Mary Ann Cooke (1784-1868) was a British

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

and educator, active in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

.Laird, M. Wilson ée Cooke Mary Anne (1783/4–1868), missionary. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 10 Jul. 2021, from https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-48959. In 1821, she became the first single female missionary to be sent from

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

to India, and founded a network of missionary girls' schools in Calcutta, which were famous as the first schools for girls in India, laying the foundation for modern female education in India.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Mary Ann 1784 births 1868 deaths British people in colonial India British Christian missionaries People from Kolkata 19th-century British educators 19th century in Kolkata 19th-century British women educators