William Edward Macklin

William Edward Macklin (19 May 1860 – 8 August 1947), also known by his Chinese name Ma Lin (马林), was a Canadian medical missionary who mainly practiced in China.[1]

William Edward Macklin
Statue of William E. Macklin in Gulou Hospital in 2010
Personal details
Born(1860-05-19)19 May 1860
DiedAugust 8, 1947(1947-08-08) (aged 87)
California, United States
DenominationProtestant
Alma materUniversity of Toronto
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese

Biography edit

William Edward Macklin was born in London, Ontario, Canada on 19 May 1860.[1] His grandfather was an Irish Methodist minister.[1] His father was a merchant.[1] His mother was a devout Christian of French and Irish descent.[1] He had a brother Alfred, who became a physician, and a younger sister Daisy, also a doctor and medical missionary (马芳), as well as three other siblings.[1][2][3]

In 1880 he graduated from the University of Toronto, where he majored in medical science.[1] In January 1886, Macklin was sent by the Foreign Christian Missionary Society and became the first missionary of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to China.[1][4] He settled in Nanjing in April of that same year.[1] Later he established three churches in Nanjing.[1] He started the Nanking Christian Hospital, also known as the Drum Tower Hospital, in 1890 and was completed in 1893, which is the first formal western hospital in Nanjing.[1][5] The hospital was locally known as "Ma Lin Hospital".[1] He often preached in Chuxian, Hefei and other places in Anhui province. In January 1914, Jinling University acquired the hospital as an affiliated hospital, which was renamed "University Hospital of Nanking".[1]

He was known as a public health reformer and follower of the social philosophy of Henry George.[6]

In 1927, with the onset of the Chinese Civil War, his life was threatened, and he and his family left Nanjing.[7] He and his wife settled in San Gabriel, California, where he died on 8 August 1947.[1]

In 2012, Jimmy Carter visited Nanjing to unveil a statue of Macklin and dedicate a new wing of the Drum Tower Hospital.[8]

Personal life edit

He married Dorothy DeLany in January 1889.[1] The couple had eight children.[7]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Xu Ligang (徐立刚) (7 December 2020). 行医办学、关注社会、情系中国——加拿大传教士马林的人生. thepaper (in Chinese). Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Reflections: Celebrating the achievements of Dr. Daisy Macklin". stratfordbeaconherald. Retrieved 2023-05-23.
  3. ^ "Dr. Daisy Mary Moore Macklin (1873 – 1925) – Stratford & District Historical Society". 2021-03-07. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
  4. ^ The United Christian Missionary Society (1948-01-01). "They Went To China: Biographies of Missionaries of the Disciples of Christ". Stone-Campbell Books.
  5. ^ Wu Nan (邬楠) (14 May 2018). 鼓楼医院历史纪念馆. ifeng.com (in Chinese). Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  6. ^ Miller, Joseph Dana. "Review of the Book 'William E. Macklin, A Devoted and Heroic Life' by Edith Eberle -- 1937". cooperative-individualism.org. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
  7. ^ a b "Move over, Bethune. There's a new medical hero". The Globe and Mail. 2008-04-26. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
  8. ^ "Former U.S. president, Global Ministries dedicate hospital wing in Nanjing". Global Ministries. 2014-10-11. Retrieved 2023-05-18.

Further reading edit

  • Liang Yanhong (梁燕红) (2014). 传教士马林编译〈富民策〉研究 [A Research on Fu Min Ce Compiled by Missionary William E. Macklin] (in Chinese). Changsha, Hunan: Hunan University: 45. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)