Extensive archive of letters, together forming a journal of seven years' work for the Church Missionary Society in China. Addressed to 'dear Friends' of her church in Bermondsey, Hitchcock's letters provide a detailed account of her journey to China and her mission there. Though evidently travelling frequently throughout south-east China, Hitchcock was stationed primarily on Haitan (Pingtan) island with Eleanor Jane Harrison, recordingefforts to teach the Gospel to the local population and her medical work at the Church Missionary Society's dispensary, the reports offering considerable insight to social conditionsin China in the early twentieth century as well as showing a British view of events from coronations and stonings to a typhoon.
The early letters form an account of Hitchcock's journey to China with "six other lady missionaries", travelling first through France (stopping to see Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower) and then by sea on the SS. Ballarat, via Port Said, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Later journeys by junk, steam launch, and chair are described, noting that "travelling in China is a very slowbusiness, but not so unpleasant as I thought it would be".