Burrage, Mary Ursula, 1892-1927

Mary Ursula Burrage, social worker, was born on April 1, 1892, and was the daughter of Ursula (Dupre) and George Dixwell Burrage. She grew up in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, attended Miss Winsor's School in Boston, and earned her A.B. degree from Radcliffe College in 1914. That fall she enrolled in the School of Social Work at Simmons College, becoming a part-time student in May 1915 because of poor health. During 1915-1916 she did social service field work with the Associated Charities of Boston and at South End House. She served as a volunteer for the Associated Charities in the North End during 1916-1917, and was assistant and then acting district secretary from May to July 1917. She was also a visitor at the School for Crippled Children, Boston; a member of the Board of Managers of the Boston Provident Association; and served on the Council of the Graduate Club of the School of Social Work. During World War I she knitted, made surgical dressings, and entertained service men at the Young Men's Christian Union. On April 29, 1919, she sailed for France as a member of the Radcliffe Unit with Hester Browne, Julia Collier, and Anna Holman.

The Radcliffe Unit returned in May 1920 and MUB resumed her social service and welfare work. She was employed by the Children's Island Sanatorium, Marblehead, Massachusetts, and became its director in 1922. In 1921 she was appointed to the Nominating Committee of the governing board of North Bennet Street Industrial School and to the Executive Committee in 1925.

During the fall of 1927 she contracted typhoid fever and died suddenly on November 6, 1927.