Francesca French

Francesca Law French (Chinese: 馮貴石; pinyin: Féng Guìshí; 12 December 1871 – 2 August 1960) was a British Protestant Christian missionary in China.

The French sisters were stationed with Mildred Cable in Huozhou, Shanxi and travelled constantly in the surrounding area.

[3] After 20 years in Huozhou, the trio believed that the mission should be turned over to Chinese leaders and the three applied to work in relatively unknown, largely Muslim western China.

[4] In 1913, the trio travelled to Gansu Province, Xinjiang and the Gobi Desert, and a few years later they adopted a young Tartar girl, a deaf mute, who remained with them when they returned to Britain.

[9] The interpersonal relations among the "trio" were that "Mildred was the 'father figure,' Francesca the mother, and Eva the strong-willed, puckish and wonderful child.

After their return in 1928, they took a year-long journey into Xinjiang (then known as Chinese Turkestan), on the way being detained by a Dongan leader, Ma Zhongying, to tend his wounds.

The trio left China for the last time in 1936 and were unable to return because, in August 1938, all foreigners were ordered to leave Gansu and Xinjiang by the local warlords.