Page 122 - Three Score Years & Ten
P. 122
“THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN” MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA
Amy Moore
JAMES FINDLAY ANDREW (13.12.1892 - 1.9.1922)
We know very little about James Andrew. He was born at Yangzhou in 1892 while his father was the
Superintendent of the stations on the Grand Canal. Yangzhou was the first inland city I lived in when
I went to China in 1931, because the Language School for lady members of the CIM was centred
there.
Jim Andrew attended Chefoo School and, when I was in Toronto during the summer of 1982, Mrs.
Grace Harris, aged 84, told me she was at Chefoo with Jim who ‘absconded from school in a Chinese
junk!’ She also said that Doris Milsom, Bob Faers, Jim Andrew and two others got jobs in Tianjin
after they left Chefoo. Bob and Jim got a room, the previous inmate of which had died of TB. Within
10 years all five of the ex-Chefooites had also died of TB.
He probably went to Manchester where his Uncle Isaac Andrew lived at Reddish, but we have no
record of what he did during the First World War. All we know is that later he was working on a
plantation in Malaya at a place called Chemar, near Ipoh. George Findlay Andrew, his elder brother,
met him in Singapore in 1921 when he and Fanny with Mervyn, were on their way back to China from
furlough. Less than two years later, Jim was back in Manchester and died there on 1 September
1922.
GF’s diary records their arrival in Singapore at 8:30 in the morning of 15 February 1921: “Jim turned
up about 10:30. First time we had met since December 1908!” December 1908 was the date of
Esther’s marriage to Arthur Moore. He goes on to say, “Had a happy day together, went to the
Seaview Hotel, then had a motor ride and tea at Littles. Jim had to leave again by the night mail for
Ipoh and Chemar.” Again he repeated, “Had a happy day together”. It was the last time they were to
meet.
Letters to his parents in China from a Mr. and Mrs. McKellen (obviously friends of the family) gave
them details of his last days. He arrived obviously ill and was treated for malaria, but, when that was
cleared up it was obvious to the doctors that the headaches were due to pressure on the brain through
tubercular meningitis. He was taken to the High Elms (Victoria Park)Nursing Home where the Matron
was a member of the Union Chapel congregation who knew Jim and his Auntie, Miss Findlay. Dr.
Roberts conducted the funeral on 5 September and Mrs. McKillen’s father, Mr. Aldous, who ‘likes Jim
very much, and even before his serious illness asked if he could do anything for Jim’, paid for all the
expenses of his illness. That must have been a great relief to the grieving parents far away in North
West China. Jim was not quite 30 when he died.
ALFRED ANDREW. (18.5.1897 - 4.6.1916)
Alfred was the youngest of George Andrew’s sons, and was born in Gweiyang in the Province of
Gweizhou in 1897. He attended Chefoo School but in March 1912, when he was almost fifteen, he
returned to England with his parents. On 6 September 1913, they sailed again for China, leaving him
in England. On 17 September of the same year, he was baptized, so it sounds as if by that time he
was a committed Christian.
A year later World War I broke out and there is a strong tradition in the family that Alf exaggerated his
age in order to join up, as many young men did at that time. In the summer of 1916, the War Office
122
Amy Moore
JAMES FINDLAY ANDREW (13.12.1892 - 1.9.1922)
We know very little about James Andrew. He was born at Yangzhou in 1892 while his father was the
Superintendent of the stations on the Grand Canal. Yangzhou was the first inland city I lived in when
I went to China in 1931, because the Language School for lady members of the CIM was centred
there.
Jim Andrew attended Chefoo School and, when I was in Toronto during the summer of 1982, Mrs.
Grace Harris, aged 84, told me she was at Chefoo with Jim who ‘absconded from school in a Chinese
junk!’ She also said that Doris Milsom, Bob Faers, Jim Andrew and two others got jobs in Tianjin
after they left Chefoo. Bob and Jim got a room, the previous inmate of which had died of TB. Within
10 years all five of the ex-Chefooites had also died of TB.
He probably went to Manchester where his Uncle Isaac Andrew lived at Reddish, but we have no
record of what he did during the First World War. All we know is that later he was working on a
plantation in Malaya at a place called Chemar, near Ipoh. George Findlay Andrew, his elder brother,
met him in Singapore in 1921 when he and Fanny with Mervyn, were on their way back to China from
furlough. Less than two years later, Jim was back in Manchester and died there on 1 September
1922.
GF’s diary records their arrival in Singapore at 8:30 in the morning of 15 February 1921: “Jim turned
up about 10:30. First time we had met since December 1908!” December 1908 was the date of
Esther’s marriage to Arthur Moore. He goes on to say, “Had a happy day together, went to the
Seaview Hotel, then had a motor ride and tea at Littles. Jim had to leave again by the night mail for
Ipoh and Chemar.” Again he repeated, “Had a happy day together”. It was the last time they were to
meet.
Letters to his parents in China from a Mr. and Mrs. McKellen (obviously friends of the family) gave
them details of his last days. He arrived obviously ill and was treated for malaria, but, when that was
cleared up it was obvious to the doctors that the headaches were due to pressure on the brain through
tubercular meningitis. He was taken to the High Elms (Victoria Park)Nursing Home where the Matron
was a member of the Union Chapel congregation who knew Jim and his Auntie, Miss Findlay. Dr.
Roberts conducted the funeral on 5 September and Mrs. McKillen’s father, Mr. Aldous, who ‘likes Jim
very much, and even before his serious illness asked if he could do anything for Jim’, paid for all the
expenses of his illness. That must have been a great relief to the grieving parents far away in North
West China. Jim was not quite 30 when he died.
ALFRED ANDREW. (18.5.1897 - 4.6.1916)
Alfred was the youngest of George Andrew’s sons, and was born in Gweiyang in the Province of
Gweizhou in 1897. He attended Chefoo School but in March 1912, when he was almost fifteen, he
returned to England with his parents. On 6 September 1913, they sailed again for China, leaving him
in England. On 17 September of the same year, he was baptized, so it sounds as if by that time he
was a committed Christian.
A year later World War I broke out and there is a strong tradition in the family that Alf exaggerated his
age in order to join up, as many young men did at that time. In the summer of 1916, the War Office
122
