Maria Jane Dyer
Encyclopedia
Maria Jane Dyer (January 16, 1837 – July 23, 1870) was a British Protestant Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
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, and "Mother" of the China Inland Mission
China Inland Mission
OMF International is an interdenominational Protestant Christian missionary society, founded in Britain by Hudson Taylor on 25 June 1865.-Overview:...
with her husband, founder James Hudson Taylor. She was a pioneer missionary and educator there for 12 years (from 1852–1860 and 1866–1870). In 1858, she married Taylor and was an invaluable assistant and influence to him. In her time with the CIM she was instrumental in training single women to be missionaries in China, when opportunities for women to serve had been previously dependent on having a missionary husband.
British and Malaysian roots
Samuel Dyer
Samuel Dyer 台約爾 , was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China in the Congregationalist tradition, who worked among the Chinese in Malaysia. He arrived in Penang in 1827. Dyer, his wife Maria, and their family lived in Malacca and then finally in Singapore...
and his wife Maria Tarn
Maria Tarn
Maria Dyer , was a British Protestant Christian missionary to the Chinese in the Congregationalist tradition, who worked among the Chinese in Malaysia. She arrived in Penang in 1827 with her husband, Samuel Dyer. She was the eldest daughter of Joseph Tarn, Director of London Missionary Society...
of 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...
, who had been pioneer missionaries to the Chinese in Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
, Malaysia and Malacca
Malacca
Malacca , dubbed The Historic State or Negeri Bersejarah among locals) is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south...
, where she was born. Both of her parents died before she was ten. Maria was the second surviving daughter. Born in Malacca, she did not see England until she was two years old. Even then the stay was brief and she called China her home. Her father died while away at Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
in 1843 when Maria was only six years old. Her mother married again but she also died in the mission field at Penang in 1846. Maria and her brother and sister lived in England after the death of their parents. All three children were raised in England by their mother's brother and they all eventually dedicated their adult lives to missionary work in China.
Life in Ningbo
In 1853, aged 16, Maria traveled to China with her sister, Burella, and they lived and worked at a school for girls in NingboNingbo
Ningbo is a seaport city of northeastern Zhejiang province, Eastern China. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, the municipality has a population of 7,605,700 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 3,089,180 in the built up area made of 6 urban districts. It lies south of the Hangzhou Bay,...
which was run by one of the first female missionaries to the Chinese, Mary Ann Aldersey
Mary Ann Aldersey
Mary Ann Aldersey 艾迪綏 , the first Christian missionary woman to serve in China. She founded a school for girls in Ningbo, Zhejiang. Her pioneering the field of mission work for single women in China was the most remarkable outcome of her life.Aldersey was a native of London from a wealthy...
, an old friend of their mother. It was there that she met and in 1858, married Hudson Taylor, despite Aldersey's complete opposition.
Maria Taylor was better educated than her husband and from a different social background. Having spoken the Ningbo dialect
Ningbo dialect
Ningbo dialect is a dialect of Wu, one of the subdivisions of Chinese spoken language. It is spoken in the city of Ningbo and Zhoushan and surrounding areas in Zhejiang province.-Area:...
fluently for several years, she was immediately able to start a small primary school. As a married couple the Taylors also took care of an adopted boy named Tianxi in Ningbo in addition to five Chinese boys that Taylor was helping. They had a baby of their own that died late in 1858. Their first surviving child, Grace Dyer Taylor
Grace Dyer Taylor
Grace Dyer Taylor was the eldest surviving daughter of James Hudson Taylor and Maria Jane Dyer, Christian missionaries to China...
, was born in 1859. Shortly after she was born, the Taylors took over all of the operations at the hospital in Ningbo that had been run by Dr. William Parker. In addition to this they cared for a young Chinese girl named Ensing and five other Chinese boys.
In 1860 the Taylors went to England so that Hudson could regain his health. But for Maria, China was still her home.
Their second child, a son, Herbert Hudson Taylor
Herbert Hudson Taylor
Herbert Hudson Taylor , British Protestant Christian missionary to China, author, speaker and eldest son of James Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission and Maria Jane Dyer...
