Musgrave family

A missionary family whose maternal grandfather was the Rev. John Oliver Park, twice President of the Irish Conference (in 1901 and 1910). An aunt, Helen Park, became a teacher in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).

The Musgrave family were in Germany at the outbreak of war in 1914 and their father, a language teacher, was interned. All three of his children became missionaries.

Thomas Ivan Musgrave , born on 26 March 1910, entered the WM ministry in 1936 and spent his first two years in South China before returning to home stations. He died on 29 September 2006. His daughter Diana, born on 5 May 1954, served as an educational missionary in Southern Rhodesia and Zimbabwe.

His sister Dr. Alice Lilian Musgrave, born in Liverpool on 13 June 1912, spent nearly 40 years as a medical missionary in India.. After nine years (1938-1947) in Madras, in 1948 following TB she spent two years in Mysore, then returned to Madras where from 1970 she was medical superintendent of the Christina Rainy Hospital. She became a member of the Sisterhood of the CSI and placed particular emphasis on the training of Indian doctors and nurses. She was awarded an OBE in 1975 and retired to live with her sister Hope in Dun Laoghaire, where she offered her services to the Social Aid Centre. She continued to serve as a local preacher until the age of 91 and died in her hundredth year on 27 September 2011.

Her younger sister, Hope Musgrave, was born on 15 January 1915 and served at a teacher and evangelist in Burma 1949-1964 and in Southern Rhodesia / Zimbabwe 1970-1973. She died on 29 August 2008.

Sources
  • Methodist Recorder, 29 March 2007; 25 December 2008; 10 November 2011
  • Guardian, 14 December 2011