Today’s Leader of Faith
TIMOTHY RICHARD
Home Call : 17 April 1919
Missionary who awakened China, Evangelist, Educator, Social-Reformer, Author, Translator, Humanitarian
Timothy Richard (1845–1919) was a Welsh Baptist missionary to China, who influenced the modernisation of China and the rise of the Chinese Republic. Richard was deeply involved in humanitarian efforts, notably organizing famine relief during the Northern Chinese Famine of 1876–1879. He advocated for social reforms, including anti-foot-binding campaigns and gender equality. He focused on sharing the Gospel not only with common people but also with Chinese intellectuals and reformers. He Promoted a contextualized Christianity, presenting Christian truths in a way that resonated with Chinese philosophical and religious ideas. Believing in the importance of education, he proposed the establishment of Shanxi University in Taiyuan, which was approved by the Qing government in 1902. He served as the head of the university’s College of Western Studies until 1912. He also contributed to Chinese literature and reformist thought. He was a regular contributor to the “Review of the Times” (Wan Guo Gong Bao), a publication influential among Chinese intellectuals. His writings helped bridge Western and Chinese ideas, promoting Christianity alongside concepts like market economics and international law.
Richard was born on 10 October 1845 in Ffaldybrenin, Carmarthenshire in south Wales, the son of Timothy and Eleanor Richard, a devout Baptist farming family. Inspired by the Second Evangelical Awakening to become a missionary, Richard left teaching to enter Haverfordwest Theological College in 1865. There he dedicated himself to China. He applied to the newly formed China Inland Mission, but Hudson Taylor considered that he would be of better service to the denominational Baptist missions. In 1869 the Baptist Missionary Society (BMS) accepted Richard’s application, and assigned him to Yantai in Shandong.
In 1897 Richard undertook a journey to India to discover the conditions of the Christian mission there. Travelling with a young missionary, Arthur Gostick Shorrock, they visited Ceylon, Madras, Agra, Benares, Delhi, Calcutta and finally Bombay. He reached China to Yantai in Shandong Province. He played a key role in helping the Qing government after the Taiyuan massacre during the Boxer Rebellion. He worked alongside Chinese officials to organize famine relief operations, saving thousands of lives. This practical service earned him deep respect among the Chinese people and officials. He Promoted science, Western knowledge, and moral education alongside Christian teaching. He Sought to bridge East and West by translating and writing works that made Western philosophy, economics, and political thought accessible to Chinese readers. He acted as a consultant to progressive Qing officials and thinkers.
Richard died in 1919 in London, England. His ashes were interred at Golders Green Crematorium, and a memorial tablet was placed there, notably inscribed largely in Chinese, honoring his deep connection with China and its people. His autobiography, “Forty-Five Years in China,” was published posthumously, capturing his life, mission, and vision for China’s spiritual and social transformation.
— John Michael, Rajahmundry