Percy C. Mather
Missionary to China (1882-1933)

Percy Cunningham Mather (Chinese: 马尔昌; 9 December 1882 – 24 May 1933) was a pioneer British Protestant Christian missionary to China, the second China Inland Mission missionary to Xinjiang.
Mather was born in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England in 1884, the son of a railway employee and an Irish nurse. Mather went into railway service like his father. In 1903 he was converted to Christianity through the ministry of J. H. Doddrell of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. Mather soon became a Sunday school teacher and local preacher. While his ordination was delayed, he learned about the China Inland Mission (CIM) and decided to go to China after assisting his sister financially to get an education.
In 1910 Mather sailed to Shanghai, then moved up the Yangtze river to attend the Anqing language school. Afterward he was stationed in Ningguo in Anhui Province. Mather was influenced by reading Roland Allen's book, Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours?
The public source identifies “Percy C. Mather” as missionary to China (1882-1933). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Percy, Mather and Missionary.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Percy C. Mather”, the useful work is to connect “missionary to China (1882-1933)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7167273. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1882, 1933, 1884 and 1903.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Percy C. Mather”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Percy C. Mather primary sources, Percy C. Mather archive and Percy research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Percy C. Mather”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Percy C. Mather” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.