Alexander Williamson was a Scottish

Scottish people

The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...

 Protestant missionary

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

 to China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 with the London Missionary Society

London Missionary Society

The London Missionary Society was a non-denominational missionary society formed in England in 1795 by evangelical Anglicans and Nonconformists, largely Congregationalist in outlook, with missions in the islands of the South Pacific and Africa...

. He was known for his scholarship and translation work as well as founding of the Society for the Diffusion of Christian and General Knowledge Among the Chinese

Society for the Diffusion of Christian and General Knowledge Among the Chinese

The Society for the Diffusion of Christian and General Knowledge Among the Chinese was founded in 1887 in Shanghai, China. It was founded and led by a group of American and British Methodist missionaries including Young John Allen, William Alexander Parsons Martin, Timothy Richard and Alexander...

 or the Christian Literature Society for China). He was the predecessor to Timothy Richard

Timothy Richard

Timothy Richard was a British Baptist missionary to China, who influenced the modernisation of China and the rise of the Chinese Republic....

 as head of this society.

Missionary experiences

Williamson was born in Falkirk

Falkirk

Falkirk is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies in the Forth Valley, almost midway between the two most populous cities of Scotland; north-west of Edinburgh and north-east of Glasgow....

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. He was the eldest of seven sons. As a young man he worked at a large mercantile establishment. After this work he attended Glasgow University with the aim of going to China as a missionary. He completed his arts and theological studies, and offered himself to, and was accepted by, the London missionary society for the mission field in China.

For seven years he worked in evangelism, Chinese literary studies, and traveling. His health and strength wore out and he came home to Scotland on furlough from 1858-1863 to recover.

In 1863 Williamson returned to China with the National Bible Society of Scotland as its first agent there. He started at Yantai

Yantai

Yantai is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Shandong province, People's Republic of China. Located on the southern coast of the Bohai Sea and the eastern coast of the Laizhou Bay, Yantai borders the cities of Qingdao and Weihai to the southwest and east respectively.The largest fishing...

 in Shandong

Shandong

' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...

 Province and then traveled extensively distributing copies of the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 in Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

. During this period he visited Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, Mongolia

Mongolia

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...

, and Manchuria

Manchuria

Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...

.

In 1867, Alexander Williamson, who had given Robert Jermain Thomas

Robert Jermain Thomas

Robert Jermain Thomas was a Protestant Christian missionary who served with the London Missionary Society in late Qing Dynasty China and Korea....

 Bibles to take to Korea, journeyed to northeastern China to the border with Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

. There at “Korea Gate,” Williamson sold Christian books to Korean border merchants.

In August 1869, his younger brother and fellow missionary, James Williamson (LMS Missionary) also of the London Missionary Society, was murdered near Tianjin

Tianjin

' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...

. That same year, Alexander returned to Britain.

In 1871, Williamson was awarded a Doctorate of Law by the University of Glasgow for his writings about China.

Between 1871 and 1883 he was back at Yantai with the NBSS and in 1874 also with the Scottish United Presbyterian Mission

Scottish United Presbyterian Mission

Scottish United Presbyterian Mission was a Scottish Presbyterian missionary society that was involved in sending workers to countries such as China during the late Qing Dynasty.-Scottish United Presbyterian Mission work in China:...

.

In 1883 he had to return to Scotland for health reasons. While he was there he founded the “Book and Tract Society for China” (later renamed in 1887: the “Society for Diffusion of Christian and General Knowledge among the Chinese” or the “Christian Literature Society for China”).

Williamson returned to China again and was in Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

in 1886, when his wife died. He died four years later at Yantai in 1890. He was 61.

Works authored

• ”Natural Theology”
• "Journeys in North China, Manchuria, and Eastern Mongolia", Vols I and II 1876

available on-line at www.ebdb.net