Frederick Howard Taylor
a.k.a. F. Howard Taylor (25 November 1862 – 15 August 1946), was a British pioneer
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 ...
to
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 ...
, author, speaker and second son of
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 ...
, founder of 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 ...
, and
Maria Jane Dyer.
Beginnings
Howard Taylor was three when his father founded the China Inland Mission. He was born in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
during his parents’ first furlough in England together. In 1866 at the age of four he was taken with his parents, 3 siblings and sixteen other missionaries to China aboard the
Lammermuir (clipper) as part of the famous
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 ...
. During the 4-month long voyage the ship was nearly wrecked by 2
typhoons
A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...
. His sister,
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 ...
died of
meningitis
Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...
the first year.
[ Healthcare Christian Fellowship India website, ''Hudson Taylor and China: A Dramatic Biography'', by David Malcolm Bennett (2018)]
/ref> When he was six the family was nearly killed by a rioting mob during the Yangzhou riot in 1868. Finally in 1870 he was sent home with his surviving siblings with Emily Blatchley to live in London, separated from his parents. His mother died in China soon after they arrived home in 1870.
Like his father, he enrolled in the Royal London Hospital
The Royal London Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is part of Barts Health NHS Trust. It provides district general hospital services for the City of London and Tower Hamlets and sp ...
medical college, completing his diploma in 1888. Hudson Taylor lived to see his son, Howard follow in his footsteps to become a medical missionary to China. He received Doctor of Medicine from London University and subsequently became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons as well as a Member of the Royal College of Physicians. He was an extremely capable student and received three high honors in his postgraduate studies.
Howard Taylor always had a close relationship with his father. 1888 was a special year for both men. Hudson Taylor was on his first tour in North America sharing the missionary needs in China. Howard Taylor had taken three months leave to go along, having just ended his year of medical and surgical appointments. Howard Taylor showed a deep interest to go to China long term. Hearing his father speak at various meetings, particularly to young students, had a profound influence on Howard. On 15 October 1889, at a Missionary Convention organized by the Students Foreign Missionary Union more than 1500 students attended. Of these, 152 signed the pledge, "it is my earnest hope, if God permit, to engage in foreign missionary work." The first name in the book of members reads, " Taylor, F Howard, MD, MRCP, FRCS (England), the London Hospital."
He later noted:
On 3 November 1889 Howard Taylor, accompanying his father Hudson Taylor, arrived at Gothenburg
Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...
, where they were met by Mr. Josef Holmgren, the Secretary of the Swedish Mission in China, who invited them over for special meetings to mobilize the Swedish Christians for China. He had arranged the whole of their tour and was their companion and interpreter throughout the trip. Twenty towns were visited, including Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
, Uppsala
Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019.
Loc ...
and Christiania, and 50-60,000 people were addressed, even Queen Sophia invited Mr. Taylor to a private audience in Stockholm. Hudson Taylor was already 57 at that time, and no longer enjoying the same vigor as his son. Yet his insistence on traveling third class and carrying his own suitcase continued to give the young soon-to-be missionary a model of servanthood.
Howard Taylor departed for China on 23 January 1890 from England as a single man. He married Mary Geraldine Guinness on 24 April 1894, daughter of Rev. Henry Grattan Guinness
Henry Grattan Guinness (11 August 1835 – 21 June 1910) was an Irish Nonconformist Protestant preacher, evangelist and author. He was the great evangelist of the Third Evangelical awakening and preached during the Ulster Revival of 1859 wh ...
, another CIM missionary who went to China two years earlier. He was sent to Henan
Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...
and his leadership was displayed with the opening of the ministry in the province, including the significant medical work which continued into the next 30 years. Howard was the first missionary to visit Zhengzhou
Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan, China. Located in northern Henan, it is one of the nine National central city, national central cities in China, and serves as the political, economic, technological, and educational center of the province. Th ...
in Henan
Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...
. As such, he was the only trained physician south of the Yellow River
The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...
among 20 million Chinese.[Page (1908), p. 9641] In the spring of 1895 a mission station was opened as the result of the medical work for the previous three years at the invitation of Yuan Shikai
Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 18596 June 1916) was a Chinese general and statesman who served as the second provisional president and the first official president of the Republic of China, head of the Beiyang government from 1912 to 1916 and ...
