Harriet Newell Noyes (1844–1924) founded True Light Seminary in Guangzhou and the True Light educational tradition that grew from it. She was sent by the Philadelphia Woman's Board. The school history of True Light Middle School of Hong Kong records that she was a North American female missionary who travelled to Guangzhou with a church mission in the late Qing dynasty. Convinced that women's education was being neglected, she resolved to establish a school for Chinese women and in 1872 founded True Light Seminary at Kam Lei Fau (Sha Kei) in Guangzhou, the first women's school in southern China, with the motto 'Thou Art the Light of the World' and six students in its first year. A fire in 1878 led the school to move to Ren Ji Street, where it expanded to include elementary grades, a women's school and a Bible women's training school; by 1916 enrolment had reached 300. In 1917 the women's school and the Bible women's school moved to Paak Hok Tong, merged and were renamed True Light Middle School, with Dr J.W. Creighton as principal; the first six students graduated in 1919. In Hong Kong, Dr Hoh Yam-tong founded True Light Primary School and its kindergarten on Caine Road in 1935 with 35 pupils. The school was suspended during the Japanese invasion in 1941 and reopened in 1946 with 411 pupils, added a junior secondary section in 1947 and was registered as True Light Middle School of Hong Kong in 1948. The school's list of principals records that Noyes served as principal of True Light Seminary from 1872 to 1917, a span of 45 years, and that her religious commitment laid the foundation for the school's later development. True Light describes its mission as Christian whole-person education and its motto as 'Thou Art the Light of the World'.
Achievements
- 1872 · Founded True Light Seminary in Guangzhou with six students
- 1917 · The school was renamed True Light Middle School