Mary Sumner

Mary Sumner (31 December 1828—11 August 1921[1]) was the founder of the Mothers' Union, a worldwide Anglican women's organisation.

Sumner dedicated herself to raising her children and helping her husband in his ministry by providing music and Bible classes.

Her plan was quite radical in its day as it involved calling women of all social classes to support one another and to see motherhood as a profession as important as those of men, if not more so.

The first meeting was held in Old Alresford Rectory, but Sumner was so overcome by nervousness that her husband had to speak for her and invite the women to return next week.

[4][2] The Mothers' Union concept spread rapidly to the dioceses of Ely, Exeter, Hereford, Lichfield and Newcastle and then throughout the United Kingdom.

In 1897, during her Diamond Jubilee, Queen Victoria became patron of the Mothers' Union, giving it an unprecedented stamp of approval.

The inscription on their tomb (from Revelation 14:13) reads: I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me/ Write Blessed are the dead which died in the Lord from henceforth./ Here, saith the Spirit, they may rest from their labours,/ And their works do follow them.

[7] The Church in Wales and other provinces remember Mary Sumner on 9 August, which the Mothers' Union initially (and at least one secondary source) incorrectly listed as the date of her death.

Mary Summer House at 24, Tufton Street, Westminster in London is the Mothers' Union headquarters, named in her memory.