Geraldine Taylor

Mary Geraldine Guinness Mrs. Howard Taylor: Missionary and Author Born 25 December 1865 Liverpool, Lancashire, England Died 6 June 1949 Spouse Frederick Howard Taylor Parents Henry Grattan Guinness Fanny E. Guinness

Mary Geraldine Guinness a.k.a. Mrs. Howard Taylor 金樂婷(25 December 1865 – 6 June 1949), was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China, and author of many missionary biographies regarding the history of the China Inland Mission (renamed as Overseas Missionary Fellowship, (now OMF International). She was the daughter of the famous revivalist preacher and author Henry Grattan Guinness, a friend of James Hudson Taylor, founder of the CIM. She became Taylor's daughter-in-law when she married his son (and fellow CIM missionary), Frederick Howard Taylor.

Single woman and missionary

Mrs. Howard Taylor

In her youth, Geraldine taught a Bible class for "factory-girls" in Bromley-by-Bow in the East End of London where they lived. She attended meetings at "Berger Hall" named after William Thomas Berger.

She left London for China as a second-class passenger on the P&O vessel "Kaisar-i-Hind I"^[1] in January, 1888, age 22. The Hundred missionaries had all sailed to China the previous year. Amongst the 25 passengers (16 men, 5 ladies [sic]) aboard the steam ship with her were Miss Mary Reed (daughter of Mrs Henry Reed and sister of Mrs Harry Guinness), Mr & Mrs Hunt (travelling to Hanchung)^[2] and the Pigott family of The Sheo Yang Mission (who were eventually killed during the Boxer Rebellion).

As recorded in "In the Far East" the Kaisar-i-Hind took a route passing Gibraltar (10:30pm, 31 January 1888), calling at Naples and then passing the Straits of Messina; stopping for a day at Aden and then onward to Colombo, Ceylon.

At Colombo the missionary party boarded the P&O vessel "S.S. Deccan", bound for Shanghai. A stop in Penang, Malaysia allowed Geraldine a first contact with many Chinese who came on board. Then a stop at Singapore followed. Her first time on Chinese soil was later at a stop at Hong Kong^[3] where she was received by Dr & Mrs Chalmers of the London Missionary Society who introduced them also to Mr & Mrs Bender of the Basle Mission. Shanghai was reached next. But Shanghai was not their final destination. Staying only long enough to exchange their European clothes for the national Chinese costume, the missionaries started on again, leaving this first station of the China Inland Mission behind them and travelling on the boat Fuh-ho("Happy Harmony") in the substantially cheaper Chinese accommodations up the Yang-tsi River to Chinkiang.^[4] Lastly on to a barge some 6 hours to Yang-chau, finally arriving at Yang-chau on 23 March 1888.^[5]

She wrote to her sister after a short time in China:

“

Oh ! if English Christians only knew the need and the longing willingness of these dear souls to hear the glad tidings, and the joy, the unspeakable joy of a missionary's life, they would surely cry from the depths of yearning hearts, " Lord, here am I, send me, send me."[6]

”

After training in China, Geraldine was eventually stationed in Honan Province.

Legacy

Geraldine Taylor's books have inspired generations of young missionaries such as Jim and Elizabeth Elliot to engage in overseas work. However, her writings have received some criticism for omitting some less favorable details of her subjects, specifically regarding the life of Hudson Taylor. Historians Ruth Tucker and John Pollock have noted with dismay the lack of detail given to Taylor's humanity and personal relationships. Writer Alvyn Austin bluntly accuses her of a "conspiracy of silence" about the workings of the mission. Alfred James Broomhall's perspective as the definitive historian of the CIM is more sympathetic, as he cites the need for prudence and tact that often motivated Geraldine's editorial decisions.

Her niece, Joy Guinness, wrote her biography entitled Mrs. Howard Taylor: Her Web of Time, published by the China Inland Mission.

Published works

• Peru: Its Story, People and Religion (1909)
• In the Far East (1889)
• The Story of the China Inland Mission (2 Vols.) read vol II here 1893
• Howard Taylor, GERALDINE. TAYLOR, Mary Geraldine Guinness Taylor (1904). One of China's Scholars. Morgan & Scott. http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC02883417&id=IqxusVkiznoC.  1902 (Biography of Xi Shengmo)
• Guinness of Honan, China Inland Mission (1930) (Biography of her brother, Dr. Gershom Whitfield Guinness)
• Borden of Yale '09 1913 (Biography of William Whiting Borden)
• Hudson Taylor In Early Years; The Growth of a Soul 1911
• Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission; The Growth of a Work of God 1918
• Though War Should Rise 1914
• Pearl's Secret 1920?
• The Call of China's Great North-West, or, Kansu and Beyond, London: China Inland Mission (1923)
• With P’u and His Brigands 1922
• Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret 1932 (an abridged version of the previous 2-volume biography)
• Faith's Venture 1932
• Margaret King’s Vision 1934
• The Triumph of John and Betty Stam 1935
• By Faith: biography of Henry Frost 1938
• Sirs, Be of Good Cheer 1941
• A Story Without End
• Behind the Ranges: Fraser of Lisuland, S. W. China, Lutterworth press and the China inland mission 1944 (Biography of James O. Fraser)

References

• Guinness, Lucy (1889). In The Far East: Letters From Geraldine Guinness in China. London: Morgan & Scott. . Available on-line at the Boston University digital archive.
• Broomhall, Alfred (1989). Hudson Taylor and China's Open Century: It Is Not Death To Die. London: Hodder and Stoughton. 
• Broomhall, Marshall (1915). The Jubilee Story of the China Inland Mission. London: Morgan and Scott. 
• Guinness, Mary Geraldine (1893). The Story of the China Inland Mission vol II. London: Morgan and Scott. 
• Pollock, John (1964). Hudson Taylor and Maria Pioneers in China. 
• Steer, Roger (1990). Hudson Taylor: A Man In Christ. London: Hodder and Stoughton. 
• Taylor, Dr. and Mrs. Howard (1918). Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission; The Growth of a Work of God. London: Morgan and Scott. http://worldinvisible.com/library/hudsontaylor/hudsontaylorv2/hudsontaylorv2tc.htm. 
• Tucker, Ruth (1983). From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya A Biographical History of Christian Missions. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan. ISBN 0310239370. 

Notes

1. ^ Shipping lists date the building of the second Kaisar-i-Hind after 1888 and upon the sinking of the first.^{[citation needed]}
2. ^ Guinness (1889), 39
3. ^ Guinness (1889), 13
4. ^ Guinness (1889), 32
5. ^ Guinness (1889), 36
6. ^ Guinness (1889), 43

Further reading

• Historical Bibliography of the China Inland Mission

External links

• Hudson Taylor in Early Years-The Growth of a Soul - Volume 1 by Dr. and Mrs Howard Taylor
• Christian Biography Resources
• Missionary E-Texts Archive: Historical Writings by, about and for Missionaries
• Hudson Taylor in Early Years-The Growth of a Soul - Volume 1
• Taylor family tree

Persondata
Name	Guinness, Mary Geraldine
Alternative names	Guinness, M. Geraldine ; Guinness, Geraldine ; Taylor, Geraldine ; Taylor, Mrs. Howard
Short description	Missionary in China and Author
Date of birth	December 25, 1865
Place of birth	Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Date of death	June 6, 1949
Place of death