Mary Ann Aldersey 艾迪綏 (24 June 1797 – 1868), the first Christian missionary woman (married or single) to serve in China. She founded a school for girls in Ningbo, Zhejiang. Her pioneering the field of mission work for single women in China was the most remarkable outcome of her life.
Aldersey was a native of London from a wealthy nonconformist family. She studied Chinese under Robert Morrison in London when he was on home leave from 1824 to 1826.
Mary Ann Aldersey was the most independent and probably the most stubborn of all the single women who went overseas to found girls' schools during the mid 19th century. She studied Chinese for years but never did become fluent in the dialect she most needed. Nor did she have much respect for Chinese culture. And yet she was obviously a great inspiration to many of the Chinese girls she taught. And it was, I believe, due to that that she was able to start what was most likely the first school for girls in China – at Ningbo in 1843.
For she traveled to China with three teenage girls: her ward, Mary Leisk (daughter of a Scottish merchant) and two Malay-Chinese girls whom she called Ati and Kit. She had taught Ati and Kit in Surabaya in Java and they had run away from their homes to join her when she left for China. It was these three girls who learnt the Ningbo dialect so well. And it was probably the presence of Ati and Kit at the Ningbo school which reassured parents that the strange white woman would not kill their daughters.
arrived in South Australia in 1857 from China
sister of Richard Baker Aldersey and daughter of Joseph Aldersey & Elizabeth nee Baker
Aldersey was a native of London from a wealthy nonconformist family. She studied Chinese under Robert Morrison in London when he was on home leave from 1824 to 1826.
Mary Ann Aldersey was the most independent and probably the most stubborn of all the single women who went overseas to found girls' schools during the mid 19th century. She studied Chinese for years but never did become fluent in the dialect she most needed. Nor did she have much respect for Chinese culture. And yet she was obviously a great inspiration to many of the Chinese girls she taught. And it was, I believe, due to that that she was able to start what was most likely the first school for girls in China – at Ningbo in 1843.
For she traveled to China with three teenage girls: her ward, Mary Leisk (daughter of a Scottish merchant) and two Malay-Chinese girls whom she called Ati and Kit. She had taught Ati and Kit in Surabaya in Java and they had run away from their homes to join her when she left for China. It was these three girls who learnt the Ningbo dialect so well. And it was probably the presence of Ati and Kit at the Ningbo school which reassured parents that the strange white woman would not kill their daughters.
arrived in South Australia in 1857 from China
sister of Richard Baker Aldersey and daughter of Joseph Aldersey & Elizabeth nee Baker
Mary Ann Aldersey 艾迪綏 (24 June 1797 – 1868), the first Christian missionary woman (married or single) to serve in China. She founded a school for girls in Ningbo, Zhejiang. Her pioneering the field of mission work for single women in China was the most remarkable outcome of her life.
Aldersey was a native of London from a wealthy nonconformist family. She studied Chinese under Robert Morrison in London when he was on home leave from 1824 to 1826.
Mary Ann Aldersey was the most independent and probably the most stubborn of all the single women who went overseas to found girls' schools during the mid 19th century. She studied Chinese for years but never did become fluent in the dialect she most needed. Nor did she have much respect for Chinese culture. And yet she was obviously a great inspiration to many of the Chinese girls she taught. And it was, I believe, due to that that she was able to start what was most likely the first school for girls in China – at Ningbo in 1843.
For she traveled to China with three teenage girls: her ward, Mary Leisk (daughter of a Scottish merchant) and two Malay-Chinese girls whom she called Ati and Kit. She had taught Ati and Kit in Surabaya in Java and they had run away from their homes to join her when she left for China. It was these three girls who learnt the Ningbo dialect so well. And it was probably the presence of Ati and Kit at the Ningbo school which reassured parents that the strange white woman would not kill their daughters.
arrived in South Australia in 1857 from China
sister of Richard Baker Aldersey and daughter of Joseph Aldersey & Elizabeth nee Baker
Aldersey was a native of London from a wealthy nonconformist family. She studied Chinese under Robert Morrison in London when he was on home leave from 1824 to 1826.
Mary Ann Aldersey was the most independent and probably the most stubborn of all the single women who went overseas to found girls' schools during the mid 19th century. She studied Chinese for years but never did become fluent in the dialect she most needed. Nor did she have much respect for Chinese culture. And yet she was obviously a great inspiration to many of the Chinese girls she taught. And it was, I believe, due to that that she was able to start what was most likely the first school for girls in China – at Ningbo in 1843.
For she traveled to China with three teenage girls: her ward, Mary Leisk (daughter of a Scottish merchant) and two Malay-Chinese girls whom she called Ati and Kit. She had taught Ati and Kit in Surabaya in Java and they had run away from their homes to join her when she left for China. It was these three girls who learnt the Ningbo dialect so well. And it was probably the presence of Ati and Kit at the Ningbo school which reassured parents that the strange white woman would not kill their daughters.
arrived in South Australia in 1857 from China
sister of Richard Baker Aldersey and daughter of Joseph Aldersey & Elizabeth nee Baker
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