Richardson, Amy
1872-1953

Missionary in Eastern Nigeria, the first single woman to become a PM missionary. With 15 years' teaching experience in Leeds, she was appointed to the new Girls' Institute at Jamestown, Eastern Nigeria, in 1909. During her 44 years in West Africa she helped to build up the Institute, which included a girls' boarding school and a teacher training centre. After its removal to Oron, under the name of the Mary Hanney Memorial School, it became renowned throughout Nigeria. Her appointment was hailed as the beginning of a new epoch in PM Missions and led to the formation of a Women's Missionary Federation, which gave particular support to the first women missionaries. She was the main speaker at its first public meeting and aroused such enthusiasm that there was a steady stream of missionary candidates. By Methodist Union in 1932, there were 18 PM women missionaries and over 30,000 members of the Federation. She died in February 1953.

Sources
  • PM Missionary Society, The Herald, 1905-31 passim

Entry written by: JRP and PMW
Category: Person
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