Arthur Gostick Shorrock
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Arthur Gostick Shorrock (1861-1945), a pioneer Baptist missionary in China for 40 years. Arthur was born in 1861 in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. He entered Spurgeon's College and as a student preacher took services at the Baptist Chapel in Wraysbury. There he met his future wife, Maud Doulton, a relative of both Henry Doulton the pottery manufacturer and William Thomas Buckland the Wraysbury auctioneer. After Arthur left to become a missionary, Maud attended the Royal Holloway College, graduating in 1890.
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[edit] Missionary work in China
Arthur joined the Baptist Missionary Society and went to China, firstly to Shantung. In 1897 he journeyed to India with one of China's most influential Baptist missionaries, Timothy Richard. Richard hoped to see the conditions of mission work in India and was pleased to have the "able and earnest" young missionary as a traveling companion.[1] They visited Sri Lanka, Madras, Agra, Varanasi, Delhi, Mumbay and Kolkata, where Arthur "had a sharp attack of Cholera, narrowly escaping with his life."[1]
[edit] Shaanxi Baptist Mission
In 1890 Arthur founded the Sianfu Mission,[2] in present day Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. He was responsible for the Baptist mission work in Shaanxi, along becoming the Principal of the Shaanxi Bible College among other responsibilities. In 1900, Maud traveled to China where she and Arthur were married in Shanghai. Maud took responsibility for 'Women's Work', and in 1914 became Principle of the church's Girls' High School in Xi'an.
Up until shortly before Arthur Shorrock left China, the following missionaries had worked with him:[3]
| Baptist Missionaries working in Shaanxi (1890-1925) | |||||
| Status | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Died prior to 1925 | 11 | ||||
| Transferred prior to 1925 | 19 | ||||
| Resigned prior to 1925 | 19 | ||||
| Working in 1925 | 32 | ||||
| Total staff 1890-1925 | 81 | ||||
Together with the Chinese members they established the following:[3]
| Contributions of Baptist Missionaries in Shaanxi (1925) | |||||
| Establishment | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Churches | 125 | ||||
| Total church members | 2584 | ||||
| Secondary Schools | 2 boys; 2 girls | ||||
| Elemetary Schools (6 years) | 4 boys; 4 girls | ||||
| Elemetary Schools (4 years) | 45 boys; 6 girls | ||||
| Kindergarten | 1 girls | ||||
| Bible school | 1 men; 1 women | ||||
| Total scholars | 1550 | ||||
| Hospitals | 2 | ||||
[edit] War against Opium
Arthur was horrified by the impact of the opium trade. In 1890 he was a founding member of the Permanent Committee for the Promotion of Anti-Opium Societies. Fellow committee members included the prominent missionaries John Glasgow Kerr MD, American Presbyterian Mission in Canton; B.C. Atterbury MD, American Presbyterian Mission in Peking; Archdeacon Arthur Evans Moule, Church Missionary Society in Shanghai; Henry Whitney MD, American Board of Commissioners for foreign Missions in Foochow; the Rev Samuel Clarke, China Inland Mission in Kweiyang and the Rev Griffith John, London Missionary Society in Hankow.[4] They resolved to continue their opposition to the opium traffic, urging Christians in China to arouse public opinion against it. The desire of the missionaries that their ideas be carried out caused them to form “continuation committees” that were assigned tasks to assure that action would be taken on whatever matters had been approved by the conferences. He continued working with other missionaries opposed to the opium trade, including writing to Alexander Hosie about poppy cultivation and corruption associated with attempts to end the cultivation.[4]
[edit] Xinhai Revolution
Once the Xinhai Revolution reached Shaanxi, resulting in the death of eight foreigners, an evacuation of all missionaries and other foreigners in the region was planned. The Rev J C Keyte and the explorer Arthur de Carle Sowerby planned the relief expedition, and all but a handful of the mission was successfully evacuated due to their efforts. However, Arthur, Maud and their daughter Mary remained in Shaanxi. Arthur gave the following reason for remaining: -
