Walter Henry Medhurst (29 April 179624 January 1857), was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
Congregationalist missionary to
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
, born in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and educated at
St Paul's School. He was one of the early translators of the Bible into Chinese-language editions.
Early life
Medhurst's father was an innkeeper in
Ross-on-Wye
Ross-on-Wye (Welsh: ''Rhosan ar Wy'') is a market town in England, near the border with Wales. It had a population of 10,582 according to the 2011 census, estimated at 11,309 in 2019. It lies in south-eastern Herefordshire, on the River Wye a ...
, Herefordshire. As a young man, Medhurst studied at
Hackney College under
George Collison
George Collison (1772–1847) was an English Congregationalist and educator associated with Hackney Academy or Hackney College, which became part of New College London—itself part of the University of London.
Early life
Collison was born i ...
and he worked as a printer and typesetter at the Gloucester Herald and the
London Missionary Society
The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational m ...
(LMS). He became interested in
Christian missions
A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such ...
and the LMS chose him to become a missionary printer in China. He sailed in 1816 to join their station at
Malacca
Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has bee ...
, which was intended to be a great printing centre.
En route, he called at
Madras
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
where, in a little less than three months, he met Mrs Elizabeth Braune, née Martin (1794–1874), marrying her the day before he sailed to Malacca.
Malacca and Shanghai
Having arrived in
Malacca
Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has bee ...
, Medhurst learned
Malay, and studied
Chinese,
Chinese characters
Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji ...
, and the
Hokkien
The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages ...
group of
Min Nan
Southern Min (), Minnan ( Mandarin pronunciation: ) or Banlam (), is a group of linguistically similar and historically related Sinitic languages that form a branch of Min Chinese spoken in Fujian (especially the Minnan region), most of Taiwan ...
Chinese varieties
Chinese, also known as Sinitic, is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family consisting of hundreds of local varieties, many of which are not mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the more mountainous southeast of main ...
, which is widely spoken in Southeast Asia. He was ordained there by
William Charles Milne on 27 April 1819.
Medhurst served as a missionary in
Penang
Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the M ...
in 1820, and then in
Batavia (present-day
Jakarta
Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital city, capital and list of Indonesian cities by population, largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coa ...
), capital of the
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, whic ...
in 1822.
His son
Walter Henry was born that year and born in 1828 was his daughter Eliza Mary who went on to marry Hong Kong's chief magistrate
Charles Batten Hillier
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...
in 1846.
Their youngest daughter was Augusta, born in 1840.
Today's All Saints Jakarta church and the Parapattan Orphanage were started by Medhurst.
In addition to compiling his Chinese-English and English-Chinese dictionaries, Medhurst was a prolific translator, lexicographer, and editor.
Although Medhurst never traveled to Japan, in 1830 he published ''An English and Japanese, and Japanese and English Vocabulary Compiled from Native Works'' in 344 pages. Based upon his studies of Hokkien, in 1831 Medhurst completed his ''A Dictionary of the Hok-këèn Dialect of the Chinese Language'', but printing of all 862 pages of which reached finality only in 1837 after being affected by the end of the
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
's trade monopoly in 1834 and for lack of funds.
In the 1840s, Medhurst collaborated with
John Stronach,
Elijah Coleman Bridgman
Elijah Coleman Bridgman (April22, 1801November2, 1861) was the first American Protestant Christian missionary appointed to China. He served with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. One of the first few Protestant missionari ...
, and
William Charles Milne translating the (1847) "Delegates' Version" of the
Bible in Chinese. Medhurst,
Elihu Doty
Elihu Doty (20 September 1809 – 30 November 1864) was an American missionary to China. He was responsible for the first textbook of Southern Min in English. Along with John Van Nest Talmage he is credited with the invention of Pe̍h-ōe-jī, ...
