MARIA (TARN) DYER

'Maria Tarn' (ca. 1808 – October 21, 1846), was a British Protestant Christian missionary to the Chinese in the Congregationalist tradition, who worked among the Chinese in Malaysia. She arrived in Penang in 1827 with her husband, Samuel Dyer. She was the eldest daughter of Joseph Tarn, Director of London Missionary Society. The Dyers lived in Malacca and then finally in Singapore. Maria was known for founding the oldest girl's school in Singapore and East Asia that still exists called Saint Margaret's Primary School. Her husband died in Macao in 1843 before being able to bring his family to live in China itself at Fuzhou. Maria Tarn was later remarried, to Johann Georg Bausum in 1845, but she died the following year at Penang. Dyer's orphaned daughter, Maria Jane Dyer married James Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission.
Samuel and Maria had five children: Maria Dyer (1829-1831), Samuel Dyer, Jr. (1833-1898), Burella Hunter Dyer (1835-1858), Maria Jane Dyer (1837-1870), and Ebenezer Dyer (1842-aft. Oct. 1843).

Contents

Epitaph

References

Notes

Further Reading

Epitaph

Maria's tombstone reads:

References

★ The Memoir of Samuel Dyer: Sixteen Years Missionary to the Chinese, , Evan, Davies, John Snow, 1846,

Notes

Further Reading

★ Historical Bibliography of the China Inland Mission