Walter Henry Medhurst
| Walter Henry Medhurst | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Missionary Walter Medhurst with Choo Tih Lang and a Malay Boy
|
|||||||||
| Born |
29 April 1796 England |
||||||||
| Died | 24 January 1857 (aged 60) London, England |
||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 麥都思 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 麦都思 | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Mài Dūsī |
| Wade–Giles | Mai4 Tu1-ssu1 |
Walter Henry Medhurst (29 April 1796 – 24 January 1857), was an English Congregationalist missionary to China, born in London and educated at St Paul's School. He was one of the early translators of the Bible into Chinese language editions.
Medhurst's father was an innkeeper in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire. As a young man Medhurst learned the business of a printer and typesetter at the Gloucester Herald. Becoming interested in Christian missions he sailed in 1816 to join the London Missionary Society's station at Malacca, which was intended to be a great printing centre. En route, he called at Madras where, in a little less than three months, he met Mrs Elizabeth Braune, née Martin (1794–1874), marrying her the day before he sailed to Malacca.
Once he arrived, Medhurst quickly became proficient in Malay, in a knowledge of the written characters of Chinese, and in the colloquial use of more than one of its dialects.
Medhurst was ordained at Malacca in 1819, and engaged in missionary labours, first at Penang, then at Batavia, where the church he founded operates today as All Saints Jakarta and the Parapattan Orphanage which he started, continues to this day. When peace was concluded with China in 1842, he moved to Shanghai where he founded the London Missionary Society Press together with Dr William Lockhart, and later was joined by Joseph Edkins, and William Charles Milne. There he continued until 1856, laying the foundations of a successful mission.
...
Wikipedia