Mary Hannah Fulton

Mary Hannah Fulton (31 May 1854 – 7 January 1927) was a medical missionary sent to South China by the Presbyterian Church.

In addition, she preached the Presbyterian faith and ultimately began a multi-denominational Christian congregation in Shanghai.

Fulton attended Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, where she completed her freshman and sophomore years.

Her graduation thesis was written on the topic of Elephantiasis Gracecorum-leprosy, a disease especially common in central and southern China.

Together, they set up an outpost in Kwai Ping in the Guangxi province, an anti-foreigner region where no missionaries had previously ventured.

However, before the opening, a violent gang attacked the missionary outpost, incited by Confucian scholars who were against the mutilation of human bodies for the sake of medicine.

[5] Fulton performed medical services ranging from regular treatment to common surgical operations free of charge to those who could not pay.

It was housed on the ground floor of the Theodore Cuyler First Presbyterian Church in the western suburbs of Canton and consisted of 11 female students.

[7] Theodore Cuyler and David Gregg were pastors of the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, New York, which commissioned and underwrote much of Fulton's work in China.

Three years later, in 1906, another gift from Hackett allowed a second building to be built to house lecture and laboratory rooms.

The goal of the college was to distribute Christianity and modern medicine, as well as to elevate the social status of women in China.

With Fulton’s recommendation, the curriculum was taught in Cantonese in order to train women to be most effective to the surrounding areas and provide them with greater professional opportunities.

The curriculum included attending clinics, helping to lance boils, and practical assistance in childcare and delivering babies.

[12] She presented the Publication Committee of the Chinese Medical Society with a supply of her translation, which included Dr. Anna M. Fullerton’s “Nursing in Abdominal Surgery and Disease of Women” as well as “Diseases of Children” and “Nursing in Abdominal Surgery”.