Like father like son—Dr. Howard Taylor

by Patrick Fung (General Director, OMF International)

What better gift for a medical doctor than to see his or her child become a medical doctor also. What better joy for a missionary than to see his or her own child grow up serving the Lord! Hudson Taylor had a double blessing in receiving both. On Saturday, June 3, 1905, the day James Hudson Taylor passed away, with him was one of his sons, Dr. Frederick Howard Taylor and his daughter-in-law, Geraldine. They had been with him since April visiting the different stations along the Yangtze, calling at various ports, to Hankow, then by rail into Honan, and finally to Changsha, the capital of Hunan, the last stop on earth for Hudson Taylor. At the memorial service held at the China Inland Mission Hall, Shanghai on June 13, 1905, Dr. Howard Taylor spoke about his father’s life, quoting from Hudson Taylor and how his father constantly challenged him, “Does it not say that we ought to lay down our lives for the [Chinese] brethen?”1

Howard Taylor, born November 25, 1862, was Hudson Taylor’s second son. As one influenced by his father, it was no surprise that he had a special love for the study of medicine. He graduated as a medical doctor in 1888 in London. He received his 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 man and received three high honors in his postgraduate studies.2

Howard Taylor always had a close relationship with his father. On February 2, 1892, already serving as a missionary in Honan with CIM, Howard Taylor wrote to his father:

Medical work and the journey… have left me very little time for study this month. The last fortnight since we arrived here, I have only been able to do four or five hours a day. And the section [language lessons] is a heavy one, as you may remember...

Prior to Howard Taylor’s arrival in China, there were a lot of moments when he received mentoring from his father. 1888 was also a special year for both men. Hudson Taylor was on a special tour in North America sharing the great needs about China. Howard Taylor had taken three months leave having just ended his year of medical and surgical appointments. He was keen to relieve his father of the mundane affairs of traveling—packing, searching for timetables, buying tickets or getting food. “They had grown together as never before, to Hudson Taylor’s deep joy.”4

Howard Taylor already 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 October 15, 1889 at a missionary convention organized by the Students Foreign Missionary Union more than 1,500 students attended. A total of 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.”5

On November 3, 1889 Howard Taylor, accompanying his father Hudson Taylor, arrived at Gothenburg, 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, Upsala and Christiania, and 50-60,000 people were addressed, even Queen Sophia graciously inviting Mr. Taylor to a private audience in Stockholm. Hudson Taylor was already 57 at that time, thus no longer enjoying the same vigour as his son. Yet his insistence on traveling third class and carrying his own suitcase continued to give the young soon-to-be missionary the model of servanthood.6 Hudson Taylor wrote afterwards, “In Scandinavia, there are surely one hundred of the thousand additional missionary evangelists needed to carry the Gospel to every family in China.”7

Like his father, Howard Taylor was a man of action. Howard Taylor departed for China on January 23, 1890 from England as a single man. He married Mary Geraldine Guinness in April 1894, another CIM missionary who went to China two years earlier. He was sent to Henan and his leadership gifts soon became obvious with the opening of the ministry in the province, including the significant medical work which continued for the next 30 years. Chenchowfu in Honan was opened in the spring of 1895 as the result of the medical work by Howard Taylor of the previous three years at the invitation of Yuan Shi-kai, 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 Hong Zhang presented Howard Taylor with an honorific tablet, and as a result the city of Chenzhou [Zhengzhou] was opened to the CIM in 1895.8

Mary Geraldine Guinness, the wife of Howard Taylor, was a remarkable missionary in her own right with a wonderful gift of writing. She joined the CIM in 1888 and became one of the key biographers for the CIM. While serving in Honan even before she was married she had already gained tremendous respect from the local people.

It was suggested by some of my fellow students that I was taking a rash step, that I was perhaps making a mistake in going and burying myself, as they said, amongst the heathen of China. I did not think so; I did not believe that any one who undertook to go forth and serve the Lord Jesus Christ would be found in the long run to be making a mistake, and I am thankful to be able to say now that it is better than I hoped.

We were sent to work in a new district. In the providence of God we had the privilege of opening up two new stations—the city of Ch’en-chau and the adjoining city, one day’s journey away, of Tai-kang. We were the first missionaries to reside at these places, hence, speaking broadly, none of the people knew intelligently about the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course the very foundations of the work had to be laid, and they were laid, and laid deeply, at some cost. The medical work was a means which the Lord used very greatly in enabling us to get at the hearts and the affections of the people in those two cities and the surrounding districts. The work, of course, was of a very varied nature—a great many minor cases, a considerable sprinkling of major cases that required great thought and care and much prayer, for the danger of failure can hardly be over-estimated. If we undertook to operate, for instance, on a case of cataract, and failed, it would very likely go abroad that we had taken away the patient’s eye or the patient’s sight—something out of the patient’s eye in order to make medicine, and the result might be that our lives would pay the forfeit. Such work is always carried on at considerable cost.14

Risk taking was not a theory but reality to Howard Taylor. In 1898 for nine months he was acting superintendent in Honan while suffering from intractable dysentery. 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.15

1. Chinese Recorder 1905, p. 373
2. A. J. Broomhall, HTCOC, Book Seven p. 121
3. Personal Papers collection, CIM/JHT Box 14, 385-390 SOAS, London University
4. A. J. Broomhall, HTCOC, Book Seven p. 113
5. Ibid, p. 121
6. Ibid, p. 121
7. Marshall Bromhall, The Jubilee Story of the China Inland Mission, p. 194
8. Ibid, p. 298
9. “Results of Medical Work and its Promise,” Worldwide Evangelization Toronto Convention Report 1902, p. 517
10. Chinese Recorder 1901, Vol 32, p. 90
11. China’s Millions, 1901, p. 84
12. As reported by Henry Frost, the Home Director for CIM America Branch at that time.
13. Ibid
14. China’s Millions, 1900, p. 102
15. Hoste: OMFA 8514b, 8521, 8522, 8523 in A. J. Broomhall, HTCOC, Book Seven, p. 642
Copyright 2006 by OMF International