Kate Marsden

Marsden was born in Edmonton in London in 1859 to solicitor J. D. Marsden and Sophie Matilda Wellsted. Her uncle was the explorer Captain James Raymond Wellsted. She became a nurse when she was 16 and went to work in a London hospital. She later became a matron at Wellington Hospital, New Zealand, having gone there with her mother Sarah, to nurse her own sister who was ill with tuberculosis. Her sister died within days of their arrival. Marsden's record gained her this senior position but she held that position for just five months. She had an accident on a step ladder which made her unable to work for several months. She resigned to mixed reactions – the governor William Jervois and the management gave her six months' wages when she resigned, although other commentators noted that she had insured herself only days before the accident and she was considered difficult and autocratic by her staff. Marsden had set up a St John's Ambulance group in New Zealand and she gave lectures there. In her final lecture she announced that she intended to visit Louis Pasteur in Europe, and then go on to work with Father Damien in Hawaii caring for lepers. She was given financial support to continue her work. She travelled from Tottenham to Bulgaria with others to nurse Russian soldiers wounded in Russia's war with Turkey in 1877. Working at the Red Cross mission, her selflessness and devotion brought her an award from Empress Maria Fedorovna. Near Svishtov she reportedly met her first two lepers and they persuaded her that her mission was to work with sufferers of the disease. ==Interest in leprosy==

The Wellington hospital had been set up primarily to look after the local Māori population. Marsden would later report that she looked after lepers in New Zealand – but although there was a similar disease there was no leprosy amongst the Māori people. She continued to work as a nurse whilst also visiting the sick but wanting to leave for the British colonies to treat leprosy. After obtaining the support of Queen Victoria and Princess Alexandra, she travelled to Russia to obtain funding from the Russian Royal family. On this basis, she was able to travel to Egypt, Palestine, Cyprus and Turkey. According to her book On sledge and horseback to the outcast Siberian Lepers, she met an English doctor in Constantinople who told her of the curative properties of an herb found in Siberia. Inspired by this information she resolved to journey to Siberia. ==Journey to Siberia==

she wore on her journey with a map of her journey behind her She set sail from England to Moscow on board the merchant vessel Parramatta. She was able to arrange an audience with the Tsarina after she arrived in Moscow in November 1890. The Tsarina gave her a letter encouraging all who read it to assist Marsden with her plans to investigate leprosy in Siberia. She set out three months later with an assistant and translator Ada Field. Her journey took her some across Russia, by train, sledge, on horseback and by boat. She had to interrupt her journey near Omsk after falling ill. In 1892, she became a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and she gave a lecture about her travels (called The Leper) to the Congress of Women, held in the Woman's Building. In 1895, Marsden founded a charity, still active today, now known as the St Francis Leprosy Guild. In 1897, she returned to Siberia where she opened a hospital for lepers in Vilyuysk. ==Controversy==

in 1891 Marsden's journey to Siberia to find a cure for leprosy did not bring her universal acclaim; she did not find the cure she had hoped for, and many found it difficult to believe that she had undertaken the journey she claimed. Moreover, there were rumours that Marsden's good works were undertaken to atone for her homosexuality. Although the ''Girl's Own Paper'' serialised her exploits and she was lauded by the Royal Geographical Society, accounts by William Thomas Stead held her accomplishments up for public derision. His ideas were picked up in New Zealand, where Marsden had earlier lived. The Reverend Alexander Francis, an English-speaking pastor in St Petersburg, obtained a confession from Marsden of "immorality with women". Francis wrote that he also planned to publish material which would allege fraud by Marsden. This led to an investigation in Russia that cleared Marsden – dismissed by Francis as a "whitewash". A letter was also written by British and American diplomats to The Times to support her reputation in August 1894. Marsden considered claiming libel damages against Francis. At this time, in early 1895 Oscar Wilde began his famous court battle with the Marquis of Queensbury, concerning Wilde's disputed homosexuality; Wilde lost and was ruined. Marsden seems to have anticipated some disbelief in her deeds and motives in her book. Moreover, she included in her book letters from important people she met on her journey which led some to think that her motives were questionable. Some described the journey as a "pleasure trip". ==Continued controversy==

Bexhill Museum was founded by Marsden and the Reverend J. C. Thompson FGS. Marsden is credited as the person who inspired the museum's creation. She organised meetings to gather local support. She wrote to the local paper and invited local dignitaries and she successfully gathered artefacts from the collections held by industrialists at matchmakers Bryant and May and chocolate makers Fry's. The museum was given Marsden's shell collection. She encouraged Dr Walter Amsden to donate his collection of Egyptian artefacts. In February 1913 the local council were being petitioned for funds crediting Marsden as the museum's chief supporter, and including the text of her talk to the council. In 1913 the Mayor of Bexhill contacted the committee and revealed that Marsden had been involved in controversy over funds and her sexuality. The controversy surrounding Marsden was not resolved and she finished her life suffering from dropsy and senile decay. After she died, Bexhill Museum refused a portrait that was offered to them. == Works ==

• Kate Marsden: On Sledge and Horseback to Outcast Siberian Lepers. London, 1893 • Kate Marsden: The Leper. In: ''The Congress of Women: Held in the Woman's Building, World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, U. S. A., 1893'' (editor, Mary Kavanaugh Oldham Eagle). Monarch Book Company, Chicago 1894, S. 213–216 • Kate Marsden: My Mission in Siberia. A Vindication. London, 1921 ==Legacy==

A Kate Marsden scholarship is given to the top English Language student at M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk each year. In 1991 a 55-carat diamond that was found in Yakutia was named the Sister of Mercy Kate Marsden. One local herbalist said that he had used the herb several years before but it was so rare that he had not seen it recently. The researchers found the buildings that had made up the leprosarium which today are used as a village hall and as a residence in the settlement of Sosnovka which formed part of the leper hospital. The hospital closed in 1962. In 2009 a foundation stone was laid to mark Marsden's 150th anniversary for a planned memorial and park in Yakutia. In the same year the Sakha Theatre premiered a new play titled Kate Marsden. An Angel of Divine Disposals. ==References==