Mary Jane Featherstone

Life

Mary Jane Featherstone was a British evangelist, commonly known by her nickname Polly. She is also known by her married name, Mary Jane Wigglesworth. Little verified information is available about her year of birth, her hometown, or her childhood.

In 1882 she married Smith Wigglesworth (1859–1947) of Yorkshire, England. The couple had five children: Alice, Seth, Harold, Ernest, and George. Her death in 1913 ended thirty-one years of marriage; her husband lived for more than thirty years afterward.

Ministry and Contributions

• Salvation Army evangelist: She is known to have been a Salvation Army evangelist. The Salvation Army is a Protestant denomination founded in England by William Booth that places strong emphasis on street evangelism and relief work among the poor. What position she held in the Salvation Army and when she began her work there have not been established.
• Influence on her husband: Her husband, Smith Wigglesworth, was born into a poor family and had to work from an early age, so he did not attend school and could not read as a child. Polly is described as having had a significant influence on his spiritual life and ministry. Some sources state that she influenced her husband's "conversion," but Smith Wigglesworth is known to have been born again at the age of eight. It is therefore more accurate to understand her influence as bearing on her husband's faith and ministry after their marriage rather than on his initial conversion.
• Smith Wigglesworth later came to be regarded as a British evangelist who influenced the early history of Pentecostalism.

Influence on the Korean Church

There is no confirmed record of any direct connection between Mary Jane Featherstone and the Korean church. In Korea she is mentioned mostly in accounts of the life and ministry of her husband, Smith Wigglesworth.

Assessment

She is regarded primarily as a partner who shared in her husband's faith and ministry. Most accounts of her, however, appear in sources centered on her husband. As a result, the specific details, dates, and places of her independent work as a Salvation Army evangelist are not well documented. No notable criticism or controversy concerning her is known.