Person:Gertrude Achurch (1)

1881 England Census notes Gertrude living at Greenend College Farm, Great Stukeley, Huntingdonshire, England with her mother Elizabeth and brothers: Alfred, Robert, Berty, and sister Louisa (noted as Louie) also noted Susan Linton servant. Age noted as11. Occupation noted as School girl.

1891 England Census notes Gertrude living "Near Church", Brampton, Huntingdonshire, England with her mother Elizabeth. Age noted as 21. Occupation noted as "living with my mother"

Gertrude was a member of The Church of England Zenana Missionary Society. A society that promoted evangilsm in India. It was founded in 1880 after separation from the Interdenominational Indian Female Normal School Society which was founded in 1852.

There are notations in "India's Women" The Magazine of The Church of England Zenana Missionary Society Volume XIII:

Pg 150 Committee notes March 1st 1893 - "A letter was also read reporting the serious illness of Miss Gertrude Achurch, one of the Society's candidates at the Mildmay Bethnel Green Hospital."

Pg 163 has a memorium page after the death of Gertrude:

In Memoriam - Gertrude Achurch

This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby,” was the Master’s answer to the message from the sick-room at Bethany. “Lord, behold, he whom Thou loves is sick.” How strange the words must have seemed in the light of what followed! The Friend who loved him, and who alone could have caused that he should not have died, did not arrive in time. Lazarus died, was carried to the grave, and lay four days in the tomb. And then the Master came. The voice of the Son of God was heard by him that was dead. The glory of God was seen. Jesus, who shed tears of sympathy and affection as He stood by the tomb, was manifested as “the Resurrection and the Life.” And do not these words hold good with regard to her whose early homecall we have to record? At our Committee Meeting on March 1st, we heart that Miss Gertrude Achurch, on of our accepted candidates for the mission-field, was dangerously ill with pleuro-pneumonia at the new Mildmay Hospital, Bethnal Green, whither she has gone in October to gain some practical experience in nursing, after a year’s training at “The Willows.” She was on in whom grace has sanctified a natural buoyancy of spirit, and had wrought and unaffected simplicity, sweetness, and self-forgetfulness which won the hearts of her fellow-workers and of the patients, and gave every promise of bright and frightful missionary and patients, and gave every promise of bright and fruitful missionary service. Much prayer was offered for her. It was hoped that she might be spared, but on Saturday evening, March 4th, she passed peacefully “into the haven where she would be.” Her body was laid to rest at Brampton, in Huntingdonshire, on the afternoon of the following Wednesday, “amidst glorious sunshine, masses of flowers, and many true mourners.”

“This sickness has not been unto death, but for the glory of God.” To her it is not death. When first is occurred to her that she might not recover, she asked, “Is He coming for me?” “The Master has come and called for” her, and she, like Mary of old, “arose quickly and went unto Him.” Her short life has not been in vain. Though not spared to work for Christ in the field abroad, she has been enabled to shine brightly for Him as home. One of the hospital workers, writing of her illness, says “Thisis a time of great privilege to us.” Our warmest sympathy is with the members of her family in their loss of one most dear to them. For her we rejoice and praise God for His abundant grace given to and manifested in her. To us who remain the Master says, “Considering the issue of her life, imitate her faith,” Heb. Xiii. 7 (R.V.)

G. T.

INDIA’S WOMEN The Magazine of the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society Volume XIII “The Morning Cometh” 1893 Publishers James Nisbet & Co., 21 Berners Street, London

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Ancestry.com. 1891 England Census (1). (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2005;)
   Database online. Class: RG12; Piece: 1237; Folio 8; Page 9; GSU roll: 6096347.

   Record for Gertrude Achurch

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} FreeBMD. England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index: 1837-1915. (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2006;)
   Database online.

   Record for Gertrude Achurch