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{{Infobox person
| name = Harriett Urmston
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 20 January 1828
| birth_place = [[Clapham Common]]
| death_date = {{d-da|4 September 1897|20 January 1828}}
| death_place = [[Maidenhead]]
| death_cause =
| other_names = "Holy Mary"
| known_for = evangelising to soldiers and their wives
| education =
| employer =
| occupation = activist
| spouse = Henry Brabazon Urmston
| children =
| parents =
| relatives =
| signature =
| website =
| footnotes =
| nationality = [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]]
}}

'''Harriett Urmston''' born '''Harriett Elizabeth Hughes''' (20 January 1828 – 4 September 1897) was a [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] missionary in India who preached to the British wives and soldiers in [[Rawalpindi]]. She spent years talking in the UK in support of the [[Zenana Bible and Medical Missionary Society]].

==Life==
Urmston was born in [[Clapham Common]] in 1828, but she was brought up in [[Ryde]] on the [[Isle of Wight]]. This was her family's home as her father was a member of parliament in London. Her parents were Maria (born Field) and [[William Hughes Hughes]].<ref name=rjb/> Her father had bought the house in Ryde after receiving an inheritance after which he styled himself with the name "Hughes Hughes". This was considered ludicrous and he caused some concern with his sharp practice that got him elected in Oxford.<ref>{{Cite web|title=HUGHES HUGHES, William (1792-1874), of Clapham Common, Surr. and Belle Vue House, Ryde, I.o.W. {{!}} History of Parliament Online|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/hughes-hughes-william-1792-1874|access-date=2020-07-17|website=www.historyofparliamentonline.org}}</ref>
[[File:Painting_by_Henry_Brabazon_Urmston.jpg|thumb|The Valley of Death, Balaclava, 1855 - Painting by her husband]]
Harriet sailed for India in 1850 in September. In November she married Henry Brabazon Urmston who had been working for the East India Company since 1847.<ref name=rjb/>

Her serious missionary work began when they began living in [[Rawalpindi]]. Her mission was not to the people of India, but initially to the wives of the soldiers. Her meetings attracted the husbands too and she was known as "Holy Mary". She would have services that consisted on hymns and a sermon based on scripture.<ref name=rjb/>
[[file:View of Sheikh Budeen from picnic hill in 1864 by H B Urmston (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|View of [[Sheikh Badin National Park|Sheikh Budeen]] from Picnic Hill (1864 in now Pakistan) by her husband]]
Ill health obliged the couple to return from India in 1875. This was their third return to the UK from India as they had been given two furloughs during their mission.<ref name=rjb/> They booked a [[package holiday]] with [[Thomas Cook & Son]] on their return and the family went on a £10 arranged holiday to Rome.<ref>{{Cite web|title=An Englishman in Rome|url=https://blogs.bl.uk/untoldlives/2014/01/an-englishman-in-rome.html|access-date=2020-07-18|website=blogs.bl.uk}}</ref>

She still worked to support the missions and she encouraged support for the [[Zenana Bible and Medical Missionary Society]]. This mission was aimed at women in India who could not normally meet a male missionary.<ref name=rjb>{{Cite ODNB|title=Urmston [née Hughes], Harriett Elizabeth Hughes (1828–1897), missionary|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-49161|access-date=2020-07-17|year=2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/49161|last1=Lauer|first1=L. E.}}</ref> It would have been unusual to hear a woman preach in Britain at that time, but on her return she continued to preach. The Temperance advocate [[Frederick Charrington]] invited her to preach thirteen times in East London at the Assembly Hall, Mile End. Less formally she spoke in mission halls. She addressed over 32,000 people in 1877 by speaking 276 times at different events.<ref name="rjb" />

Urmston and her family moved to [[Maidenhead]] in 1885 where she was said ro visit eighty families. She died in 1897 of typhoid, she was survived by her husband.<ref name=rjb/> The following year her biography "The Starry Crown: a sketch of the life work of Harriett E. H. Urmston, etc" was published.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Starry-Crown-sketch-Harriett-Urmston/dp/B000X8RIFY/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&qid=1595009563&refinements=p_27:George+Everard&s=books&sr=1-4&text=George+Everard|title=The Starry Crown: a sketch of the life work of Harriett E. H. Urmston, etc|date=1898|publisher=Hodder and Stoughton}}</ref>

==Private life==
Urmston and her husband had eight children and six of them outlived their mother. Namely Henry Brabazon (1851–1888), Mary Grace (1853–1933), Herbert Edwardes (1855–1885), Gertrude Elizabeth (1858–1916), Arthur Brabazon (b. 1861), Robert Bruce Brabazon (b. 1862), Beatrice Brabazon (b. 1864), and Florence Macan (b. 1866).

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urmston, Harriett}}
[[Category:1828 births]]
[[Category:1897 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Clapham]]
[[Category:British Protestant missionaries]]
[[Category:People from Ryde]]
[[Category:Protestant missionaries in India]]
[[Category:Female Christian missionaries]]

Harriett Urmston - Revision history

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