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Name: BRIGGS, Rose, Mrs
Nee: Colsey
Birth Date: 1867 Toddington
Death Date: 18.10.1904 at sea on way back to England because ill
Nationality: British
First Date: 1894
Last Date: 1904
Profession: CMS Missionary in Uganda - at Mamboya in 1894
Area: Mamboya
Married: 23 Nov 1900 John Henry Briggs (1868-1944)
Children: Joan (1901)
Book Reference: Tucker, North, CMS
General Information:
CMS 1893 - Age 26. Of Malvern. b. at Toddington, Glos. Highbury Training Home. 1893, April 27, accepted by CMS; and Nov 9, to E. Eq. Africa Mission - Mamboia
North - Highbury Training House; Mambaoia, Ussagara; Mamboia
In 1900, Briggs married Rose Colsey, a CMS missionary who had been in East Africa for six years. They moved to Mvumi where Briggs began building Mvumi mission house and Rose began teaching. Though they faced multiple challenges such as East Africa being under German control, frequent droughts, and a lack of transportation (except by donkey), they made progress. Rose delivered baby Joan in December of 1901. They started a school for catechumens, acquired medicine for a clinic, and made itinerations out to nearby villages. Itinerations involved two-week long treks of teaching and holding services in primitive surroundings. Through their diligence they developed inquirers and prepared converts to be baptized. In 1905, while on the way to England for home leave, Rose, then six months pregnant, tragically died. John continued to England with Joan. The historical record on what became of Joan is vague, but it appears that after her mother’s tragic death, she went to live in England with Rose’s oldest brother, Thomas Colsey, his wife and their only daughter Dorothy Rose.