Grace Elliott Rankin was an American Baptist missionary who served in South China.
Born in 1898, she received business training in Holdenville, Oklahoma, completed the B.M.T. at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1916, and earned the B.A. from Baylor College in 1919 before directing the Good Will Center in Oklahoma City during the summer of 1918.
Appointed as a missionary in 1919, she began her work in Yingtak (Yingde), where she undertook language study (1920–21) and served as principal of the Phwei Kong Girls’ School (1920–22).
In 1924 she married fellow missionary Manly Whitfield Rankin, who had been appointed in 1923. They had two children, Manly Whitfield Jr and John Elliott.
From 1922 onward, Grace served in Shiuchow (Shaoguan), first in general mission roles (1922–23) and then as principal of the Khoi Min Girls’ High School (1924–25).
Cheung Chau
Like many South China missionaries, it looks as though the Rankins had a holiday home on Cheung Chau, which they may have been renting as it was possibly owned by the Cadburys. We have a letter written by Grace Rankin from House #19 on April 1st 1926.
During the 1930s Grace held several key positions, including primary school teacher (1933–34), director of Bible Women for the North River field (1933–34), and adviser for kindergarten work (1934–37), shaping the mission’s educational and women’s ministries along the Hakka–Cantonese frontier.
Meanwhile, Manly served as principal of Khoi Min High School (1924–27), director of the North River evangelistic work (1928–40), and principal and New Testament teacher at the Hakka Bible School (1933–37).
After the disruptions of World War II, Grace resumed service as an evangelistic worker in Kukong (Qujiang) beginning in 1946, while Manly likewise continued postwar evangelistic work in the same region from 1945.
Grace Rankin died in 1976. Her career reflected the integration of women’s education, Bible women’s networks, and river‑based evangelism that characterized Southern Baptist mission strategy in northern Guangdong.
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