Topsy

Topsy (—died 26 January 1998) was an abused deaf mute Chinese Tartary girl who was adopted by British missionary Mildred Cable, a Protestant Christian missionary in China, serving with the China Inland Mission, and her friends Evangeline (Eva) French and Francesca French. Her story was told by Cable and Francesca French in the book The Story of Topsy.

Her mother was Tibetan and her father Mongolian. She was fostered, but when her foster mother discovered she was unable to hear, she was sent to beg. At the time Cable and her friends discovered her in Gansu, she was around 6 or 7 years old. She was beaten by her foster mother and bitten by neighborhood dogs, as she was unable to hear them approaching. The French sisters bought her and began caring for her.

In England, she was given an oral education. According to archived library index cards at the UCL Ear Institute, she was the first deaf person to appear on British television, being shown at Alexandra Palace before World War II. She died 26 January 1998 in Penge.