Patterns in a short life: Theodosia Barker Dean (1819–1843) the first British-born woman to publish in Chinese

The missionary Theodosia Ann Barker was the first British-born woman to publish in Chinese in the early nineteenth century. She has been largely forgotten but her brief life and work not only highlight women’s contributions to translation history but also deepen our understanding of the female missionary experience in East Asia. This paper takes a historiographical approach by focussing on Theodosia Ann Barker in order to explore the important contributions by women in the mission fields, in translation history, and in historical writing more broadly during the early days of the Protestant China mission.