The National Library of Wales :: Dictionary of Welsh Biography

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

RICHARD, TIMOTHY (1845-1919), ‘one of the greatest missionaries whom any branch of the Church has ever sent to China .’ Born at Ffaldybrenin, Carms., 10 Oct. 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 d. 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 m. (1) 1878, Mary Martin, who d. in 1903, and by whom he had four daughters; (2) 1914, Dr. Ethel Tribe, who survived him. His uncle, Jedediah Richards, is separately noticed.

Bibliography:

Timothy Richard, Forty-five Years in China;
W. E. Soothill, Timothy Richard of China;
E. W. Price Evans, Timothy Richard.

Author:

Rev. Edward William Price Evans, M.A., (1887-1972), Pontypool