Elizabeth LUCAS [c.1879-????]

Born c1879 Elizabeth Lucas was a missionary who served with the BCMS from 1924 to her semi-retirement in 1933.  She then went on to serve in Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) for a number of years.  She was 45 when she started with the BCMS and may well have served with another missionary society eg the CMS before/after her time with the BCMS.  In The Yip Family book it was said of her in 1931 that she had been in China a number of years and spoke fluent Cantonese.

We have a record of Miss Lucas (missionary) going out to China in Sept 1922, on the Montclare, aged 43, via Canada.  I was tempted to discount this as it predates her membership of the BCMS, but then I thought that she may have been with the CMS and switched membership to the BCMS when it began in 1924, like the Clifts did.

When in 1924 the Clifts handed over their Foundling/ Children’s Home (26 children in number) in Nanning, Guangxi Province to the BCMS, Miss Lucas became its superintendent, reporting to Dr Lechmere Clift, who had moved to Hong Kong.  Dr Kate McBurney took over the hospital. Thanks to the hard work of the Clifts, Nanning was to be an important BCMS station.

In 1925, due to anti-British, anti-foreign feeling in Nanning, Miss Lucas and Dr McBurney  found it necessary to retire to Hong Kong, leaving the Chinese staff in charge.  

In 1926 The Children’s Home was moved 180 miles south to Lungchow and Miss Lucas returned in charge, assisted by Miss Edith Loudwell.  For greater safety, 8 older girls were taken on to Haiphong which was in French Territory.  The Home was safe in Lungchow for the next four years.

In 1928 she may have been away on furlough as we have her on a shipping list that November returning to Hong Kong on the Kalyan.

More troubles arose with the Chinese Civil War and in 1930 the Red Army took Lungchow.  At 7am one morning about thirty armed soldiers came and looted the Home (about 30 orphans), and the missionaries were taken to the army headquarters.  It was a march of some 18 miles.  Some of the soldiers however were sympathetic and asked Miss Lucas to tell them about ‘the Jesus doctrine’. One account reads, ‘Can you picture the rather frail elder lady stumbling along that rough mountain track, her feet raw with blisters, surrounded by a bunch of Red soldiers, armed to the teeth, trying to hear the old old story from their prisoner?’

Luckily the Red Army was driven out of Lungchow and Miss Lucas was able to return with a strong escort of soldiers and move the Home firstly to Haiphong and then in May to Hong Kong under the British flag.  The home was settled in the palatial surroundings of 24 Broadwood Road, where it stayed for three years.  The BCMS was able to afford the low rent as the landlord believed the house was haunted by the spirit of his dead wife.

In 1931 Miss Lucas was joined by the young missionary Mildred Dibden.  By then the Home had 35 girls.  They called Miss Lucas Aunty Luk.

In 1933 the Chinese landlord of the Home put his prices up and the Foundling/Children's Home was obliged to move to The White House, Taipo.  After 3 months Miss Lucas semi-retired (aged about 55), leaving Mildred Dibden in charge.  We have her arriving back in the UK in February 1934 (missionary) on the Carthage, headed for 10 Finchley Road, St Johns Wood, London.  This was to be her destination for a number of years when coming home.  We don't know if it was her home or that of a friend.

After a home furlough of nine months, we find her in November of that year sailing from London on the Strathnaver heading out to her next assignment in Columbo, Ceylon, where she would have less responsibility, and more leisure, as an assistant to the warden of a missionary guest home there, before finally retiring.  She had left the BCMS and may have been with another missionary society.  She must have been there a number of years because in November 1951 we have record of her returning to London on the Himalaya, retired missionary, aged 72, to 10 Finchley Road, last permanent residence India. 

I have no date of death for Elizabeth Lucas – again too many to choose from on Ancestry.

In her account of Mildred Dibden’s life, Jill Doggett describes Elizabeth Lucas as Mildred Dibden saw her – ‘Her blue eyes were kind. . . . a forthright gaze. . . Straight and stern when the occasion demanded discipline. . . sometimes a block in the way of more enlightened educational methods but staunch and true as a friend. . . Someone of absolute integrity.’ 

Disclaimer - Due to the number of Elizabeth Lucasses born c1879 on Ancestry, it has not been possible to identify her in any census returns.  The task is a bit easier in the passenger lists because of the Hong Kong and Colombo connections, though even here I may have got things wrong.

Sources: 

The First 25 Years of the BCMS 

The Yip Family of Amah Rock – Jill Doggett.

Ancestry