108
85 An observation which lends some support to this view is that of Hill, that the American women missionaries came from a conservative Protestant tradition, and did not share the egalitarian view of the 'women's movement'. See Patricia R Hill, The World Their Household: The American Woman's Foreign Mission Movement and Cultural Transformation, 1870-1920 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1985), pp. 33-5.
86 Dr Mitchell was married to Dr. Isabella Little, of the Canadian Presbyterian Mission in Macao, in January, 1906. His wife died of typhoid at their posting, Poklo, in May, 1909. Dr Mitchell was transferred to Hong Kong at the end of 1909, initially for six months, to help Dr Gibson, 'to prevent the risk of a breakdown'. See LMS Box 16, 1905-06 No. 290, Dr. Mitchell to Mr Cousins, 11 August, 1905; LMS Box 18, 1909 No. 313, Dr. Gibson to Mr Cousins, 13 May, 1909; LMS Box 18, 1909-10 No. 316, Mr Clayson to Mr Wardlaw Thompson, enclosure: Urgency Resolutions of DC, 28 January, 1910.
*7 See, for example, the biography of Lady Clara Ho Tung, whose identification, though Eurasian born, was Chinese. Irene Cheng, Clara Ho Tung: A Hong Kong Lady, Her Family and Her Times (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1989, paperback), p. 133.
88 By 1890, in all schools under the Education Department, girls made up 32 per cent of enrolments. See G.B. Endacott, A History of Hong Kong, 2nd edn (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1973), p. 240.
89 LMS Box 18, 1910 No. 319, Dr Sibree to Dr. Thompson, 26 September, 1910.
90 LMS Box 22, 1922 No. 385, Mr Pearce to F.H. Hawkins Esq., 2 May, 1922. To what extent Dr Sibree's views were coloured by her father-in-law is unknown. Rev. C.H. Hickling was a critic of the LMS work in Hong Kong, particularly of the medical mission work, which he considered redundant. See LMS Box 19, 1913 No. 340, C.H. Hickling to Mr Lenwood, 8 July, 1913. He stated:
medical mission work is argued 1) as a pioneering agency to break down prejudice & 2) to introduce modern & humane Medicine & surgery. The Hongkong medical work is superfluous now for either purpose. The direct evangelistic work is of the most puny order. Dr. Gibson knows comparatively little of the language - so transfer would not be hard.
and concluded:
If LMS work in HK & Canton were dropped & Poklo handed over to the German Mission which is working all round it, I believe that Christian enterprise would suffer to an infinitesimal extent for a year or so & after that not at all. The HK Hospitals would be locally supported as now & worked with Western trained medicals.
91 LMS Box 19, 1913 No. 340, Dr. Gibson to Mr. Lenwood, 18 June, 1913.
92 Paterson, op. cit., p. 111.
93 LMS Box 18, 1920 No. 319. Dr. Mitchell to Rev. G. Currie Martin, 1 September, 1910.