United China Relief

Bettis Alston Garside (November 22, 1894 - August 1, 1989), better known during his life as B. A. Garside, was an author, an executive for several philanthropic organizations focused on China, and an educator.

Garside was born in Stringtown, Oklahoma and spent most of his early life in the state, receiving his bachelor's degree from the University of Oklahoma. After service in the U.S. Navy during World War I, Garside served as the Stringtown high school principal and then received his master's degree from Columbia University in 1922.

In 1922, Garside left on a Presbyterian mission to China. He studied Mandarin until 1923, when he became an education professor at Cheeloo University in Jinan. He served in that role until 1926.

From 1927-1932, Garside served as secretary of the China Union Universities office in New York City. In his first year in the post, Garside helped eleven Christian colleges in China reopen after they had shut due to political turmoil within the Kuomintang (KMT). Earlier that year, Communist influence in the KMT created conditions leading to shutting of several of the institutions.

In October 1932, a new organization, the Associated Boards for Christian Colleges of China (ABCCC) was formed to focus on the interests of Christian colleges in China. Garside served as Executive Secretary of the new organization, a position he held until 1941. At the ABCCC, Garside took upon the role of promoting information about the colleges, which in the 1932-1933 academic year had combined enrollments of 5,400 students and endowments of US$12 million.

In 1935, Garside received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from College of the Ozarks.

By the time of the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, 11 of the 12 member institutions of the ABCCC were in the war zone. Garside spoke widely to encourage the American public to boycott Japanese goods to help stop the war, which had prompted several of the colleges to relocate. Later in the war, in 1940, Garside led fundraising efforts for the members of the ABCCC, which had then grown to 13 colleges. In that year, over 7,700 students attended the schools, several of which had moved because of the conflict. Garside spearheaded a campaign to raise US$250,000 for the schools.

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