, a rising political figure who later became President of China. Yuan, from Henan himself, called Howard Taylor one day to attend to his mother, dying of cancer. In recognition of his service, Li Hongzhang
Li Hongzhang, Marquess Suyi ( zh, t=李鴻章; also Li Hung-chang; February 15, 1823 – November 7, 1901) was a Chinese statesman, general and diplomat of the late Qing dynasty. He quelled several major rebellions and served in importan ...
presented Howard Taylor with an honorific tablet.
Howard spoke with strong convictions about what he believed to be his calling:
In 1894 he married Mary Geraldine Guinness, a childhood friend from his youth 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 ...
in the East End of London. Her father was Henry Grattan Guinness
Henry Grattan Guinness (11 August 1835 – 21 June 1910) was an Irish Nonconformist Protestant preacher, evangelist and author. He was the great evangelist of the Third Evangelical awakening and preached during the Ulster Revival of 1859 wh ...
, the famous evangelist and preacher. Together Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor authored several books:
Published works
*
These Forty Years
' 1908
* ''Hudson Taylor and The China Inland Mission Vol. 1 Hudson Taylor in Early Years: The Growth of a Soul'' 1911
* ''Hudson Taylor and The China Inland Mission Vol. 2 The Growth of a Work of God'' 1918
* ''Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret'' 1932
Continued service
Mary Geraldine Guinness was a noteworthy missionary in her own right with a love of writing. She joined the CIM in 1888 and became one of the key biographers for the CIM. She served in Honan before they were married. She was already the author of a few books including "The Story of the China Inland Mission" and "In the Far East".
Howard Taylor took risks to serve the mission in China. In 1898, for nine months he was acting superintendent in Henan while suffering from intractable dysentery
Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...
. When he asked to be replaced and freed to get proper treatment, his father, Hudson Taylor, confessed that he had no one available to take over. He urged Howard to stay on and Howard Taylor did.
In 1901, when the Student Volunteer Movement invited Dr. Howard Taylor and his wife to be the speakers among the colleges and universities.
Ten years after his service began in China, in 1900, he and his wife made a special tour of the American colleges, again at the invitation of the Student volunteer Missionary Union. This was considered one of the most notable campaigns ever conducted among North American institutions by secretaries of the Student Volunteer Movement on overseas missions. They began the mobilization tour in November 1900, continuing with some interruptions, until April 1901.
In less than 5 months, between November 1900 and April 1901, Dr Howard Taylor visited 77 different institutions of learning, including 40 medical schools, 10 theological seminaries, 21 universities and colleges, and six other schools. His aim was to present to medical students the opportunities for service on the mission field, so that only those other colleges could be visited that were in or near the largest cities. This work necessitated about 4000 miles of travel, as far north as Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
and Minneapolis
Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
, and as far south as Baltimore
Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
and Nashville
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
. Mrs. Taylor went to the women’s colleges of the eastern states. By January they were traveling together on Canadian and western tours. In all, Mrs. Taylor visited nearly as many institutions as did her husband. Their contribution was so much appreciated that the Student Volunteer Movement invited them to become traveling speakers for a whole year in 1912.
On Saturday 3 June 1905 Howard and Geraldine were there when Hudson Taylor died at Changsha
Changsha is the capital of Hunan, China. It is the 15th most populous city in China with a population of 10,513,100, the Central China#Cities with urban area over one million in population, third-most populous city in Central China, and the ...
. They had been traveling with him since April visiting the different mission stations along the Yangtze
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...
, calling at various ports, to Hankow, then by rail into Henan, and finally to Changsha, the capital of Hunan. At the memorial service held at the China Inland Mission Hall in Shanghai
Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
on 13 June, Dr. Howard Taylor spoke about his father’s life, quoting from Hudson Taylor and how his father constantly challenged him,
In February 1922, Howard and his wife were kidnapped by a bandit leader in Yunnan
Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...
named Pu Shuming. They were subsequently released. Geraldine recorded the events of the ordeal in "With P’u and His Brigands".
Howard spoke about medical missionary work in China:
References
Citations
Sources
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* Taylor, Howard, Mrs. (1893)
The story of the China Inland Mission / by M. Geraldine Guinness (Vol. 1)
London: Morgan and Scott. igitized by University of Hong Kong University of Hong Kong#Libraries and museums">Libraries
A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...
London: Morgan and Scott.