Historedia
EuropeEvent

Hudson Taylor first departs for China

When
1853–1854
Where
Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Episodes
1

Hudson Taylor departed Liverpool in September 1853 as the first missionary sent by the Chinese Evangelisation Society. He sailed aboard the Dumfries, arriving in Shanghai in March 1854. His departure followed his conversion and medical studies, though he left before completing his training.

Episodes

  1. 19 September 1853 – 1 March 1854 · Liverpool, Lancashire, EnglandDeparture from Liverpool

    Hudson Taylor sailed from Liverpool on 19 September 1853 aboard the Dumfries as the first missionary of the Chinese Evangelisation Society.

Background and detail

Background. The Chinese Evangelisation Society was founded due to interest in China sparked by the Taiping Rebellion and reports by Karl Gützlaff. Hudson Taylor offered himself as its first missionary. He had experienced a religious conversion at age 17 and felt a call to serve in China, beginning medical studies in London in 1852.

Departure. Taylor left England on 19 September 1853 as an agent of the Chinese Evangelisation Society. He sailed from Liverpool aboard the Dumfries, having not completed his medical studies. The ship arrived in Shanghai on 1 March 1854, marking his arrival in China.

Arrival. Upon arriving in Shanghai on 1 March 1854, Taylor faced civil war in the vicinity. He was often destitute because funds promised by the Chinese Evangelisation Society did not arrive. Veteran missionary Joseph Edkins took him under his wing and schooled him in Chinese customs.

People involved

Sources

  1. Hudson Taylor Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-30
  2. Chinese Evangelisation Society Wikipedia, revision of 2018-12-19

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.