Eliza Jane Gillett Bridgman
Eliza Jane Gillett Bridgman (1805/1806–1871) was one of the first American women to live and work as a missionary in China. She arrived in Hong Kong in 1845 and married Elijah Coleman Bridgman, the first American Protestant missionary in China, the same year. She was a devoted teacher who started schools for Chinese girls in Shanghai and Beijing, often using her own money.
Early life and path to China
Eliza was born in Derby, Connecticut, the youngest of nine children. After her father died when she was ten, she moved with her mother to New Haven. She finished a boarding school at sixteen, became an assistant teacher, and had a strong religious experience in 1821. She later moved to New York City with her mother, became a boarding-school principal, and in 1843 was chosen to be a missionary teacher in China. She left New York on the ship Horatio in December 1843 with several other missionaries.
Life as a missionary
The group reached Hong Kong on April 24, 1845, during a time when China’s ports were opened to foreigners. Eliza soon met Elijah Bridgman, and they married on June 28, 1845, in Hong Kong. They began their work in Canton, where Eliza studied the Cantonese language. The couple adopted two Chinese girls and moved to Shanghai in 1847.
Education work
In 1850, Eliza opened the first Protestant day school for girls in Shanghai. She recruited local teachers and went door-to-door to find students. The Bridgmans made several trips to the United States for health reasons, and during a visit Eliza wrote a book called The Daughters of China.
By 1859, she ran three girls’ schools in Shanghai with about 75 students. Her husband Elijah died in 1861, and Eliza’s health declined. She returned to the United States in 1862, and her school in Shanghai was taken over by the Presbyterian Mission. While in the U.S., she wrote a biography of her husband, The Life and Labors of Elijah Coleman Bridgman.
Return to China and the Bridgman Academy
After the Second Opium War and the Convention of Peking, opening Beijing to foreigners, Eliza returned to China in 1864 and settled in Beijing. She founded the Bridgman Academy, funded the land and buildings, and contributed money to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to establish its headquarters in Beijing. That same year, the Teng Shih K'ou Congregational Church was built as part of the college.
The academy later became the Women’s College of Yenching University and helped educate many Chinese women leaders. In 1868, facing poor health, Eliza returned to Shanghai and invested more money in a girls’ school.
Eliza Jane Gillett Bridgman died in Shanghai on November 10, 1871, and is buried there beside her husband.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 06:17 (CET).