Alexander Williamson (missionary)

Alexander Williamson (5 December 1829 – September 1890) was a Scottish Protestant missionary to China with the London Missionary Society. 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 or the Christian Literature Society for China). He was the predecessor to Timothy Richard as head of this society.

Williamson was born in Falkirk, Scotland. 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 to 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 in Shandong Province and then traveled extensively distributing copies of the Bible in Chinese. During this period he visited Beijing, Mongolia, and Manchuria.

In 1867, Alexander Williamson, who had given Robert Jermain Thomas Bibles to take to Korea, journeyed to northeastern China to the border with Korea. There at “Korea Gate,” Williamson sold Christian books to Korean border merchants.

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