

treaty ports Treaty ports (; ja, 条約港) were the port cities in China and Japan that were opened to foreign trade mainly by the unequal treaties forced upon them by Western powers, as well as cities in Korea opened up similarly by the Japanese Empire. ...

in China were opened (1843) she moved to Ningbo where she opened a school for girls assisted by three teenagers, Mary Ann Leisk, Ruth Ati and Christiana A-Kit. Ruth Ati and Christiana were from

Surabaya Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...

. Never an agent of any missionary society, Aldersey did maintain close links with the London Missionary Society. In 1848 William Armstrong Russell and Robert Henry Cobbold arrived from England. Several of her teaching staff were Chinese-speaking daughters of missionaries; at least four became missionary wives, including Burella Hunter Dyer, who married John Shaw Burdon, and Maria Jane Dyer, who 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 ...

in 1857 (against Aldersey's wishes). Another protegee, Mary Ann Leisk, became the wife of William Armstrong Russell, later bishop in north China. In 1861, Aldersey handed her school over to the

Church Missionary Society The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...

and retired to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, where she lived until her death. She retired to

McLaren Vale, South Australia McLaren Vale is a town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia located about south of the Adelaide city centre and about south of the municipal seat at Noarlunga Centre. History The township was formed in 1923 from a merging ...

in 1861 and built a house (Tsong Gyiaou) named after a former preaching station. The name is an anglicised form of 'San Ch'iao' (pronounced 'Song Jow'). It is now part of the Southern Districts War Memorial Hospital.

References

Bibliography

*E. Aldersey White (1932) A Woman Pioneer in China. The life of Mary Ann Aldersey, London, Livingstone Press *History of the Society for Promoting Female Education in the East, Edward Suter, London 1847 *Missions to the Women of China, E J Whately, James Nisbet & Co, London, 1866 * Joyce Reason, The Witch of Ningpo (Eagle Books, No. 30.) London: Edinburgh House Press, 1940 *The Story of the China Inland Mission Volume I;

Mary Geraldine Guinness Mary Geraldine Guinness (; 25 December 1862 – 6 June 1949), often known as Mrs. Howard Taylor, was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China, and author of many missionary biographies on the history of the China Inland Mission ...

, Morgan & Scott, 1894 *Hudson Taylor & The China Inland Mission Volume One: In Early Years; The Growth of a Soul; Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor, China Inland Mission, London, 1911 *Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret; Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor, China Inland Mission, London, 1932 (republished in 2007) *Hudson & Maria; Pioneers In China; John Pollock, 1964 *Hudson Taylor & China's Open Century Volume One: Barbarians at the Gates;

Alfred James Broomhall Alfred James Broomhall (6 December 1911 – 11 May 1994), also A. J. Broomhall, was a British Protestant Christian medical missionary to China, and author and historian of the China Inland Mission (renamed as Overseas Missionary Fellowship in ...

; Hodder and Stoughton and Overseas Missionary Fellowship, 1982 *Hudson Taylor & China's Open Century Volume Two: Over the Treaty Wall;

; Hodder and Stoughton and Overseas Missionary Fellowship, 1982 *Hudson Taylor & China's Open Century Volume Three: If I Had a Thousand Lives;

; Hodder and Stoughton and Overseas Missionary Fellowship, 1982 *From Jerusalem to Iriyan Jaya; Dr. Ruth Tucker, Zondervan *Hudson Taylor: A Man In Christ; Roger Steer, Paternoster, 1990 *It Is Not Death to Die; Jim Cromarty, Christian Focus, 2001 *Christ Alone - A Pictorial Presentation of Hudson Taylor's Life and Legacy; OMF International, 2005 *Griffiths, Valerie, Not Less Than Everything, Monarch Books & OMF International, Oxford, 2004

External links

OMF International (formerly China Inland Mission and Overseas Missionary Fellowship)The First Girls' School in ChinaMary's MissionMary the Matchmaker
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aldersey, Mary Ann 1797 births 1868 deaths English Protestant missionaries Protestant missionaries in China British expatriates in China Female Christian missionaries People from London