Miss Lochie Rankin (1851-1929.9.13) was born in Milan, Tennessee, USA. She was the first woman as well as the first unmarried female missionary sent to China under the sponsorship of the women of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS). She was regarded as “Pioneer Missionary Builder of the Kingdom in China for Fifty Golden Years” of MECS. She arrived in China in 1878. Her younger sister, Dora, is the second and arrived in China in 1879 to help her. Dora died “at the post of toil” in December 1886. From 1878 to 1898, especially after Dora’s death, thirty-two other Methodist women followed Miss Rankin to China.
Rankin undertook her first assignment in China as an assistant at the Clopton Boarding School in Shanghai. She mastered the Chinese language sufficiently to open a new school in 1879 in Nanziang, a city about 15 miles from Shanghai. After Dora’s death, she opened another school in nearby Kading. In 1901, she moved the schools to Huchow, Chekiang (Huzhou, Zhejiang) and named it Virginia School. The schools at Nanziang and Kading were closed at 1909. Virginia School, with two other schools established by the MECS sisters, McTyeire School in Shanghai and Laura Haygood Girls’ School in Soochow (Suzhow), were regarded as the three most famous girls’ schools in China at that time. Many well-known women in modern Chinese history were students of these schools, including the Soong sisters.
From 1906, while other sisters of MECS were in charge of the girls’ school, Miss Rankin was in charge of the boys’ school in Huchow. The boys’ school also made remarkable contribution. Many well-know scientists including five members of the Chinese Academy of Science, educators, social workers, writers etc. were students of the schools. After 49 years in educational missions in China, it was said that she had students in responsible positions in every province in China.
In 1926, ill health forced Miss Rankin retired and returned in America. She became a student on the Scarritt Bible School and was known as a National bureau of Information on China. She died on Sept 13, 1929 and was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery, Nashville. To remember her, MECS at Nashville established the Lochie Rankin Circle organization, which remained active at least until 1952.