, and
John Van Nest Talmage developed the
Pe̍h-ōe-jī
(; ; ), also sometimes known as the Church Romanization, is an orthography used to write variants of Southern Min Chinese, particularly Taiwanese and Amoy Hokkien.
Developed by Western missionaries working among the Chinese diaspora in Sout ...
Church Romanization of
Southern Min
Southern Min (), Minnan ( Mandarin pronunciation: ) or Banlam (), is a group of linguistically similar and historically related Sinitic languages that form a branch of Min Chinese spoken in Fujian (especially the Minnan region), most of Taiwa ...
Chinese that was widely used by missionaries.
When peace was concluded with China in 1842, he moved to
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...
where he founded the
London Missionary Society Press () together with
William Muirhead and
Dr William Lockhart. They were later joined by
Joseph Edkins, and
William Charles Milne. He continued in Shanghai until 1856, laying the foundations of a successful mission.
In 1843,
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
conferred upon him the honorary degree of
D.D.
Delegates' Version
Medhurst's principal labour for several years, was in leading the committee of delegates, which created the
Delegates' Version of the Bible.
In the 1840s, a group of four people (Walter Henry Medhurst,
John Stronach,
Elijah Coleman Bridgman
Elijah Coleman Bridgman (April22, 1801November2, 1861) was the first American Protestant Christian missionary appointed to China. He served with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. One of the first few Protestant missionari ...
, and
William Charles Milne) cooperated to translate the Bible into
Chinese.
The translation of the
Hebrew language
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserve ...
part was done mostly by Gutzlaff from the
Netherlands Missionary Society, with the exception of the
Pentateuch
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
and the book of Joshua, which were done by the group collectively. The initial Gutzlaff translation, completed in 1847 is well known due to its adoption by the revolutionary peasant leader
Hong Xiuquan
Hong Xiuquan (1 January 1814 – 1 June 1864), born Hong Huoxiu and with the courtesy name Renkun, was a Chinese revolutionary who was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty. He established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdo ...
of the
Taiping Rebellion
The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It last ...
as some of the reputed early doctrines of the organization.
The translation of the New Testament was finished in 1850 and of the Old Testament in 1853, written in a version of
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning
"literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning
"literar ...
. With
John Stronach, and the assistance of
Wang Tao, Medhurst later translated the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...
into the
Mandarin dialect of
Nanking
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
.
Significant books
Medhurst would also produce a Chinese translation of the Book of Common Prayer, published in Hong Kong in 1855.
His
Chinese-English and English-Chinese dictionaries (each in 2 vols.) were valuable in British understanding of the teaching of
Hong Xiuquan
Hong Xiuquan (1 January 1814 – 1 June 1864), born Hong Huoxiu and with the courtesy name Renkun, was a Chinese revolutionary who was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty. He established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdo ...
, the leader of the
Taiping Rebellion
The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It last ...
(1851–64).
Death & memorial
Medhurst left Shanghai in 1856, in failing health. He died two days after reaching London, on 24 January 1857
and was buried at the Congregationalists' non-denominational
Abney Park Cemetery
Abney Park cemetery is one of the "Magnificent Seven" cemeteries in London, England.
Abney Park in Stoke Newington in the London Borough of Hackney is a historic parkland originally laid out in the early 18th century by Lady Mary Abney, D ...
where his white stone obelisk monument can still be seen today.
He left a son, Sir
Walter Henry Medhurst (1822–1885), who was British consul at
Hankow
Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers whe ...
and afterwards at Shanghai.
Works
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References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Medhurst, Walter Henry
Linguists from England
Translators of the Bible into Chinese
English lexicographers
English Congregationalist missionaries
Congregationalist missionaries in China
1796 births
1857 deaths
Burials at Abney Park Cemetery
Congregationalist missionaries in Malaysia
Congregationalist missionaries in Indonesia
British expatriates in China
British expatriates in Malaysia
English expatriates in Indonesia
19th-century translators
Missionary linguists
19th-century lexicographers