Ann Fanny Wombwell Heads For Wuhan

Marriage certificate of Herbert Sowerby and Ann Fanny Wombwell (third cousin x2 removed of Hetty Jane Owen)

In 1893 a lengthy historical survey of the activities of the Protestant Episcopal Church in China was published, together with a number of other documents, providing a number of references to the Sowerbys and enabling us to get at least some limited insight into the strange and novel life they were now leading, as happily married, they proceeded in February 1882, up the Yangtze River to Wuhan.

On November 28th, Herbert was appointed to the Diaconate and two years later he was to be fully ordained as a priest. In the interim he was put in charge of the Bishop Boone Memorial School in Wuhan. By 1884, the school had thirty-two pupils, and Herbert had been given further responsibilities for two other day schools and for visiting in-ward patients. Their mission had begun.