Gladys Aylward

Gladys Aylward ((1902 – 1970) was born of a working-class family in Edmonton, London in 1902. Although forced into domestic service at an early age, she always had an ambition to go overseas as a missionary, and studied with great determination in order to be fitted for the role, only to be turned down by the China Inland Mission because her academic background was inadequate.
Her determination was such that, in 1930, she spent her life savings on a railway ticket to Tientsin in north China. With a Scottish missionary, Mrs Jeannie Lawson, the pair founded, The Inn Of The Eight Happinesses, in a remote outpost at Yangcheng.
Aylward achieved much in China having become a foot inspector in the official campaign against the binding of female feet. In 1938, the region was invaded by Japanese forces, and Aylward led 94 children to safety over the mountains. She remained in China after World War II, later moving back to England.
Her story was told in the book The Small Woman by Alan Burgess, published in 1957. The following year it was made into the Hollywood film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness. Aylward strongly disapproved of the movie as she was played by a divorcee, Ingrid Bergman.