Gertrude Annie "Biddy" Hobbs Chambers was born in 1883 at Woolwich, Kent, England.[1]
She married Oswald Chambers on 25th May 1910 at Lewisham, London.[2][3] Their daughter Kathleen was born on 24th May 1913.
In 1915 the family moved to Zeitoun, Cairo, Egypt where Oswald was the chaplain of the YMCA. Australians and New Zealanders came from the nearby military base to enjoy Gertrude's tea and refreshments as well as recreation and quiet time. In the evenings, Oswald gave devotionals. Biddy was a remarkable stenographer, and she took down everything her husband said. When he died suddenly in 1917 from appendicitis, she and their daughter Kathleen remained carrying on the ministry. Upon returning to England in 1919, she began the work of compiling all the notes she had taken into books.[4][5]
She passed away in 1966 at Haringey, London, having completed 31 volumes of Oswald Chamber's work.[6] Kathleen finished the 32nd and last volume. [7]
Sources
↑ UK FreeBMD Birth Index Sep qtr 1883, vol 1d, page 1133
↑ UK FreeBMD Marriage Index Jun qtr 1910, vol 1d, page 1582
"England and Wales Census, 1911," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XW5X-XCG : 1 August 2017), Gertrude Anne Chambers in household of Oswald Chambers, Wandsworth Borough, S W, London, England; from "1911 England and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 14, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.
Chambers, Gertrude (Biddy). Archival Collections at Wheaton College. Retrieved from the World Wide Web December 10, 2017.