Mary Geraldine Guinness (; 25 December 1862 – 6 June 1949), often known as Mrs. Howard Taylor, 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 ...

, and author of many missionary biographies on the history 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 ...

(CIM).

Life

She was born in 1865. She was the daughter of revivalist preachers and authors Fanny Grattan Guinness and

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 ...

. Her father was a friend of James Hudson Taylor, founder of the CIM. She became Taylor's daughter-in-law when she married his son, fellow CIM missionary Frederick Howard Taylor.

Single woman and missionary

In her youth, Taylor taught a Bible class for "factory-girls" 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 where they lived. She attended meetings at "Berger Hall" named after William Thomas Berger. She left London for China as a second-class passenger on the P&O vessel ''Kaisar-i-Hind I''Shipping lists date the building of the second ''Kaisar-i-Hind'' after 1888 and upon the sinking of the first. in January, 1888, age 22. The Hundred missionaries had all sailed to China the previous year. Among the 25 passengers (16 men, 5 ladies ic aboard the steam ship with her were Miss Mary Reed (daughter of Mrs Henry Reed and sister of Mrs Harry Guinness), Mr and Mrs Hunt (travelling to

Hanzhong Hanzhong ( zh, s= , t= , l=middle of the Han River (Hubei), Han River; abbreviation: Han) is a prefecture-level city in Southern Shaanxi, the southwest of Shaanxi, Shaanxi province, China, bordering the provinces of Sichuan to the south and Gans ...

) and the Pigott family of The Sheo Yang Mission (who were eventually killed during the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

). As recorded in ''In the Far East'' (1889), the ''Kaisar-i-Hind'' took a route passing Gibraltar (10:30pm, 31 January 1888), calling at

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

and then passing the

Straits of Messina The Strait of Messina (; ) is a narrow strait between the eastern tip of Sicily ( Punta del Faro) and the western tip of Calabria ( Punta Pezzo) in Southern Italy. It connects the Tyrrhenian Sea to the north with the Ionian Sea to the south, wi ...

, stopping for a day at

Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...

and then onward to

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. At

the missionary party boarded the P&O vessel ''S.S. Deccan'', bound for

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 ...

. A stop in

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, allowed Geraldine a first contact with many Chinese who came on board. Then a stop at

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

followed. Her first time on Chinese soil was later at a stop at

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

where she was received by Dr and Mrs Chalmers of 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 tradition, Reformed in outlook, with ...

, who introduced them also to Mr and Mrs Bender of the

Basel Mission The Basel Mission is a Christianity, Christian missionary society based in Switzerland. It was active from 1815 to 2001, when it transferred the operative work to , the successor organization of ''Kooperation Evangelischer Kirchen und Missione'' ...

. Shanghai was reached next. But Shanghai was not their final destination. Staying only long enough to exchange their European clothes for the national Chinese costume, the missionaries started on again, leaving this first station of the China Inland Mission behind them and travelling on the boat ''Fuh-ho'' ("Happy Harmony") in the substantially cheaper Chinese accommodations up 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 ...

River to

Zhenjiang Zhenjiang, alternately romanized as Chinkiang, is a prefecture-level city in Jiangsu Province, China. It lies on the southern bank of the Yangtze River near its intersection with the Grand Canal. It is opposite Yangzhou (to its north) and ...

. Lastly on to a barge some 6 hours to

Yangzhou Yangzhou is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province, East China. Sitting on the north bank of the Yangtze, it borders the provincial capital Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yancheng to the northeast, Taizhou, Jiangsu, ...

, finally arriving at Yangzhou on 23 March 1888. She wrote to her sister after a short time in China: After training in China, Geraldine was eventually stationed 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 ...

Province.

Published works

''In the Far East''
(1889)
''The Story of the China Inland Mission''
(1893) *
One of China's Scholars
The Early Life and Conversion of Pastor Hsi'' (1900) *''Peru: Its Story, People and Religion'' (1909)
''Hudson Taylor In Early Years; The Growth of a Soul''
(1911) *'' Borden of Yale '09'' (1913) *''Though War Should Rise'' (1914)
''Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission; The Growth of a Work of God''
(1918) * The Call of China's Great North West - Kansu and Beyond (1920) *''Pearl's Secret'' (1920) *''With P’u and His Brigands'' (1922)
''The Call of China's Great North-West or Kansu and Beyond''
(1923) *''Guinness of Honan'' (1930)

(1932) *''Faith's Venture'' (1932) *''Margaret King’s Vision'' (1934) *''The Triumph of John and Betty Stam'' (1935) *''By Faith: Henry W. Frost and the China Inland Mission'' (1938) *''Sirs, Be of Good Cheer'' (1941) *''A Story Without End'' *''Behind the Ranges:

Fraser Fraser may refer to: Places Antarctica * Fraser Point, South Orkney Islands Australia * Fraser, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Belconnen * Division of Fraser (Australian Capital Territory), a former federal ...

of Lisuland'' (1944)

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * *

External links

''Hudson Taylor in Early Years-The Growth of a Soul'' - Volume 1 by Dr. and Mrs Howard Taylor

Missionary E-Texts Archive: Historical Writings by, about and for Missionaries

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070926212919/http://www.genealogy.com/users/y/o/r/Brian-York-Burnsville/?Welcome=1091209026 Taylor family tree* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Geraldine 1865 births 1949 deaths Protestant writers 19th-century English historians English Protestant missionaries Protestant missionaries in China British missionaries in China Geraldine Taylor Female Christian missionaries Clergy from Liverpool Geraldine British women historians 20th-century English historians