William Edward Soothill, (1861 – 1935) was a Methodist missionary to China who later became Professor of Chinese at

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...

, and a leading British

sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...

Life

Born in Halifax,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

in January 1861, Soothill matriculated at

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...

. He entered the ministry of the United Methodist Free Church arriving in China in 1882 and spent 29 years as a

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 ...

Wenzhou Wenzhou (pronounced ; Wenzhounese: Yuziou �y33–11 tɕiɤu33–32 ), historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province in the People's Republic of China. Wenzhou is located at the extreme south east o ...

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 ...

. Another leading missionary there until 1909 was

Grace Stott Grace Stott born Grace Cigie (12 March 1845 – 24 January 1922) was a British Protestant missionary in China. She went to China after a marriage proposal arrived in the post. She worked in Wenchow where she created a school for girls. Her husband ...

who led 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 in ...

there. Soothill founded a hospital, a training college, schools and 200 preaching stations. In 1911 Soothill became President of the Imperial University at Shansi. Upon his return to England in 1920 he was appointed the

Shaw Professor of Chinese The position of Shaw Professor of Chinese is one of the permanent professorships at the University of Oxford, England. It was established in 1876 as the Professor of Chinese, and is now associated with a professorial fellowship at University Col ...

at Oxford University, becoming a Fellow of

. In 1921, he was awarded the

Order of Wen-Hu The Order of Wen-Hu (English – The Order of the Striped Tiger) was an award for military or naval service awarded by the Republic of China. It was issued in five classes. The badge showed a striped tiger in natural colours on a central meda ...

(third class) by the Republic of China in recognition of services rendered in connection with the

Chinese Labour Corps The Chinese Labour Corps (CLC; french: Corps de Travailleurs Chinois; ) was a force of workers recruited by the British government in the First World War to free troops for front line duty by performing support work and manual labour. The French ...

in France. In 1926 he was a member of

Lord Willingdon Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon (12 September 1866 – 12 August 1941), was a British Liberal politician and administrator who served as Governor General of Canada, the 13th since Canadian Confederation, and as Viceroy and ...

's delegation to China on the settlement of the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an Xenophobia, anti-foreign, anti-colonialism, anti-colonial, and Persecution of Christians#China, anti-Christian uprising in China ...

indemnities. He is best known for his translation into English of the ''

Analects of Confucius The ''Analects'' (; ; Old Chinese: '' ŋ(r)aʔ''; meaning "Selected Sayings"), also known as the ''Analects of Confucius'', the ''Sayings of Confucius'', or the ''Lun Yu'', is an ancient Chinese book composed of a large collection of sayings a ...

'' and his ''Dictionary of Chinese

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

Terms with

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

and English Equivalents and a Sanskrit-

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...

Index''. He married Lucy Farrar in 1884. She wrote an account of their years in China entitled ''A Passport to China''. He and his wife Lucy were the parents of Dorothea, Lady Hosie, whose husband was the diplomat Sir Alexander Hosie. Lady Hosie was the author of a number of books about China.John Youn
Friend of China: Lady Dorothea Hosie (1885-1959)
/ref>

Selected works

* * *
''The Student's Four Thousand and General Pocket Dictionary''
(1899)
''A Mission in China''
(1906,1907)
''The Analects of Confucius''
(1910) * ''China and Education, with Special Reference to the University for China'' (1912) * ''The Three Religions of China'' (1913; revised edition 1929) * ''

Timothy Richard Timothy Richard (Chinese: 李提摩太 ''Li Timotai'', 10 October 1845 – 17 April 1919) was a Welsh Baptist missionary to China, who influenced the modernisation of China and the rise of the Chinese Republic. Biography Richard was born o ...

of China'' (1924) * ''China and the West: A sketch of their Intercourse'' (1925) * ''A History of China'' (1927) * ''China and England'' (1928) * ''The Lotus of the Wonderful Law: or, The Lotus Gospel'' (1930) * ''A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms: with Sanskrit and English Equivalents and a Sanskrit-Pali Index'' (1937, with

Lewis Hodous Lewis Hodous (;「亞洲的福音書」晚清新教傳教士漢� ...

) * ''The Hall of Light: A study of Early Chinese Kingship'', edited by Lady Hosie and G. F. Hudson (1951)

Sources

The Methodist Archives Biographical Index: Minutes of Conference 1958 and Encyclopedia of World Methodism (1974)

Notes

References and further reading

External links

*
"William E. Soothill,"
''Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Soothill, William Edward 1861 births 1935 deaths British sinologists English lexicographers Chinese–English translators People from Halifax, West Yorkshire English Methodist missionaries Methodist missionaries in China British people of the Boxer Rebellion Shaw Professors of Chinese Missionary linguists