# Maria Dyer

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**Maria Dyer** (née **Tarn**) (c. 1803 – 21 October 1846), was a British [Protestant](/source/Protestant) Christian [missionary](/source/Missionary) to the Chinese in the [Congregationalist tradition](/source/Congregational_church), who worked among the Chinese in [Malaya](/source/British_Malaya).

## Life

She was born in London in about 1803. She was the eldest daughter of Joseph Tarn, Director of [London Missionary Society](/source/London_Missionary_Society).

She arrived in [Penang](/source/Penang_Island) in 1827 with her husband, [Samuel Dyer](/source/Samuel_Dyer). The Dyers lived in [Malacca](/source/Malacca_City) and then finally in [Singapore](/source/Singapore). Maria was known for founding the oldest girls' school in Singapore. It was known as the "Chinese Girls' School" when it was founded in 1842 (it still exists, now called [St. Margaret's Secondary School](/source/St._Margaret's_Secondary_School)).[1] Her husband died in [Macau](/source/Macau) in 1843 before being able to bring his family to live in China itself at [Fuzhou](/source/Fuzhou). Maria Tarn later remarried, to [Johann Georg Bausum](/source/Johann_Georg_Bausum) in 1845, but she died the following year in [Penang](/source/Penang_Island), at age 43, and was buried in the [Protestant Cemetery](/source/Old_Protestant_Cemetery,_George_Town) there. In 1853 the [Society for Promotion of Female Education in the East](/source/Society_for_Promotion_of_Female_Education_in_the_East) sent [Sophia Cooke](/source/Sophia_Cooke) to Singapore to become the Principal of what was still called the "Chinese Girls' School".[2]

Dyer's orphaned daughter, [Maria Jane Dyer](/source/Maria_Jane_Dyer), married [James Hudson Taylor](/source/James_Hudson_Taylor), the founder of the [China Inland Mission](/source/China_Inland_Mission).

Samuel and Maria had five children: Maria Dyer (1829–1831), Samuel Dyer Jr. (1833–1898), Burella Hunter Dyer (1835–1858), [Maria Jane Dyer](/source/Maria_Jane_Dyer) (1837–1870), and Ebenezer Dyer (1842 – aft. Oct. 1843).

## References

1. ["Maria Dyer"](https://www.swhf.sg/profiles/maria-dyer/). *Singapore Women's Hall of Fame*. Retrieved 2021-03-15.

1. ["Cooke, Sophia (1814–1895), missionary and schoolmistress"](https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-49145). 2004. [doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49145](https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/49145). ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 2021-03-15.

## Bibliography

- Davies, Evan (1846). [*The Memoir of Samuel Dyer: Sixteen Years Missionary to the Chinese*](https://books.google.com/books?id=6HpFAQAAMAAJ). London: John Snow.

## Bibliography

- [Taylor, James Hudson III](/source/James_Hudson_Taylor_III); Chang, Irene; *Even to Death - The Life and Legacy of Samuel Dyer*. Hong Kong: OMF Books, 2009.

### Further reading

- [Historical Bibliography of the China Inland Mission](/source/Historical_Bibliography_of_the_China_Inland_Mission)

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