Francis Dunlap Gamewell

Francis Dunlap Gamewell
Born	Aug 31, 1857 Camden, SC, USA
Died	Aug 14, 1950 Clifton Springs, NY, USA
Nationality	American
Occupation	Methodist missionary to China
Known for	his work as Chief of Staff of the Committee for Fortifications during the Boxer Rebellion

Francis Dunlap Gamewell (b. Aug 31, 1857, Camden, SC; d. Aug 14, 1950, Clifton Springs, NY) was a Methodist missionary in China. He was the Chief of the Fortifications Committee in the Siege of the Legations during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 and was acclaimed as one of the heroes of the siege.

Frank Gamewell was the son of an inventor and he inherited the aptitude of his father for tinkering and building. During the American Civil War the family moved from Camden to New Barbadoes Township, New Jersey. Gamewell aspired to become a civil engineer and studied at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Cornell University. Due to illness he was unable to complete his studies, but instead attained a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Dickinson College. In June 1880 he was an instructor at a school in Norfolk, Connecticut. After graduation he joined the American Methodist Episcopal Mission and was assigned to Beijing, China – called Peking at that time – as a missionary and the principal of a boys’ school.

He arrived in Beijing in October 1881 and in June 1982 he married Mary Q. Porter, also a Methodist missionary. She was 33 years old with 11 years experience in China. He was 24. The couple never had any children. In 1884, he was reassigned to Chongqing as superintendent of the West China Mission. In 1886 a mob attacked the missionary compound, destroyed most of the buildings, and held the missionaries hostage for 16 days. The Gamewell’s and other missionaries finally escaped, returned to the China coast, and subsequently the United States. During his stay in the US, Gamewell received a doctorate degree from Columbia University. In 1889 the couple returned to Beijing and Gamewell became a physics professor at Yenching University. Over the next several years he supervised construction of churches and other buildings on the Methodist compound, the largest of the Protestant missionary compounds in Beijing

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