Osmond Peskett served as a missionary with the BCMS in China from 1934-51, and later in Tanzania (1965-67), interspersed with times leading churches in England in Tonbridge in Kent and Chadderton in Lancashire.
Osmond Peskett must have been born in the early 1900s. He began his time with the BCMS in 1934 and was ordained deacon in the church in Nanning in Kwangsi (Guangxi) Province in December 1937.
At that time the Rev Wilfrid Stott oversaw the work in Nanning. He ran a Bible School there to which Christians could come for training before going out as evangelists and preachers. In addition the Emmanuel Hospital at Nanning played an important part in winning the confidence of the people. The hospital was founded by Dr Harry Lechmere Clift and his wife Winifred in 1906. In 1935 Dr Freda Harmer was posted there and she and Osmond Peskett met through the church and later married.
In 1939 the Japanese army in its incursions into China took Nanning and their bombing destroyed much of the town. Fortunately the hospital and church were not badly damaged and were able to continue their good work.
In the autumn of 1940 Rev Peskett and his wife were in Hong Kong, temporarily in charge of the BCMS Children’s Home which had recently moved to Fanling. While he was there his wife treated Mildred Dibden at the newly opened Fanling Babies’ Home; she was having a stubborn relapse of malaria in November/December. Dr Peskett decided that hospital treatment was called for, and once the Christmas festivities were over, Miss Dibden was admitted to the recently built Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam where some drastic treatment restored her to health. She returned to her Fanling Home in March 1941.
The Pesketts must have left Hong Kong before hostilities started as in 1943 we find them back in Nanning, where Rev Peskett was in charge of the Bible Churchmen’s Training College and the Emmanuel Hospital. In June of this year Rev Peskett wrote a letter to the mother of missionary nurse Ruth Little in Australia giving news of Miss Little which had been brought from Hong Kong by a Chinese school teacher; she had arrived at Nanning with a party of orphan girls from the Fanling Babies’ Home. These were the older BCMS girls who were thought to be at risk in Hong Kong and so sent to Nanning, a journey of 350 miles.
In his letter Rev Peskett gave assurances that colleagues Ruth Little, Mildred Dibden and Iris Critchell were as well as could be expected under Japanese occupation and there was no need to feel anxious for their welfare. The Japanese were supplying them with rice, flour and sugar, amongst other things, and they were enjoying liberty to visit Hong Kong to get supplies and visit friends. This was before things got a lot worse towards the end of the war when the Japanese were losing.
In 1945 Rev Peskett spoke at the BCMS autumn meeting in London about conditions in South China and how much the work had been hindered by the Sino-Japanese troubles. He was one of four secretaries representing the four main fields of BCMS work round the world, he in South China, the other 3 fields being India, Burma and Africa.
In 1946 Rev Peskett was sent back to Nanning to assess the war damage and see to repairs. St Peter’s Church was still standing but the missionaries’ house was gone and of the hospital only some walls survived. These were pulled down and the hospital rebuilt together with the missionary house.
In 1949 the success of the Communist forces in China was complete and there followed a mass exodus of missionaries from the country.
The Pesketts returned to England where Osmond served as vicar of St Stephen’s, Tonbridge.
Freda Peskett died (1953?) and Osmond remarried.
He then served as a missionary again in Tanzania from 1965-67 before finally returning to England to serve as vicar of Christ Church, Chadderton, Lancs.
Sources:
The Newcastle Sun 31st August 1943
The First 25 Years of the BCMS
The Yip Family of Amah Rock – Jill Doggett
Help with life dates for Osmond and Freda Peskett would be very welcome.