Kate W McBurney, along with her sister Jean G McBurney, came from the American Reformed Presbyterian Church tradition and both trained to be medical missionaries, serving in China at the beginning of the 20th century.
Kate McBurney graduated from Geneva College in 1866 and taught for ten years.
From 1890-97 the McBurneys served in the RPCNA Indian Mission in Oklahoma, where they met Dr Ida Scott and together they decided on mission in China.
Kate McBurney then took a degree in Medicine at Women's College, Philadelphia, graduating in 1901. Sister Jean had trained here earlier and gone into private practice, but they were both now ready to serve as missionaries.
As the missionary work in Tak Hing (Deqing County), Guangdong, China flourished, the McBurneys were sent there in 1903, followed by Rev. Ernest Mitchell and Dr. Ida Scott in 1907. The four doctors carried out medical missions in Tak Hing, building hospitals and schools.
The McBurneys also served in Luoding, dedicated to pioneering and preaching. Reverend Mitchell and his wife Lena were their co-workers here too.
In 1907 Ida Scott, Kate and Jean McBurney, like a number of other missionaries at the time, became the joint owners of a holiday villa on Cheung Chau, Hong Kong, House #2, which they owned until 1925. The missionaries greatly enjoyed Cheung Chau's sunshine, sea, and breezes, and the opportunity of meeting with workers from other missions, renewing old acquaintances and making new ones.
In 1908 after a month’s leave there, Kate McBurney left on October 9th and returned to Tak Hing. She described leaving: "We spent a month on Cheung Chau, finally arranging to leave by boat at 6:00 a.m. on Monday. We lived on a steep hill about a mile high, carrying a considerable amount of luggage. We had to move most of it down the hill on Saturday and leave it at the home of Sergeant Gordon, the only foreigner on the island...."
This was a time of instability on the mainland due to the civil war there and anti-foreign feeling, and missionaries like the McBurneys were often obliged to seek refuge in their homes on Cheung Chau eg during the 1911 Xinhai Revolution.
Dr Jean had been busy on long itinerant trips and work with the leper community, but in 1913 she resigned from the mission field to study Christian Science.
For several years Dr Kate had charge of the women's school in Tak Hing.
In 1922, she too resigned from the Mission, after a disagreement with the Foreign Mission Board over equipment she wanted to take to China. In a letter, she wrote, "I believe God has moved me to resign... Aside from a partial ownership of a villa on Cheung Chau, I own no property in the world. Cheung Chau is my true home."
Her interest in China continued, however, and in 1924 she was temporarily appointed by the China Medical Missionary Association to manage the Emmanuel Hospital at Nanning. It had been started by Dr. Harry Lechmere Clift, but his wife Winifred had fallen ill and they had had to return to Hong Kong for treatment. During the time she managed the hospital at Nanning (1924-1926), Dr McBurney was a member of the BCMS.
In 1925 the McBurneys and Ida Scott sold House #2 on Cheung Chau to the Mitchells.
Dr Kate went on to work in the Philippine Islands. She returned to America in 1937, and died in Pennsylvania in 1939.
Sources: Bradbury Retreat Centre
The First 25 Years of the BCMS
Reformed Presbyterian Mission in South China.
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Letter from Dr Kate McBurney 1910
1910 Olive Trees - the magazine of the Reformed Presbyterian Church Mission.
P.261
"China, Tak Hing.—A letter from Dr. Kate McBurney, begun Sept. 1,
...The secret of our neglect of Macao is that we now prefer to live on an island under the control of the British Government in Hong Kong. The island is in two divisions, with a narrow neck between. It is for this reason sometimes called Dumb-Bell Island. The handle of the dumb-bell—or neck of the island—is low, not much above sea level. The two ends are very steep and irregular.
A number of missionaries have built houses so as to have a place to rest in summer. Most of the first few houses built were destroyed by a typhoon, but those that are now erected are thought to be able to withstand the storms that occasionally sweep over the place. The houses are mostly small cottages, but have to be built of stone or concrete, as nothing of wood is supposed to be able to withstand the elements and the white ants.
Dr. Wright and Mr. Mitchell have put up small cottages. In Mrs. Wright's absence they kindly allowed us four "KooNeungs" to occupy the Wright cottage. It has been a boon, for it is a very difficult matter to rent rooms on the island. The main attractions here are sea bathing and the absence of conventionalities, with the opportunity of meeting with workers from other missions, renewing old acquaintances and making new ones...."
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