Martha Caroline Christine ARCHDALL

ARCHDALL, MARTHA CAROLINE CHRISTINE (née KAASOW) (b. Teschendorf near Stettin, Germany (now Szcenin, Poland) 26 Dec 185]; d. Melbourne, Vic, 1949). Teacher, founder of Deaconess institute in Sydney.

Daughter of a Lutheran pastor, Martha was a teacher when she married Mervyn Archdall an Anglican clergyman in Stettin 1882 and moved immediately to Balmain. The Archdalls commenced agitation for a deaconess institution in 1885. Following a meeting at St Phillip's, Church Hill with the Rev H A Langley (q.v.) 'Bethany' (named after 'Bethanien' near where Martha grew up), was established in August 1891 with Canon Archdall as first director while he remained rector of Balmain. convinced evangelicals, the Archdalls gave the institution a clear emphasis on training women as deaconesses for education, evangelism pastoral care and nursing. Martha opened a parish school. By 1900 Bethany had schools at Balmain, Lewisham, Lawson, Dapto and Bega. One quarter of her husband's stipend and the profits from the school fees went to support Bethany.

Martha was instrumental in taking over an employment agency in Darlinghurst and developing one in Balmain for gentle ladies and children from the Bethany Homes. Canon Archdall died in 1917 and Martha went to live in Melbourne. She attended the Deaconess Institution Jubilee celebrations in 1941.

Martha and Mervyn Archdall's vision and spirit of adventure brought into being the Church of England Deaconess Institution whose influence has spread throughout Australia and to overseas countries bringing the gospel to many.

M Rodgers, 'Attitudes to the ministry of women in the diocese of Sydney. An historical study 1884-1893', Reformed Theological Review 39 (1980), 73-82

MARY M. ANDREWS