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

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who 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.Thoma ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

with the

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

. 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 Protestant Christian missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission (CIM, now OMF International). Taylor spent 54 years in China. The society that he began was res ...

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 CollegeBiographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity, ''Emily Blatchley''
/ref> along with her friend, Jane Elizabeth Faulding. 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 Bromley, commonly known as Bromley-by- Bow, is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, located on the western banks of the River Lea, in the Lower Lea Valley in East London. It is an inner-city suburb located 4.7 mil ...

, East End of London (as well as Taylor's book " China's Spiritual Need and Claims") soon led to her volunteering to join the largest party of Protestant missionaries to ever yet set sail for China, the

Lammermuir Party The Lammermuir Party was a British group of Protestant missionaries who travelled to China in 1866 aboard the tea clipper ''Lammermuir'', accompanied by James Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission. Mission historians have indica ...

, in 1866. Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity website, ''Jennie Faulding Taylor''
/ref> 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 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; depending on terms of their employment, they may or ma ...

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 be ...

, Herbert Hudson Taylor, Frederick Howard Taylor, 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 at the home headquarters in England. Blatchley traveled with the Taylors as a fellow pioneer missionary and survived the Yangzhou riot in 1868. She struggled with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

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. Reaching Chinese Worldwide website, ''What can we learn from the Life of Emily Blatchley?'', article dated July 16, 2019
/ref> 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, designed by architect Stephen Geary. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East sides. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for so ...

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

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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 missionaries 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