, was born in London in 1861. More children were born to the Taylors: Frederick Howard Taylor
Frederick Howard Taylor
Frederick Howard Taylor a.k.a F. Howard Taylor , was a British pioneer Protestant Christian missionary to China, author, speaker and second son of James Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission , and Maria Jane...
, 1862; Samuel Dyer Taylor, 1864; and Jane Dyer Taylor, 1865 (died at birth).
In London, Maria helped Hudson to write China's Spiritual Need and Claims
China's Spiritual Need and Claims
China’s Spiritual Need and Claims is a book written by James Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, in October, 1865. It is arguably the most significant work regarding Christian missions to China in the 19th century...
, which had an enormous impact on Christian missions in the 19th Century.
Return to China
On May 26, 1866, after over five years of working in England, Maria & Hudson Taylor and their four children set sail for China with their new team of missionaries, the Lammermuir PartyLammermuir Party
The Lammermuir Party of 1866 was a British Protestant Christian group of missionaries to China with the China Inland Mission led by James Hudson Taylor, who were identified with the tea clipper Lammermuir which brought them to China. Mission historians have indicated that this event was a turning...
, aboard the Lammermuir (clipper)
Lammermuir (clipper)
The second ship to bear the name Lammermuir was an extreme composite clipper ship built in 1864 by W. Pile & Co of West Hartlepool for John "Jock" "White Hat" Willis & Son, London...
. A four-month voyage was considered speedy at the time. While in the South China Sea
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...
and also the Pacific Ocean the ship was nearly sunk but survived 2 typhoons. They arrived safely in Shanghai on September 30, 1866.
The arrival of the largest party of missionaries ever sent to China - as well as their intent to be dressed in native clothing - gave the foreign settlement in Shanghai much to talk about and some criticism began for the young China Inland Mission. The party donned Chinese clothing, notwithstanding - even the women missionaries (Maria for the first time) - which was deemed semi-scandalous by some Europeans. They traveled down the Grand Canal to make the first settlement in the war-torn city of Hangzhou
Hangzhou
Hangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...
. Another daughter was born to them in China (Maria Hudson Taylor).
Their eldest daughter, Grace, died during their first year in China. Maria felt the loss deeply, and poured out her emotions in poetry, as she had done earlier in life after the death of her parents.
Amid the struggle of the first year back in China, she wrote:
When young women CIM missionary recruits arrived to join the work in China, Maria was able to train them in understanding Chinese, adaptation to Chinese culture, and missionary work.
1868 brought another child (Charles Edward Taylor) into the Taylor family, and in 1870, Hudson and Maria made the difficult decision to send their older three surviving children (Bertie, Freddie, and Maria - Samuel died earlier that year) home to England. That same year, Noel was born, though he died of malnutrition and deprivation two weeks later due to Maria's inability to nurse him. Maria died several days later at their home in Zhenjiang
Zhenjiang
Zhenjiang is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Jiangsu province in the eastern People's Republic of China . Sitting on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, it borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the west, Changzhou to the east, and Yangzhou across the river to the north.Once...
, with the official cause of death being cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
. The small Protestant cemetery where she was buried in Zhenjiang was where Hudson wanted to be laid to rest as well. He followed her there in 1905. The cemetery itself was destroyed during the Chinese Cultural Revolution by Red Guards in China
Red Guards (China)
Red Guards were a mass movement of civilians, mostly students and other young people in the People's Republic of China , who were mobilized by Mao Zedong in 1966 and 1967, during the Cultural Revolution.-Origins:...
as part of the Destruction of the Four Olds
Four Olds
The Four Olds or the Four Old Things were Old Customs, Old Culture, Old Habits, and Old Ideas. One of the stated goals of the Cultural Revolution in the People's Republic of China was to bring an end to the Four Olds...
campaign. Today there are industrial buildings over the site.
Maria's death shook Hudson Taylor deeply, and in 1871 with his own health deteriorating, he returned to England to recuperate and take care of business items involved with the mission work.
Of Maria's and Hudson's nine children, three died at birth and two in childhood. The four who reached adulthood all later became missionaries with the China Inland Mission. In 1897 Hudson's & Maria's only surviving daughter, Maria Hudson Taylor, the wife of John Joseph Coulthard, died in Wenzhou
Wenzhou
Wenzhou is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. The area under its jurisdiction, which includes two satellite cities and six counties, had a population of 9,122,100 as of 2010....
