Fonds MS-2-535 - Florence Jessie Murray fonds

Florence Jessie Murray was a medical missionary and writer. She was born at Pictou Landing, Nova Scotia, in 1894, the daughter of the Reverend Robert Murray and Isabel Murray. She graduated from Dalhousie University's School of Medicine in 1919, and in 1921 she began mission service for the Presbyterian Church in Korea. Murray assisted in building a hospital at Ham Heung, where she served as superintendent for the next twenty years. In 1942 she was among those missionaries placed under house arrest by the Japanese. In 1947 she went to Severance Hospital in Seoul. Considered one of Korea's leading experts in the treatment of tuberculosis and leprosy, she was twice honoured by the Korean government. In 1956 she was made an honourary Doctor of Laws by Dalhousie and an honourary Doctor of Divinity by Pine Hill, the first woman to receive this latter title. Murray wrote two memoirs: At the Foot of Dragon Hill and Return to Korea. She retired from mission service with the United Church in 1967 and died on 14 April 1975.