Maria Taylor

Maria Taylor — latest news, discussion & facts — IJR

Return to China

On 26 May 1866, after over five years of working in England, Maria and Hudson Taylor and their four children set sail for China with their new team of missionaries, the Lammermuir Party, aboard the Lammermuir (clipper). The party included Jennie Faulding Taylor who was a friend of Maria's and who would go on to become Hudson's second wife. A four-month voyage was considered speedy at the time. While in the South China Sea and also the Pacific Ocean, the ship was nearly sunk but survived 2 typhoons. They arrived safely in Shanghai on 30 September 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—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. 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:

As to the harsh judgings of the world, or the more painful misunderstandings of Christian brethren, I generally feel that the best plan is to go on with our work and leave God to vindicate our cause.

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.

The year 1868 brought another child (Charles Edward Taylor) to 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, with the official cause of death being cholera. 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 as part of the Destruction of 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; it was during this trip that he married Jennie Faulding.

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 and Maria's only surviving daughter, Maria Hudson Taylor, the wife of John Joseph Coulthard, died in Wenzhou, leaving four little children and her husband in sorrow. She had been instrumental in leading many Chinese women to Christianity during her short life.

Chronology

Early Years and Orphanhood

1837 Maria Jane Dyer born in Malacca

1839 Arrives in England with parents, Samuel and Burella

1841 Leaves for Singapore with parents, Samuel, Burella and Miss Buckland

1842 Arrives in Singapore with parents who rent the mission-house of American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (Memoir p 240); Ebenezer, baby brother, born (Memoir p 232, 235)

1843 Father leaves with John Stronach 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 Penang; Mother takes over Chinese Girls' 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 School in Darlington, 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'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 Ningbo Mission House, "Wu-gyiao-deo" Lake Head or Bridge Street, Ningbo

1859 Grace "Gracie" Dyer Taylor born in Ningbo 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 Burdon, Shanghai

Life in London 1860 to 1866

Sailed to England (via Cape of Good Hope) on furlough aboard the tea clipper Jubilee, with Hudson, Grace and Wang Laijun

The Jubilee arrived, 20 November 1860, in Gravesend, England

Settled at 63 Westbourne Grove, Bayswater, London

1861 Herbert "Bertie" Hudson Taylor born at 63 Westbourne Grove, Bayswater, London

Moved, to 1 Beaumont Street, London

1862 Frederick "Freddie" Howard Taylor born at 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 at 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 Docks, London

Arrived in China aboard the Lammermuir, 29 September 1866, in Shanghai, China

Settled with the Lammermuir party, December 1866 in 1 Xin Kai Long (New Lane), Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

1867 Maria "Marie" Hudson Taylor born in 1 Xin Kai Long (New Lane), Hangzhou

Daughter Grace Dyer Taylor died, 23 August 1867, in temple at Pengshan, near Hangzhou

1868 Moved with Hudson in Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China

Survived Yangzhou riot

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 Ningbo 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 River 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

Maria Taylor

Maria Taylor

Article

Background

Related journals

Live room · 1 here

Related journals

Article

Background

Life in Ningbo

Return to China

Epitaph

Legacy

Writing

Chronology

About Maria Taylor

About Maria Taylor

Article

Background

Related journals

Live room · 1 here

Related journals

Article

Background

Life in Ningbo

Return to China

Epitaph

Legacy

Writing

Chronology