Page 117 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 117
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
G.F.A. was a great lover of animals, chiefly horses and mules. At one time he owned a
magnificent mule, stately and tall, a very valuable animal. On one occasion he asked me to
take the animal for a jaunt into the country, which I did, accompanied by a servant. It was
supposed to be for the good of the animal, but it was very pleasant for the rider!
In Lanchow he was very friendly with a poor street vendor called Ikey, to whom we
sometimes gave discarded articles to sell at a street market. Ikey had the proverbial rich uncle,
who died and left him a fortune. Ikey was full of plans to build hospitals and other good works,
but what happened in those uncertain times I do not know.
In other parts of China, G.F.A. had remarkable experiences, but I was not connected
with them.
All in all, I remember G.F.A. as a man of outstanding ability.
(Signed) Roy A. Seaman
JOHN ARTHUR ANDREW (5.12.1890 - 7.10.1975)
Arthur (or Uncle John as we called him) lived to be 84, but the story of his life is rather a sad one. He
was born in Manchester when his parents were on furlough (their first), and his early childhood was
spent with them in Yangzhou. He too went to Chefoo School and returned to England with his parents
on their second furlough in 1901. When they went back to China in 1902, he stayed with his
mothers sister (Miss Findlay) at Kirkham in Lancashire.
On 8 July 1906 he was baptized at the age of 15½, and by 1912 he was a candidate for the CIM and
gave his testimony at the CIM annual meeting in London on 7 May of that year. His father was the
main speaker on that occasion. On 5 September of the following year, they were together again on
the platform at the valedictory meeting held in the YMCA in Tottenham Court Road. Arthur’s father
recalled that it was at just such a meeting many years before that he had been lead to offer to the
CIM. Arthur and two other new workers - Dr. Stanley Hoyte and Dr. Jessie MacDonald, whom I met
years later in 1934 when Percy and I were on our honeymoon in Kaifeng in Henan Province - sailed
for Shanghai on the following day, arriving there in early October. Arthur must have gone from there
to the Language School for men candidates at Anqing.
His first missionary posting was to Guiyang, but as that would have been in the spring of 1914, it was
only a few months before the outbreak of World War I. The CIM at that time did not encourage its
members to join up and fight for King and Country, as they felt the call of God took precedence. So
Arthur Andrew and other young missionaries of the CIM resigned at that time to join up. He survived
and returned to China when the War was over, but by then he was a different man as he had lost his
faith in God in the years of warfare. I am not sure what he did in the war, but have a vague memory
of hearing that he was in charge of a Chinese coolie corps, and this is possible as he probably spoke
the language well.
117
Amy Moore
G.F.A. was a great lover of animals, chiefly horses and mules. At one time he owned a
magnificent mule, stately and tall, a very valuable animal. On one occasion he asked me to
take the animal for a jaunt into the country, which I did, accompanied by a servant. It was
supposed to be for the good of the animal, but it was very pleasant for the rider!
In Lanchow he was very friendly with a poor street vendor called Ikey, to whom we
sometimes gave discarded articles to sell at a street market. Ikey had the proverbial rich uncle,
who died and left him a fortune. Ikey was full of plans to build hospitals and other good works,
but what happened in those uncertain times I do not know.
In other parts of China, G.F.A. had remarkable experiences, but I was not connected
with them.
All in all, I remember G.F.A. as a man of outstanding ability.
(Signed) Roy A. Seaman
JOHN ARTHUR ANDREW (5.12.1890 - 7.10.1975)
Arthur (or Uncle John as we called him) lived to be 84, but the story of his life is rather a sad one. He
was born in Manchester when his parents were on furlough (their first), and his early childhood was
spent with them in Yangzhou. He too went to Chefoo School and returned to England with his parents
on their second furlough in 1901. When they went back to China in 1902, he stayed with his
mothers sister (Miss Findlay) at Kirkham in Lancashire.
On 8 July 1906 he was baptized at the age of 15½, and by 1912 he was a candidate for the CIM and
gave his testimony at the CIM annual meeting in London on 7 May of that year. His father was the
main speaker on that occasion. On 5 September of the following year, they were together again on
the platform at the valedictory meeting held in the YMCA in Tottenham Court Road. Arthur’s father
recalled that it was at just such a meeting many years before that he had been lead to offer to the
CIM. Arthur and two other new workers - Dr. Stanley Hoyte and Dr. Jessie MacDonald, whom I met
years later in 1934 when Percy and I were on our honeymoon in Kaifeng in Henan Province - sailed
for Shanghai on the following day, arriving there in early October. Arthur must have gone from there
to the Language School for men candidates at Anqing.
His first missionary posting was to Guiyang, but as that would have been in the spring of 1914, it was
only a few months before the outbreak of World War I. The CIM at that time did not encourage its
members to join up and fight for King and Country, as they felt the call of God took precedence. So
Arthur Andrew and other young missionaries of the CIM resigned at that time to join up. He survived
and returned to China when the War was over, but by then he was a different man as he had lost his
faith in God in the years of warfare. I am not sure what he did in the war, but have a vague memory
of hearing that he was in charge of a Chinese coolie corps, and this is possible as he probably spoke
the language well.
117
