Martha PLESTED ^3,4,7

  General Notes:

Martha became a Baptist Missionary about a year after she arrived in Brisbane on the ship "Dorunda" on 21 October 1884 aged 29 years. She served the remainder of her life in India with only a few trips back to Australia to report on her work. The Baptist Church has published a small book " The Martha Plested Story".

On the 1881 British Census, Martha was listed as a General Servant in the household of Mrs Elizabeth Maris and her son Alfred Maris at Main Road, Hinxton, Cambridge.

Martha's Epitaph reads, " Erected by the Baptist Association of Queensland in memory of Martha Plested, pioneer missionary in India, of the Queensland Baptist Churches.
Laboured in Bengal for 37 yrs, died Sydney, 22 Dec 1922 aged 68.

"farewell to Miss Plested, of the Jireh Baptist Church"

A fairly large congregation assembled at the Wharf-street Baptist Church on Monday evening to bid farewell to Miss Plested, of the Jireh Baptist Church, who is about to start for India as the first Lady Missionary sent out by the Baptists of Queensland. Mr. Geo. Grimes, chairman of tho Baptist Association, took the chair, and the Rev. W. Poole gave* a statement of the present stato of the mission work commenced by Miss Arnold's visit to Sueensland. Australia was a short time ago ectrified by New South Wales sending forth her contingent to the Soudan. The Baptists* of Australia were now sending forth their con tingent to India. Queensland was sending: Miss Plested; New South Wales, Miss Lances Victoria, Miss Wilkin and MiBS Fuller; and South Australia, Miss Peppin ; and Tasmania would probably also send a lady missionary. The whole of these ladies would meet in Adelaide, and, with Miss Arnold, would leave in the s.s. Clyde about the 24th October. Miss Plested briefly replied, remarking that she felt deeply the sympathy that had been extended to her on her proposed mission.

Death of a Pioneer Baptist Missionary.

The late Miss Plested. whose death occurred in Sydney last Fiidav, was the pioneer missionary of the Queensland Baptist Missionary Society She went to India in September, 1885, and as she did not retire till 1918 her service in India extended over 33 vears. Her sphere of work was in Noakhali, East Bengal. She visited Australia in 1890 and again in 1910 and in the interval paid a visit to England. Wherever she went the burden ol India's womanhood was on her heart, and she did much to stir the minds of her Australian sisters to the needs of her sex in that great land. She returned to this countiv last September a phvsical wreck but bright and hopeful in spirit. Her death took place at a nursing home in Sydney. The funeral will take place to-morrow morning at the conclusion of a service to be held in the City Tabernacle at 11 o'clock.

PLESTED, Martha (1854-1922)
Judith Godden

PLESTED, MARTHA (b. England, c. 1854, d. Sydney, NSW, 22 Dec 1922). First Queensland Baptist overseas missionary.

Martha Plested arrived in Brisbane from England on 7 June 1885, aged about 31, and became a member of the Jireh Baptist Church in Fortitude Valley. One month later she heard pioneer Baptist missionary Ellen Arnold (q.v.) speak about her work in Bengal, India and of her desire to return with others to work amongst the women of the 'zenanas' (inner part of the home restricted to women). Realising that this was an opportunity to fulfill a long-held desire, she only took a day to make her decision, confident that 'God has chosen her for this special work' and that he 'would fit me for whatever was needed'.

The Queensland Baptist Missionary Society, formed on 5 June 1885 as a result of the vision of Silas Mead (q.v.) of Adelaide received her application, and two months later Martha Plested was farewelled from Brisbane at a commissioning service held at the Wharf Street Baptist Church. At the time, there were 15 Baptist churches, 13 pastors and 1324 members in the colony, who raised £110 to cover her passage, outfit, salary and expenses. They hoped that other recruits would soon join Plested to staff a Queensland field, but Kate Allenby of Windsor Road Baptist Church, who went to the field with Martha Plested in 1890 was the only one to do so. She was with Martha for four years before working independently, later establishing the Evangelical Missionary Society in Mayurbhanj (est 1900). Martha Plested, Ellen Allenby and three others who arrived in India in December 1885 were known as the 'Five Barley Loaves' and they helped establish a significant ministry for Australian Baptists in East Bengal.

Plested had no formal training, but she did not lack ability and spiritual qualities. Working first at Faridpur on the Ganges with the SA Baptist Missionary Society, she moved east to Comilla with the NSW Mission. Finally, she was asked by her committee was one of Sydney's leading evangelicals. She distributed religious tracts and lollies to children and was active in the major women's evangelical organisations, especially those working for the welfare of women, girls and animals. She published her poetry and was a prolific letter writer to the newspapers on prison reform and other subjects. In a 1884 letter to the Brisbane Courier which sparked a fierce controversy, she denounced Queensland's Contagious Diseases Act and the resultant brutality towards suspected prostitutes. In 1886 she was on a governmental Ladies' Committee which condemned abuses at Newington Asylum for aged and destitute women, at which she had regularly visited and given gospel addresses.

In April 1889, Plested and her temporary associate, Marie Gilbert, moved to the new base which was the centre for their work amongst the million or so inhabitants of the 6500 square km district. Here she worked in what government officials regarded as 'the worst district in East Bengal' for the next 29 years, she returned to Australia only in 1890 and 1910, and visited Britain in 1897. She was cut off from fellow workers for long periods, suffered threat of vermin, natural disaster and opposition from unfriendly people and wild animals. (The river ultimately engulfed her home.) Her health was often weak and lack of money was a constant problem.

At first she found the living conditions a trial preventing her from enjoying the countryside. But she devoted herself to learning the language and culture, and plunged into her main work of visiting the women with devotion and zeal. She also engaged in medical work (using homoeopathic cures), education, literacy work, Bible teaching (sometimes with the aid of a magic lantern), temperance work and supervision of village preaching teams. Soon she was recognised as 'a very holy woman', and despite her small stature (150 cms) and frailty, she was known for her warm spirit, common sense, tenacity, resourcefulness and especially for her love for people. Her life and work in Bengal is well documented in her letters and reports which often contain lengthy and colourful descriptions of her activities.

Martha Plested retired in 1918, hoping to live the rest of her life in India. However, bad health forced her return to Australia in 1922. She died in Sydney aged 68 years, and was buried at the Toowong cemetery in Brisbane where an impressive monument marking her grave expresses the appreciation of her denomination.
http://webjournals.alphacrucis.edu.au/journals/adeb/p/plested-martha-1854-1922/

  Death Notes:

Martha Plested
Death Date: 1922
Death Place: New South Wales
Father's name: Henry
Mother's name: Elizabeth M
Registration Year: 1922
Registration Place: Marrickville, New South Wales
Registration Number: 16766

  Noted events in her life were:

• Alt. Birth, June Q 1854, Marylebone,,Middlesex,England. Regn: June Q 1854

• Census: St Martin at Oak, 7 April 1861, Norwich,,Norfolk,England. Scholar

• Immigration & Travel: "Dorunda," 21 October 1884, Brisbane,,Queensland,Australia. Martha Plested
Age: 29
Birth Year: abt 1855
Port of Arrival: Brisbane
Arrival Date: 21 Oct 1884