Mary Ann Aldersey

Who was Mary Ann Aldersey?

Mary Ann Aldersey 艾迪綏, the first Christian missionary woman 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. Also in attendance were Samuel Dyer and his wife Maria Tarn. 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 that enabled Maria Newell to go to Malacca where Newell met and married pioneer missionary Karl Gützlaff.

In 1837 she herself was able to go to Surabaya, where she started a school for Chinese girls. When the treaty ports in China were opened 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.