by Linda Banks
By the beginning of 1949, Amy, now 81, was feeling tired. With Isabel and Geoffrey still away – this time in Hong Kong, where Geoffrey had been offered a high-ranking military post after being awarded an OBE – she was also feeling isolated. By March that year, Amy learned that she had cancer of the liver. As this was already advanced, immediate palliative care was necessary. The only available option was Bethany Nursing Home, some distance away in Tunbridge Wells. During her final few weeks, one of the things that occupied her mind and prayers was the fate of her school in China. If the communists were victorious, they had threatened to eradicate Christianity and expel missionaries from the country. This could lead to persecution of the boys, especially those who had spent time in the West, and ultimately to the closure of the school.
Amy died on 6 June. Her funeral was conducted in the chapel at Tunbridge Wells cemetery and she was buried nearby. The Fukien News carried the following ‘In Memoriam’:
Since our last issue there has passed from us to higher service [an] outstanding personality of the church in Fukien. Amy Wilkinson’s name is known to a very wide circle of friends and supporters through the wonderful work she did for blind boys and men. The School for Blind Boys that grew out of her inspired sympathy from its beginnings in Lieng Kong to a fine institution of many and varied activities in Foochow City is a splendid memorial to her life. But better still is the love and veneration in the hearts of many boys and men saved by her from lives of misery to lives of useful and joyful service. Surely in her ears must have sounded the Master’s words ‘Inasmuch as you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did it to Me.’ 30
7.5 Amy, wearing her Order of the Golden Grain and Viceroy’s Medals, c. 1930.
After Amy’s funeral, Isabel organised for George to live in Winscombe Retirement Home in Gerards Cross. As this was especially set up to cater for doctors, she knew he would be well looked after. Geoffrey had decided to leave the army to train for the Anglican ministry, and the Home was not too far from the theological college where he would be studying.31 In moments of reminiscence with fellow residents, reflecting on their life’s work, George sometimes wondered about the legacy of his work in China. He took heart from an address he read entitled ‘Looking Back and Going Forward’, by the general secretary of CMS. There was no need to be discouraged, he wrote, especially about what was happening in Fukien, as it would give Christians there the opportunity to show that their faith was genuinely Chinese and not a Western import. ‘Can you see’, he asked, ‘that all this fits into what you read about China in the papers? That it may even be part of God’s plan?’32
This echoed the words of Bishop Michael Chang in 1950, on the centenary of Christian work in Foochow.
We are afraid that your hearts may be heavy, as you think of the end, as it may seem, of all the endeavour to which you gave so much; and we should like to say a few words about that … if circumstances outside our control should bring to an end after 100 years the work of missionaries among us, it is not the end; for not only does what you have built abide, but so also does the determination to remain in fellowship with you, and to make that fellowship real to us all in whatever ways may be possible. 33
These words gave George comfort as he thought about the future. On 18 November 1951, aged 86, he died and was buried next to his beloved wife and co-worker of 47 years. The inscription on two Bible-shaped headstones, resting side by side, captures forever where their hearts truly belonged.
Amy Wilkinson
George Wilkinson
Founder
Founder
CMS Blind Boys School
Foochow Mission Hospital
Died 6 June 1949
Died 18 November 1951
Aged 81
Aged 86
Afterword
In October 2016, we landed in Hong Kong airport to meet up with our travelling companions for ten days in Fuzhou. Ruth Horne, Amy and George’s great granddaughter, and her husband Brian met us in the departure lounge for the 90-minute flight. All four of us were nervous and excited at what lay ahead. On arrival we discovered that our hotel rooms looked out across the Min River to Nantai Island.
The next morning we were driven to the new campus of the, now co-educational, Fuzhou Blind School to be distinguished guests at their Annual International White Cane Day celebration. At the gates was a small honour guard of girls in colourful uniforms. We were then greeted warmly by the principal, staff and board members as well as by our translator, Dr Jihong. Together they showed us some of the expansive buildings and grounds on the campus.
When we entered the main auditorium, the audience of several hundred people rose to their feet and applauded. As we looked around, we noticed students, teachers, parents, alumnae and others from the wider community. All were especially excited to have Amy’s great granddaughter as the guest of honour. To our delight, the program began with a band, consisting of both girls and boys this time, followed by an ex-student singing, in Chinese, ‘Auld Lang Syne’. As the concert went on, we were treated to items from infants to graduates who were now national celebrities, one of whom had won the Chinese equivalent of the ‘X Factor’! The blind students often spontaneously interacted with the performers in all kinds of ways – clapping, swaying, beating time, tapping their feet and singing enthusiastically.
By far the loudest applause was for an item by five members of the school who were part of China’s national blind football team. They had recently returned from the Rio Paralympics where their team just missed out on a bronze medal. Before the concert, we had been treated to an exhibition of some of their amazing skills on the school’s oval, where Ruth and Brian played blindfold football with them. All the students seemed incredibly ‘at home’ and happy, and there was an obviously close bond between them and their teachers, some of whom were blind themselves. We felt that Amy would have loved to have been there, and we sensed her spirit hovering over the whole event. Throughout our visit, her name was often respectfully mentioned and her picture displayed on notice boards in the main reception area.
