Tan See Boo[a] (18 June 1833 – 25 November 1884) was a Chinese missionary who moved to Singapore in 1856 to assist the Presbyterian Church's local chapter.
In 1854,[1] at the direction of William Chalmers Burns,[4] who was the first Presbyterian missionary in China, Tan converted to Christianity and renounced his profession of carving wood idols for household shrines.
[8] Tan had previously requested the Church's permission to return to Xiamen to study medicine and be ordained as a Presbyterian minister who would then be able to perform baptisms, but this was denied for unspecified reasons.
[12] In 1867, after aligning himself with the Plymouth Brethren, Tan established a Chinese "gospel hall" and would live in its North Bridge Road premises until his death.
[8] Tan contributed to a sizeable portion of the hall's building fund after selling his wife's jewellery as well as medicine to opium addicts.