William Whiting Borden

William Whiting Borden (November 1, 1887 – April 9, 1913) was a philanthropist and millionaire Christian missionary candidate who died in Egypt before reaching his chosen field, Gansu province in China.

William Whiting Borden was born into a prominent and wealthy Chicago family, the third child of William and Mary DeGarmo Whiting Borden. Borden's father had made a fortune in Colorado silver mining, but the family was unrelated to the Borden Condensed Milk Company—an advantage for Borden since if asked about his wealth, he could honestly reply that his family was often mistaken for "the rich Condensed Milk firm that bears the name of Borden." Borden had three siblings: John (1884-1961), Joyce (1897-1971), and novelist and poet Mary Borden Spears (1886-1968).

After his mother converted to evangelical Christianity in 1894, she took Borden to Chicago Avenue Church, later Moody Church, where he responded to the gospel preaching of R. A. Torrey. From that juncture, prayer and Bible study became hallmarks of his life. After he graduated from The Hill School, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, at age 16, his parents gave him the gift of a chaperoned trip around the world, during which he first developed a desire to become a foreign missionary. In London, once again under the preaching of Torrey who was holding meetings there, Borden surrendered his life for Christian service.

Borden entered Yale University in 1905, and with the encouragement of young classics tutor Henry Burt Wright, Borden began daily prayer groups that within two years reached the entire university from the freshman class to the senior. At a 1906 Student Volunteer Movement convention in Nashville, Samuel Marinus Zwemer, "a man with a map," impressed Borden with his emphasis on the open doors for evangelizing the Muslim world.

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