Emma Foggitt graduated from the University of Leeds in 1907. She went on to teach in schools in both the UK and Shanghai, under the auspices of the London Missionary Society. Before sailing to China, Foggitt worked at the Canning Town Settlement for Women Workers in East London, which, she observed, ‘largely consists in visiting, addressing gatherings, working in the girls’ clubs, holding children’s services and doing dispensary work.’ (Foggit cited in Rosemary Seton, Western Daughters in Eastern Lands: British Missionary Women in Asia (2013)). In 1916 she married Reverand William Arthur Cornaby, a family friend also based in China, who edited the Ta Tung Pao, a weekly magazine targeted at Chinese officials and scholars. Writing as Foggitt Cornaby, she later contributed ‘biographical chapters’ to an appreciation of her husband, Cornaby of Hanyang: A great-souled missionary (The Epworth Press, 1923).