At the end of the concert, we joined key past and present staff, several older students and some distinguished alumnae over morning tea. There we exchanged stories and photos from our research. The oldest surviving alumnus shared memories of his own teacher, the cornet player in the Blind Boys Band that had toured England. The most delightful surprise was being shown the impressive medallion presented to Amy after the Nanking Exhibition in 1910.
We also found out more about the history of the school after the communist victory. In July 1951, the Boys and Girls Schools were merged and the premises moved to Cangshan on Nantai Island. With the expulsion of missionaries, its administration was transferred to a local government organisation. Over the next two decades, it underwent changes in name, leadership and policy. Nevertheless, the school continued to make products and participate in sports, winning medals in provincial, national and occasionally international competitions. During this period, little is known of any ongoing Australian connection with the school. However, in 1986, Mary Andrews, the former principal of Deaconess House in Sydney and a former CMS missionary in China, visited and recorded its choir. In the 1990s, the current president of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, then secretary of Fuzhou’s Municipal Party Committee, personally supported the building of a new campus for the Blind School because of his deep interest in education.1
Despite no longer being a Christian institution, the imagery of light continues to be a vital part of the school’s mission statement. As one stanza of the school’s song echoes:
‘Church Mission School’, ‘The Light Path’ is my pride,
Fuzhou Blind School makes us feel proud;
With a more spiritual outlook,
A better life will be created.
Over the next few days, we visited the key places where Amy and George lived and worked, some of them fast decaying and others now redeveloped. A highlight was a day spent at Kulian
g in the mountains above the city, where for the first time we discovered the location of the Wilkinson’s summer house. We showed Ruth and Brian the hospital near North Gate, now the second largest in the city, and the surrounding area which once housed the early Blind School; the places in Kuliang where the Wilkinsons lived, relaxed and socialised; the foreign concessions area on Nantai Island where they were married and spent time with missionary colleagues; the site of the church they attended where Ruth’s grandmother was baptised; and the nearby oldest church in the city, which now has 10,000 members a week, where we gave a talk on Amy’s life to their English language class.
Amy and George’s graves in Tunbridge Wells.
As our time in Fuzhou came to an end, we reflected on our recent visit to Amy and George’s graves in Tunbridge Wells. On that beautiful sunny afternoon, in a quiet corner of the cemetery, we read aloud these words from the Bible that expressed the vision that shaped their life and work together.
I saw a ‘new heaven and a new earth’ … and the Holy City, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look, God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ …
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life … And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night … for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.2
Endnotes
Foreword
1 This story was related to the authors by local historian George Niu.
Chapter 1
1 Speech reconstructed by the authors, based on personal conversation with Ruth. More generally on Samuel Marsden’s life and work see S.M. Johnstone, Samuel Marsden: A Pioneer of Civilization in the South Seas, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1932; A.T. Yarwood, ‘Samuel Marsden’, Australian Dictionary of Evangelical Biography, ed. B. Dickey, Evangelical Historical Association, Sydney, 1994, pp. 250–53.
2 On John Oxley, see E.W. Dunlop, ‘Oxley, John Joseph (1784–1828)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB), National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/oxley-john-joseph-2530/text3431, viewed March 2016, and more fully, R. Johnson, The Search for the Inland Sea: John Oxley, Explorer, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2001.
3 The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), 3 December 1870.
4 Additional information on John Norton Oxley may be found in the Dictionary of Sydney, 2008, http://www.dictionaryofsydney,org/entry/kirkham, viewed June 2015.
5 See M. Reeson, ‘Thomas Hassall’, Australian Dictionary of Evangelical Biography, pp. 159–60 and J.S. Hassall, In Old Australia: Records and Reminiscences from 1794, Brish, 1902.
6 The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, 18 April 1891, pp. 78–80.
7 The following details come from correspondence between Harriet and her cousin Marianne Hope, held by her descendants A. & E. Hope in their Family Collection.
8 From The Home Book for Pleasure and Instruction, a popular Victorian journal of the time, cited in R. Goodwin, How To Be A Victorian, Penguin, London, 2013, p. 312.
9 ‘Eliza Hassall’, Illawarra Historical Society, 2 March/April 1999, p. 29.
10 See letter dated January 1863, as well as ones from 11 February and 14 October 1864.
11 See Marianne’s letters and diary for October 1879, June 1881, July 1883 and May 1885 in the A. & E. Hope Family Collection, in some of which Isabel is also mentioned.
12 SMH, 31 March 1894, p. 4.
13 The Australian Women’s Weekly, 1933–82, 25 August 1968, no page listed.
14 The Goulburn Herald, 23 April 1885, p. 4.
15 A. & E. Hope Family Collection, 1885.
16 R.D. Fitzgerald, The Daily Telegraph, 10 May 1924, p. 10, who was father of the well-known Australian poet R.D. Fitzgerald. On Hunters Hill generally during this period see B. Sherry, Hunter’s Hill: Australia’s Oldest Garden Suburb, David Ell Press, Sydney, 1989.
