RICHARD, TIMOTHY (1845 - 1919), missionary in China
Date of birth: 1845
Date of death: 1919
Gender: Male
Occupation: missionary in China
Area of activity: Religion
Author: Edward William Price Evans
Born at Ffaldybrenin, Carmarthenshire, 10 October 1845, the son of Timothy and Eleanor Richard, he was baptized in 1859 and became a member of Caeo Baptist church. After a period of school teaching, he entered the Haverfordwest Baptist College (1865), and in 1869 the Baptist Missionary Society sent him to China. There he laboured, with infrequent furloughs, from 1870 to 1915, first in Chafoo, then in Shantung and Shansi, and finally in Shanghai, when, in 1891, he was appointed secretary of the Christian Literature Society of China. He resigned in 1915, and died in London, 17 April 1919.
His manifold activities and vast influence defy summary. Pioneer missionary, philanthropist, missionary statesman, scholar, educationist, author, and publicist, friend and adviser of princes and peasants, the name of 'Li T'i-motai' was a household word throughout China. His Chinese honours were singularly distinguished, e.g. a mandarin of the highest grade and a member of the Order of the Double Dragon. The University of Wales gave him its LL.D. (1916); he was also D.D. and D.Litt.
Dr. Richard married (1) 1878, Mary Martin, who died in 1903, and by whom he had four daughters; (2) 1914, Dr. Ethel Tribe, who survived him. His uncle, Jedediah Richards, is separately noticed.
Author
- Reverend Edward William Price Evans, (1887 - 1972)
- Timothy Richard, Forty-five Years in China reminiscences (London 1916), available online at https://archive.org/details/fourtyfiveyears00richuoft/page/n8
- W. E. Soothill, Timothy Richard of China, seer, statesman, missionary & the most disinterested adviser the Chinese ever had (London 1924)
- E. W. Price Evans, Timothy Richard a narrative of Christian enterprise and statesmanship in China (London 1945?)
Sources
- NLW: Timothy Richard letters, 1878-1886
- NLW blog: Missionaries to China: The Letters of Timothy and Mary Richard
- Andrew T. Kaiser, Encountering China: The Evolution of Timothy Richard's Missionary Thought (1870-1891) (Pickwick Publications 2019)
- Wikipedia Article: Timothy Richard
Further Reading
- NLW Archives: DLR3/7: Timothy Richard letters in 'Papurau David Bowen a Ben Bowen'
- Y Dydd: MMSID: 99239071502419, 17 Tachwedd 1969
- Y Dydd: MMSID: 99239325702419, 17 Tachwedd 1969
- VIAF: 50028931
- Wikidata: Q837541
Additional Links
Published date: 1959
Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
The Dictionary of Welsh Biography is provided by The National Library of Wales and the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. It is free to use and does not receive grant support. A donation would help us maintain and improve the site so that we can continue to acknowledge Welsh men and women who have made notable contributions to life in Wales and beyond.
Find out more on our sponsorship page.