| “ | It would be un-Christian, as well as most unwise, for the doctors to leave at this stage. Their help has been earnestly sought, and the appreciation shown by soldiers and leaders has been most unmistakable. If we desert the people here in their extremity, they are not likely to give us much consideration in the days to come...[5] | ” |
[edit] Anti-Christian movement
Top row: Mr Russell, Misses Haslop, Williamson, Watson, Waddington and Mrs Stockley
Second row: Mr and Mrs Burdett, Miss Curtis, Mr Arthur and Mrs Maud Shorrock, Dr Clement Stockley, Mr Watson and Mr Mudd
Third row: Miss Rogers, Andre Stockley, Miss Franklin, Miss Birrell, and Mr Phillips
Fourth row: Miss Dillow, Miss Dr Ruth Tait, Mr Bell, Mr Andrew Young, Harold Stockley
His wider contributions to China were rewarded with the awarding of the Order of the Excellent Crop, Third Class, conferred upon him by the President of the Republic of China in 1917.[6] Popular sentiment in the 1920s in China was directed against missionaries, foreign merchants, Christian schools, churches and hospitals which were viewed as ‘imperialistic'.[7]
Arthur Shorrock helped organise the 1925 Shensi Baptist Conference, writing a book that tried to argue that missionaries were not imperialist.[3] At the time he wrote:
| “ | And so when the anti-Christian movement was at its height during the Christmas week, our reply to it was an effort in 'good deeds' visiting the prisoner in his prison, the orphan and the widow, and leaving with each a small gift in bread or cloth or some other useful gift. This is being repeated at the Chinese New Year, and so advantage is taken to show that Christianity is really the witness of a life touched with the feeling of brotherliness, rather than a force to bind the letters of Imperialism, or any other 'ism' It is encouraging to know that 21 have been baptized this year-not so many as we would have hoped, but considering the year, and all its opposition and propaganda, the result is good.[3] | ” |
Many missionaries were forced to leave China in the following years. For the Baptist Missionary Society such experiences resulted in them becoming more sensitive to the political situation of different mission fields.[8]
[edit] Evangelical Methods
The evangelical methods used at the time in Shaanxi were described as follows:[3]
| “ | Our Lord Jesus Himself, set us the example of preaching, teaching, and healing to spread the knowledge of His Kingdom, and many and varied were the methods He used to carry out these three principles of action. ... To accomplish this end we find Him adopting the following methods, at least, to win men.
In all these ways we are engaged to-day, with the additional method of literary propaganda, which we are assured our Lord sanctions, for how often did He ask His hearers 'Have your never read?' |
” |
[edit] Return to England
While missionaries and other foreigners were besieged in Sianfu, Arthur's wife, Maude, died on 25 September 1925 of typhoid.[9]After his retirement, he returned to Wraysbury and became the minister of the Baptist Chapel there. He died on 13 June 1945 in Windsor, aged 83, and is buried in Wraysbury together with his wife.[10]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Richard, Timothy (1916). Forty-five Years in China: Reminiscences. Frederick A Stokes.
- ^ Burt, E. W. (1925). Fifty Years in China: The Story of the Baptist Mission in Shantung, Shansi, and Shensi, 1875-1925. London: The Carey Press.
- ^ a b c d e Shorrock, Arthur (1926). Shensi in Sunshine and Shade. Shanghai: Presbyterian Mission Press.
- ^ a b Lodwick, Kathleen L. (1996). Crusaders Against Opium: Protestant Missionaries in China, 1874-1917. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0813119243.
- ^ Borst-Smith, Ernest F. (1912). Caught in the Chinese Revolution. T Fisher Unwin.
- ^ “Court and Social”, The Times 41420: p. 9, Wednesday, 7 March 1917
- ^ Yamamoto, Tatsuro; Sumiko Yamamoto (1953). "The Anti-Christian Movement in China, 1922-1927". The Far Eastern Quarterly 12 (2): 133-147.
- ^ Stanley, Brian (1992). The History of the Baptist Missionary Society 1792-1992. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. ISBN 0567096149.
- ^ “The Chinese Civil War: Besieged Missionaries released”, The Times 44402: p. 13, Thursday, 14 October 1926
- ^ “Legal Notices”, The Times 50453: p. 1, Thursday, 16 May 1946