17 See the later report in SMH, 30 July 1894, p. 3.
Chapter 2
1 G. Carnegie, Pastoral Accounting Colonial Australia, Routledge, London, 1997, p. 79.
2 I. Welch (ed.), Amy Oxley: Letters from China, An Australian Missionary Nurse of the Church Missionary Association of New South Wales, Fujian Province, China 1895c–1920, 2006, www.anglicanhistory.org/asia/china/welch_oxley, viewed January 2015.
3 At the time of Isabel Hope’s death in 1939, her personal address book included the details of missionaries from China, India, Japan, Palestine and the New Hebrides (A. & E. Hope Family Collection).
4 M. McKenna, ‘An Eye for Eternity’: The Life and Work of Manning Clark, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2011, p. 55.
5 R. Teale, ‘Hassall, Eliza Marsden (1834–1917)’, ADB, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hassall-eliza-marsden-12970/text23439, viewed March 2015; J. Stewart & D.J. Hassall, The Hassall Family: Celebrating 200 Years in Australia, Hassall Family Bicentenary Association, 1998, pp. 79–80.
6 Australian Town and Country Journal, April 1875, p. 44.
7 On the development of the hospital see J. Brown, Glebe Society Bulletin, 4, 2003. In 1904 the institution was renamed the Royal Alexandria Hospital and today is part of Westmead Children’s Hospital.
8 Evening News, 3 January 1891, p. 6.
9 Australian Town and Country Journal, 7 September 1889, p. 30.
10 SMH, 10 June 1891, p. 9.
11 Australian Town and Country Journal, 23 November 1889, p. 35.
12 For example, M. Fagg, Two Golden Lilies: From the Empire of the Rising Sun, Forgotten Books, London, 2011, who later married an Australian and migrated to Tasmania.
13 His visit is recorded in Dr and Mrs Hudson Taylor, Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission: Vol. 2 The Growth of a Work of God, 1911, pp. 490–98. The article, based on a sermon he preached, was originally published in the Mission’s magazine China’s Millions, December 1889.
14 From the account in SMH, 7 June 1890 p. 19.
15 From the Working Paper by I. Welch, ‘Mary Reed of Australia and the China Inland Mission’, August 2014.
16 On Grubb’s time and legacy in Australia see B. Chant, The Spirit of Pentecost: The Origin and Development of the Pentecostal Movement in Australia 1870– 1930, Emeth Press, Adelaide, 2011, pp. 180–82. Others who were strongly influenced by these missions and became significant figures in the diocese were Rev. R.B.S. Hammond and Rev. H.S. Begbie.
17 R. & L. Banks, View From the Faraway Pagoda: A Pioneer Australian Missionary in China from the Boxer Rebellion to the Communist Insurgency, Melbourne, Acorn Press, 2013, drawing on SMH, 30 July 1892, p. 7.
18 Stewart’s extensive influence is discussed in chapter 1 of M.E. Watson, Robert and Louisa Watson: In Life and Death, Marshall Brothers, London, 1895.
19 Diary of Marianne Hope, entries dated 10 & 25 August; 9, 12, 13 & 17 September 1892 in the A. & E. Hope Family Collection.
20 Descriptions of this event may be found in The Queensland Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, 21 January 1893, p. 3 and The Missionary at Home and Abroad, March 1893, p. 8.
21 According to The Church Missionary Gleaner, 1 February 1895, p. 23, some of this took place in the Marsden Training Home itself.
22 An administrative issue that also contributed to the delay is discussed in correspondenc
e between the main stakeholders in Welch, Amy Oxley, 1 January 1895 to 18 July 1895, http://anglicanhistory.org/asia/china/welch_oxley.pdf, viewed March 2016.
23 See P.K. Tang, ‘Mission in China: A History of the Church Missionary Society’, pp. 1–3 http://asiacms.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/…/CMS-in-ChinaV2.pdf, viewed April 2016, and E.K. Cole, A History of the Church Missionary Society of Australia, Church Missionary Society Historical Publications, Melbourne, 1971, pp. 143–44. The best account of the development of Christianity in China during these years is provided by D.H. Bays, A New History of Christianity in China, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, 2012, pp. 46–91.
24 ‘The Church Missionary Association Report’, 1894, p. 6.
25 Evening News, 7 December 1895, p. 5.
26 This was a precursor of the wider, more organised, Boxer Movement that a few years later resulted in the deaths of hundreds of missionaries and thousands of Chinese converts. See I. Welch, ‘The Vegetarians (Ys’ai hui): A Secret Society in Fujian, China, 1895’, Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, vols. 39–40, part 2, 2007–2008, pp. 468–83.
27 This summary of the events is drawn from our unpublished material on ‘The Flower Mountain Massacre’. For more on this, see I. Welch, Nellie, Topsy and Annie: Australian Anglican Martyrs, Project Canterbury, 2004, http://anglicanhistory.org/asia/china/welch2004.pdf, viewed March 2016.
28 As reported in The Age, 7 August 1895, p.5.
29 As in The Illawarra Mercury, 13 August 1895, p. 2.
30 The Age, 19 August 1895, p. 7.
31 The Cumberland Free Press, 24 August 1895, p. 4.