American 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 India at the turn of the 20th century.
As the missionary work in Tak Hing, Guangdong, China flourished, the Church transferred the McBurneys there in 1903, and Rev. Ernest Mitchell and Dr. Ida Scott from India to Tak Hing in 1907. The three women doctors and Rev. Mitchell carried out medical missions in Tak Hing, building hospitals and schools.
They were also medical missionaries to Luoding, dedicated to pioneering and preaching. Reverend Mitchell and his wife Lena were their co-workers here too during this period.
By 1907 Ida Scott, Kate and Jean McBurney, like a number of other missionaries at the time, had become 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 breeze, 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 missionaries were often obliged to seek refuge in their homes on Cheung Chau eg during the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, the McBurneys and others took refuge in their villas.
In 1923, Kate McBurney resigned from her post in South China, possibly because of the unrest there. In a moving 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."
In 1924 Doctor McBurney 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.
From 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.
Kate McBurney managed the hospital at Nanning for two years.
Her whereabouts after that is uncertain. The China Medical Missionary Association ceased their work in southern China and went to Manila. She may have gone with them.
Source: Bradbury Retreat Centre
The First 25 Years of the BCMS
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