, leaving four little children and her husband in sorrow. She had been instrumental in leading many Chinese women to Christianity during her short life.
Epitaph
Her marker read:Legacy
Descendants of Hudson & Maria Taylor continued their full-time ministry in Chinese communities in Hong Kong and TaiwanTaiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
including The late Rev. James Hudson Taylor III (1929–2009) (戴紹曾牧師) and his son Rev. James Hudson Taylor IV (戴繼宗牧師).
Writing
- Siao Veng-teh. Little Catechism pp. 36. Ningbo, 1860. This small work, in the Ningpo dialect, contains elements of Christian teaching in catechismal formCatechismA catechism , i.e. to indoctrinate) is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present...
, divided into seven sections.
Chronology
Early Years and Ophanhood- 1837 Maria Jane Dyer born in Malacca
- 1839 Arrives in England with parents, Samuel and Burella
- 1841 Leaves for SingaporeSingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
with parents, Samuel, Burella and Ms. Buckland - 1842 Arrives in Singapore with parents who rent mission-house of American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions (Memoir p 240)
Ebenezer, baby brother, born (Memoir p 232, 235)
- 1843 Father leaves with John StronachJohn StronachJohn Stronach was a Protestant Christian missionary who served with the London Missionary Society during the late Qing Dynasty China.-Notes:...
for London Missionary Society Conference in Hong Kong
Father dies in Macau (Maria is 6 years of age)
- 1844 Moves with her mother, Samuel and Burella to PenangPenangPenang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
Mother takes over Chinese Girl's School for which her father had bequeathed money. There was no talk of the family returning to Britain (Not Less Than p 25)
- 1845 Mother marries Johann Georg Bausum, a German missionary based in Penang
- 1846 Mother dies in Penang (Maria is 9 years of age)
England and China
- 1847 Goes to England with Samuel and Burella in care of guardian, William Tarn (uncle)
Enters Polam Hall
Polam Hall
Polam Hall is an independent school located in the town of Darlington, County Durham, England. The Head is John Moreland.-History of Polam Hall :...
in Darlington
Darlington
Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, part of the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It lies on the small River Skerne, a tributary of the River Tees, not far from the main river. It is the main population centre in the borough, with a population of 97,838 as of 2001...
, Durham, NE England with Burella
- 1852 Leaves England (at age 15) with Burella (age 17) with Mr. & Mrs. Cobbold (Church Missionary Society) for Mary Ann Aldersey's girls' school in Ningbo;
- 1853 Arrives in Shanghai; goes on to Ningbo to teach in Mary Ann Aldersey's Girls' School
- 1854 Hudson Taylor arrives in China
- 1856 Meets Hudson Taylor the day after his arrival in Ningbo
Declines Robert Hart
Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet
Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet, GCMG , was a British consular official in China, who served as the second Inspector General of China's Imperial Maritime Custom Service from 1863 to 1911.-Early life:...
's proposal
- 1857 Mary Ann Aldersey forces Maria to decline Taylor's proposal
Maria receives guardian's approval to marry Taylor
Married Life
- 1858 Married to James Hudson Taylor at Presbyterian Compound, Ningbo
Sister, Burella dies of cholera in Shanghai, age: 23 years
Brother, Samuel Jr. emigrates to New Zealand
- Baby Taylor born and died in Ningpo Mission House, "Wu-gyiao-deo" Lake Head or Bridge Street, Ningbo
- 1859 Grace "Gracie" Dyer Taylor born in Ningpo Mission House, "Wu-gyiao-deo" Lake Head or Bridge Street, Ningbo
- Moved to Dr. William Parker's hospital, outside Salt Gate, Ningbo
- Ensing adopted, before 1860 in Ningbo
- 5 Chinese boys adopted, before June 1860 in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China
- 1860 Taylors moved for 2 weeks, to home of John Shaw BurdonJohn Shaw BurdonJohn Shaw Burdon was a British Christian missionary to China with the Church Mission Society. Burdon was ordained to the priesthood by the Bishop of London in December 1852. He opposed Britain's part in the Opium Wars in China. In March 1874 he was consecrated bishop of the South China Diocese of...
