Kathleen Morris (missionary nurse)
Kathleen Morris was a British Canadian missionary to Japan in the mid-twentieth century. She was a qualified nurse midwife, who originally came from Exeter, Devon. Although two of her cousins Charles and Leonard Sharland were missionaries, they were all the first generation to move out from a relatively parochial background. Her father, Charles Morris, was a postal clerk[1].
Early years[edit]
Kathleen Annie Margaret Morris was born on 9 May 1903 in Exeter, Devon.[2] Her father Charles Morris (born 1875) was a postal clerk who became a post office overseer by the time of his retirement.
Nurse and midwife[edit]
Kathleen trained as a nurse at the Greenwich and Deptford Hospital, where she qualified as a registered nurse on 29 June 1929[3]. She went on to qualify as an enrolled midwife on 24 May 1930[4]. She was then working as a nurse in Exeter till about 1935.
First Term in Japan[edit]
Kathleen was with the Japan Rescue Mission in Osaka, Japan by 1937[5]. This was an organisation that worked to “save” girls likely to be sold to the licensed prostitution system. With others from the mission she had to leave Japan with the escalation of hostilities between Japan and China and was on the Empress of Asia which evacuated refugees from Shanghai. She arrived in Vancouver, Canada, on 11 September 1937 destined for England.[6]
Move to Canada[edit]
Morris spent World War II in England and was registered as a nurse in Exeter in 1943. However, by 1945 she was resident in Sicamous, British Columbia, Canada, involved in Christian outreach to the Japanese in Canada[7]. She had mastered the Japanese language in her first tour of Japan.
Return to Japan[edit]
Morris returned to Japan with the Japan Evangelistic Band (JEB). In Japan she worked under the Aizu Christian Fellowship (ACF), which was a localised division of the JEB. In 1955 she was in Fukushima, where she was president of the ACF[8]. In 1963 she was known as the field representative of the ACF.[9]
References[edit]
- ↑ Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA), 1911
- ↑ War Office: Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ (Microfilm Copies); (The National Archives Microfilm Publication WO363); Records created or inherited by the War Office, Armed Forces, Judge Advocate General, and related bodies; The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England.
- ↑ Register of Nurses. Royal College of Nursing, London, United Kingdom.
- ↑ Midwives Roll. Wellcome Library, London, England.
- ↑ UK & Ireland, Nursing Registers, 1898-1968
- ↑ "September 11 1937 - Notable Passengers". www.empressofasia.com. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
- ↑ An Historical Sketch of the Canadian Japanese Mission 1942-1978 (PDF). Search this book on
- ↑ The Japan Christian year-book 1956
- ↑ The Japan Christian year-book 1964
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