Page 102 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 102
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
a false report that Leslie had been killed in action and, by the time they learned he was a POW and
still alive, Fanny was beginning to show the strain of Aileen’s death and of Leslie’s supposed death.
Norman Pateman (CIM) commented, ‘I was very impressed with George’s unusual patience and
courage in what must have been a very fierce domestic crisis.’ Fanny got worse and in August 1942
he took her back to India for medical help. At Ranchi in Bihar, a panel of doctors assembled by the
Viceroy gave her six months to live. GFA had to return to his post as ‘Counsellor’ at the Embassy in
Chongqing and could do no other than leave her there in hospital. She was devotedly cared for and
actually went on living for another fifteen years, but in a state of complete mental confusion. Jessie
was able to visit her once in 1944 on the way home from Calcutta to England, and she felt she was
getting every care. A letter from GFA to his sister Esther in January 1945 speaks of Fanny’s
‘screaming fits being much more frequent’ according to the report of the doctor (Taylor). Esther
commented ‘what a blessed relief when the dear Lord takes her home to Himself.’ On 18 May 1944
Mervyn died suddenly in Toronto from meningitis following a tooth extraction. He too was 27.
So GFA had lost home and family (though Leslie survived and settled in Saskatoon with his wife
Gladys), and the war had robbed him of most of his personal possessions. With his background in
rugged Gansu he was not a man who needed much in the way of luxuries, and he soon became
accustomed to living in hotels - not the expensive kind, but humble ones where he was content with a
plain room and his meals. Esther and Arthur Moore were always close to him and they tried to see
each other whenever possible. In many ways it was Esther’s children who always regarded him with
love and admiration, who made up a little for the loss of his own children.
Paul Contento’s assessment of GFA was that
“George suffered from deep frustration and even much hidden guilt,
resulting from his sudden change of life style after his father died, and
he moved into the ranks of the higher middle class with the affluence
from Butterfield & Swire. The tragedies in his own family left their
scars on him. He seemed more like a man trapped in circumstances
not necessarily of his own making, but from which there was no
escape.”
Perhaps a comment in a letter from GFA to his sister emphasizes Paul’s opinion:
“I do sometimes so long that we could all get to some quiet spot at
home and settle down there, but of course this is rank heresy to Dad.
Things out here are getting difficult and one wonders where it will all
end.”
That was written in December 1929.
It has not been easy to find out what he was actually doing in Chongqing during World War II. He was
the First Secretary at the British Embassy, but we were told that was a ‘cover’. Though a civilian, he
apparently had a rank equivalent to a Brigadier General in Force 136. One of GFA’s contemporaries
in Butterfield & Swire and also in the Chongqing war years writes of him,
“GFA first served as Press Attaché of the British Embassy in Chongqing in early 1942.
He started the British Information Service there and published daily war news bulletins
in mimeographic form. Later on a reading room was opened up in the business
centre of the town, displaying magazines and photos. He also persuaded the
Chinese Government to establish the Chinese Information Service in London and
102
Amy Moore
a false report that Leslie had been killed in action and, by the time they learned he was a POW and
still alive, Fanny was beginning to show the strain of Aileen’s death and of Leslie’s supposed death.
Norman Pateman (CIM) commented, ‘I was very impressed with George’s unusual patience and
courage in what must have been a very fierce domestic crisis.’ Fanny got worse and in August 1942
he took her back to India for medical help. At Ranchi in Bihar, a panel of doctors assembled by the
Viceroy gave her six months to live. GFA had to return to his post as ‘Counsellor’ at the Embassy in
Chongqing and could do no other than leave her there in hospital. She was devotedly cared for and
actually went on living for another fifteen years, but in a state of complete mental confusion. Jessie
was able to visit her once in 1944 on the way home from Calcutta to England, and she felt she was
getting every care. A letter from GFA to his sister Esther in January 1945 speaks of Fanny’s
‘screaming fits being much more frequent’ according to the report of the doctor (Taylor). Esther
commented ‘what a blessed relief when the dear Lord takes her home to Himself.’ On 18 May 1944
Mervyn died suddenly in Toronto from meningitis following a tooth extraction. He too was 27.
So GFA had lost home and family (though Leslie survived and settled in Saskatoon with his wife
Gladys), and the war had robbed him of most of his personal possessions. With his background in
rugged Gansu he was not a man who needed much in the way of luxuries, and he soon became
accustomed to living in hotels - not the expensive kind, but humble ones where he was content with a
plain room and his meals. Esther and Arthur Moore were always close to him and they tried to see
each other whenever possible. In many ways it was Esther’s children who always regarded him with
love and admiration, who made up a little for the loss of his own children.
Paul Contento’s assessment of GFA was that
“George suffered from deep frustration and even much hidden guilt,
resulting from his sudden change of life style after his father died, and
he moved into the ranks of the higher middle class with the affluence
from Butterfield & Swire. The tragedies in his own family left their
scars on him. He seemed more like a man trapped in circumstances
not necessarily of his own making, but from which there was no
escape.”
Perhaps a comment in a letter from GFA to his sister emphasizes Paul’s opinion:
“I do sometimes so long that we could all get to some quiet spot at
home and settle down there, but of course this is rank heresy to Dad.
Things out here are getting difficult and one wonders where it will all
end.”
That was written in December 1929.
It has not been easy to find out what he was actually doing in Chongqing during World War II. He was
the First Secretary at the British Embassy, but we were told that was a ‘cover’. Though a civilian, he
apparently had a rank equivalent to a Brigadier General in Force 136. One of GFA’s contemporaries
in Butterfield & Swire and also in the Chongqing war years writes of him,
“GFA first served as Press Attaché of the British Embassy in Chongqing in early 1942.
He started the British Information Service there and published daily war news bulletins
in mimeographic form. Later on a reading room was opened up in the business
centre of the town, displaying magazines and photos. He also persuaded the
Chinese Government to establish the Chinese Information Service in London and
102