, Shanghai
Life in London 1860 to 1866
- Sailed to England (via Cape of Good Hope) on furlough aboard the tea clipperClipperA clipper was a very fast sailing ship of the 19th century that had three or more masts and a square rig. They were generally narrow for their length, could carry limited bulk freight, small by later 19th century standards, and had a large total sail area...
Jubilee, with Hudson, Grace and Wang LaijunWang LaijunWang Laiquan or Wang Laijun was a Chinese Protestant Christian pastor and missionary in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China in the late 19th century. "One of China's great, if unsung Christians, after Pastor Xi Shengmo..... - The Jubilee arrived November 20, 1860 in Gravesend, England
- Settled in 63 Westbourne GroveWestbourne GroveWestbourne Grove is a retail road running across Notting Hill, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, a section of west London, England. It runs from Kensington Park Road in the west to Queensway in the east, crossing over Portobello Road...
, BayswaterBayswaterBayswater is an area of west London in the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to the west . It is a built-up district located 3 miles west-north-west of Charing Cross, bordering the north of Hyde Park over Kensington Gardens and having a population density of...
, London - 1861 Herbert "Bertie" Hudson Taylor born in 63 Westbourne Grove, Bayswater, London
- Moved, to #1 Beaumont Street, London
- 1862 Frederick "Freddie" Howard Taylor born in #1 Beaumont Street, London
- 1864 Samuel "Sammie" Dyer Taylor born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England
- Moved to #30 Coborn Street, London
- 1865 Assisted in the writing of "China: Its Spiritual Need and Claims" with Hudson Taylor, in London
- Daughter Jane Dyer Taylor died at birth in #30 Coborn Street, London
Return to China 1866 to 1871
- 1866 Sailed to China (via the Cape of Good Hope) aboard the tea clipper Lammermuir with Hudson and four children, in East India DocksEast India DocksThe East India Docks was a group of docks in Blackwall, east London, north-east of the Isle of Dogs. Today only the entrance basin remains.-History:...
, London - Arrived in China aboard the Lammermuir September 29, 1866 in Shanghai, China
- Settled with the Lammermuir party, December 1866 in 1 Xin Kai Long (New Lane), HangzhouHangzhouHangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...
, Zhejiang, China - 1867 Maria "Marie" Hudson Taylor born in 1 Xin Kai Long (New Lane), Hangzhou
- Daughter Grace Dyer Taylor died August 23, 1867 in temple at Pengshan, near Hangzhou
- 1868 Moved with Hudson in YangzhouYangzhouYangzhou is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province, People's Republic of China. Sitting on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, it borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yancheng to the northeast, Taizhou to the east, and Zhenjiang across...
, Jiangsu, China - Survived Yangzhou riotYangzhou riotThe Yangzhou riot of August 22–23, 1868 was a brief crisis in Anglo-Chinese relations during the late Qing Dynasty. The crisis was fomented by the gentry of Yangzhou who opposed the presence of foreign Christian missionaries in the city, who claimed that they were legally residing under the...
- Moved with Hudson, to Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
- Moved with Hudson in Yangzhou
- Charles Edward Taylor born in Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China
- 1869 Moved with Hudson to Ningpo Mission House, "Wu-gyiao-deo" Lake Head or Bridge Street, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China
- Family holiday with Hudson in Putuo Island, Zhejiang, China
- 1870 Son Samuel Dyer Taylor died aboard a boat in the Yangtze RiverYangtze RiverThe Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...
near Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China - Moved with Hudson to Zhenjiang
- Noel Taylor born in Zhenjiang
- Son Noel died 13 days after birth in Zhenjiang
- Maria Jane (Dyer) Taylor died in Zhenjiang
See also
- List of China Inland Mission missionaries in China
- Sir Robert Hart, 1st BaronetSir Robert Hart, 1st BaronetSir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet, GCMG , was a British consular official in China, who served as the second Inspector General of China's Imperial Maritime Custom Service from 1863 to 1911.-Early life:...
who proposed to marry her in 1858 before Hudson Taylor
External links
- Christian Biography Resources
- http://www.missionaryetexts.org/
- http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/hudsontaylor/hudsontaylorv1/hudsontaylorv1tc.htm
- Taylor family tree