Emily Blatchley (c. 1842 – 26 July 1874) was a British

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

with the

China Inland Mission OMF International (formerly Overseas Missionary Fellowship and before 1964 the China Inland Mission) is an international and interdenominational Evangelical Christian missionary society with an international centre in Singapore. It was founded i ...

. She pioneered the work of single women missionaries in China and served as personal secretary to the founder of the mission,

James Hudson Taylor James Hudson Taylor (; 21 May 1832 – 3 June 1905) was a British Baptist Christian missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission (CIM, now OMF International). Taylor spent 51 years in China. The society that he began was respons ...

.Tucker (1983), page needed

Biographical sketch

Grave of Emily Blatchley in Highgate Cemetery

Blatchley lost her mother and father before her experience as a missionary. She was an 1865 graduate of the Home and Colonial Training College along with her friend,

Jane Elizabeth Faulding Jane Elizabeth "Jennie" Faulding Taylor (6 October 1843 – 31 July 1904), was a British Protestant missionary to China with the China Inland Mission. She pioneered the work of single women missionaries in China and eventually married the ...

. The Taylor family unofficially adopted her as one of their own and her attendance at the weekly prayer meeting for China at Coborn Street in Bromley-by-Bow,

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

(as well as Taylor's book "

China's Spiritual Need and Claims ''China’s Spiritual Need and Claims'' (original title: ''China: Its Spiritual Need and Claims'') is a book written by James Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, in October 1865. It is arguably the most significant work rega ...

") soon led to her volunteering to join the largest party of Protestant missionaries to ever yet set sail for China, the Lammermuir Party, in 1866. In China, she dressed in Chinese clothes along with the rest of the new C.I.M. missionaries, including all of the single women. Blatchley was a

governess A governess is a largely obsolete term for a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching. In contrast to a nanny, th ...

for the Taylor children:

Grace Dyer Taylor Grace Dyer Taylor (31 July 1859 – 23 August 1867) was the eldest surviving daughter of James Hudson Taylor and Maria Jane Dyer, Christian missionaries to China. The event of her death of meningitis at the age of eight near Hangzhou has ...

Herbert Hudson Taylor Herbert Hudson Taylor (3 April 1861 – 6 June 1950), British Protestant Christian missionary to China, author, speaker and eldest son of James Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission and Maria Jane Dyer. He served there for over 5 ...

Frederick Howard Taylor Frederick Howard Taylor List of acronyms and initialisms: A#AK, a.k.a. F. Howard Taylor (25 November 1862 – 15 August 1946), was a British pioneer Protestant Christianity, Christian missionary to China, author, speaker and second son of Jam ...

, and Samuel Dyer Taylor. She taught them daily lessons and freed Maria Taylor to participate in more missionary work with her husband. She was also the "right hand secretary" of the mission and took charge of much of the correspondence with

William Thomas Berger William Thomas Berger (1815–1899) was a Christian starch manufacturer in London and owner of Samuel Berger & Co., a patent rice starch manufacturer, who became the first home (England) director of the China Inland Mission with James Hudson ...

at the home headquarters in England. Blatchley traveled with the Taylors as a fellow pioneer missionary and survived the

Yangzhou riot The Yangzhou riot of August 22–23, 1868 was a brief crisis in Anglo-Chinese relations during the late Qing dynasty. The crisis was fomented by the gentry of Yangzhou who opposed the presence of foreign Christian missionaries in the city, who clai ...

in 1868. She struggled with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

throughout the last period of her life. In 1870, at the request of Hudson and Maria Taylor, she chaperoned the Taylor children back to England for their own health and safety. She also assumed many responsibilities of an acting home-director (a "guardian secretary") in England of the China Inland Mission while Taylor was still in China. After the death of Maria Taylor (from tuberculosis) she once privately hoped that Taylor would seek her hand in marriage. However, her health finally deteriorated and she died of the same illness as her friend in 1874. She died on Sunday morning July 26, 1874, and was buried in the eastern side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

on one of the narrower north/south paths. The inscription on her grave (plot no.20165) has now completely worn away.

Quotations

Quotation about her life

From: Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission, Growth of a Work of God: A Quote from The Christian eulogizing Blatchley:

Quotation after two typhoons

After the Lammermuir party survived two typhoons she noted:

References

* * * * * * *

Notes

External links

Christian Biography ResourcesOMF International (formerly China Inland Mission and Overseas Missionary Fellowship)
*https://web.archive.org/web/20070926212919/http://www.genealogy.com/users/y/o/r/Brian-York-Burnsville/?Welcome=1091209026 {{DEFAULTSORT:Blatchley, Emily 1840s births 1874 deaths Baptist missionaries in China British expatriates in China English Baptist missionaries Burials at Highgate Cemetery Female Christian missionaries English domestic workers Alumni of the Home and Colonial Training College 19th-century Baptists