Rachel Orde Wingate (c. 1901-11 June 1953) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

linguist and missionary to

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

(Western China). She served with the Swedish Missionary Society.

Family

Wingate was the eldest daughter of Colonel George Wingate, the founder of the Central Asia Mission. Her brother, Major General Orde Wingate, led the

Bamar The Bamar people (Burmese language, Burmese: ဗမာလူမျိုး, ''ba. ma lu myui:'' ) (formerly known as Burmese people or Burmans) are a Sino-Tibetan-speaking ethnic group native to Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). With an esti ...

Chindits The Chindits, officially known as Long Range Penetration Groups, were special operations units of the British and Indian armies which saw action in 1943–1944 during the Burma Campaign of World War II. Brigadier Orde Wingate formed the ...

into Burma during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he is buried at

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and a memorial stands in Charlton Cemetery, South East London. Many in the family were active members of the

Open Brethren The Open Brethren, sometimes called Christian Brethren, are a group of Evangelicalism, Evangelical Christianity, Christian churches that arose in the late 1820s as part of the Assembly Movement within the Plymouth Brethren tradition. They origi ...

Education

Wingate studied

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Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

where she obtained her degree in Arabic and History.

Work

She joined the mission in 1924 as a voluntary worker. At times, especially in the early years, there has been some friction between the missionaries in the field, but the disagreements seemed to be more or less over in the 1920s. Many of the Swedish missionaries who arrived in the early 1920s remained in service until 'the bitter end' in 1938. The missionary women were a tremendous asset in the whole missionary undertaking in a society marked by male chauvinism and prejudices where their gender-counterparts were segregated and could only be approached by women. In 1928 she returned to

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where she became a secretary for the Royal Central Asian Society. Several years after she left Xinjiang, she assisted Sir Denison Ross in his research into the Eastern Turkish language. Wingate never married. She died while in

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

on 11 June 1953, aged 52. Her burial took place in Charlton Cemetery where her mortal remains rest among other members of her family.

Writings

After working in Xinjiang, she wrote The Steep Ascent, a summary of the work and results of the Church combined with the historical events of the time. The Steep Ascent has since been translated into Chinese as well.

Bibliography

*''Rachel O. Wingate, The Steep Ascent: The Story of the Christian Church in Turkestan, British and Foreign Bible Society (1948?)'' *''Rachel O. Wingate, A Mission of Friendship into the Muslims of Turkestan. Muslim World. January 1959 – This is an American Scholarly periodical now published by Hartford Seminary Foundation.'' *''E. Denison Ross and Rachel O. Wingate, Dialogues in the Eastern Turki Dialect on Subjects of Interest to Travellers, London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1934'' (Republished , London: Trubner, 2003. '')''

References

English Protestant missionaries Protestant missionaries in China Christian missionaries in Central Asia Female Christian missionaries 1901 births 1953 deaths English expatriates in China {{UK-reli-bio-stub