Jennie Faulding Taylor

Jane Elizabeth Faulding a.k.a. Jennie Faulding Taylor (October 6, 1843 – July 31,1904), was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China with the China Inland Mission. She pioneered the work of single women missionaries in China and eventually married the founder of the mission, James Hudson Taylor, after the death of his first wife, Maria Jane Dyer. As the Taylor’s wife, she assumed many roles within the mission agency when Taylor was overseas – acting at times as a home director for the mission. She is most well known for encouraging women, both single and married, to participate in the work of the China Inland Mission in ways that had previously only been reserved for male missionaries.

Early Life in London

Jennie was the daughter of a piano manufacturer in London. She was an 1865 graduate of the Home and Colonial Training College along with her friend, Emily Blatchley. She attended the weekly prayer meeting at the home of Hudson & Maria Taylor in the East End of London in 1865. She was influenced by the Taylors and their book: "China's Spiritual Need and Claims", that spoke of the desperate need for the Gospel message to be brought to the Chinese before they died “without God and without hope in the world”.

The Youngest Missionary

When the Taylors were recruiting missionaries to go with them back to China, Jennie volunteered to accompany the 15 other candidates who were all as inexperienced as herself. She was the junior member of the Lammermuir Party, the largest party of Protestant missionaries ever to sail to China in 1866, but she quickly proved herself useful.

Pioneering Work among Women

After the new arrivals had weathered 2 typhoons and arrived nearly shipwrecked in China, they donned Chinese clothes and ventured down the Grand Canal, looking for a place to settle down to mission work. It caused a scandal among the other Westerners in China to see a young single woman like Jennie adopt the Chinese dress, which was considered a compromise with an idolatrous culture. However, Taylor was undeterred in encouraging his missionaries to “adopt all things not sinful that were Chinese in order to save some”.In Hangzhou, Jennie proved the value of being an unmarried female, as her daily walks around the neighborhood gave her opportunities to be invited in by the Chinese women who did not feel threatened as they might have by a foreign man.After she had been in China for five years, she was given a furlough at the request of her parents, that Hudson Taylor honored. Taylor accompanied her home in 1871. She had keenly felt the loss of Maria Taylor the year previously, her friend and mentor. On the way back to England, Hudson proposed marriage. She accepted on the condition of her parent’s approval – which was not easily obtained. Finally in November of the same year they were married. She instantly became the stepmother to Taylor’s four surviving children and a successor to Maria as the “Mother of the Mission”.Together, they had 2 children of their own and adopted an orphaned daughter of a missionary.

Leading from the Shadows

The news of the terrible Great North China Famine of 1877-78 in Shanxi Province motivated Jennie to go there with 2 single women as part of a relief team – when no men could be spared to accompany them on their journey and her husband could not go, himself. She began an orphanage in Taiyuan, and distributed aid to the starving people there.

Jennie worked alongside her husband until the end of her life. They traveled across the globe many times recruiting missionaries and visiting mission stations in China. She died of breast cancer in Chevalleyres, Switzerland in 1904. Hudson remained with her at the end of her life.

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Chronology

Birth to First Time in China 1866
* Born in England (possibly London) to William Joseph & Harriet Faulding
* Sailed to China (via the Cape of Good Hope) aboard the Lammermuir with James Hudson Taylor 26 May 1866 from East India Docks, London, England
* Arrived in China aboard the Lammermuir 29 September 1866 in Shanghai, China
* Settled with the Lammermuir party December 1866 in 1 Xin Kai Long (New Lane), Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

Furlough and Marriage
* Sailed to Guangzhou on furlough with James Hudson Taylor aboard the M M Volga 5 August 1871 in Shanghai, China
* Sailed to Marseilles via Siagon, Ceyon, Aden, Suez aboard the MM Ava after 5 August 1871 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
* Arrived in England 25 September 1871 in from Marseilles, France (via Paris to London)
* Married to James Hudson Taylor, 28 November 1871 in Regent's Park Chapel, London, England
* Moved 15 January 1872 to 6 Pyrland Road, Islington, London, England

Return to China
* Sailed to China aboard the M M Tigre with Hudson Taylor, 9 October 1872 in Marseilles, France (via Paris from London)
* M M Tigre arrived 28 November 1872 in Shanghai, China
* Baby son (twin) Taylor born 13 April 1873 in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
* Baby daughter (twin) Taylor born 14 April 1873 in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

Raising a Family in England
* Sailed to England on furlough with Hudson Taylor, 30 August 1874
* Arrived 15 October 1874 in England
* "Dai Cun-xin" Ernest Hamilton Taylor born 7 January 1875 in 2 Pyrland Road, Islington, London, England
* "Dai Ai Mei" Amy H. Taylor born 7 April 1876 in London Islington, London, England
* Mary "Millie" "Caroline" Jane Bowyer Duncan adopted, before 25 December 1877 in England

Pioneering Work In China
* Sailed to China without Hudson for famine relief work 2 May 1878
* Led the advance of women missionaries to the far interior about September 1878 in Shanxi, China
* Arrival & reunion with Hudson Taylor, 8 May 1879 in Yantai (Cheefoo), Shandong, China
* Sailed to England 13 October 1880
* Reunion with Hudson 21 December 1890 in Shanghai, China
* Arrived with Hudson Taylor, March 1892 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
* Sailed to England via Canada, 10 May 1892
* Arrived, 26 July 1892 in England
* Sailed to China via USA aboard the RMS Germanic with Hudson Taylor, 14 February 1894 from Liverpool & Queenstown, England
* Arrived aboard the RMS Germanic, 24 February 1894 in Ellis Island, New York, New York, USA
* Arrived with Hudson Taylor, 17 April 1894 in Shanghai, China
* Sailed to England after July 1894
* Left China for India with Hudson Taylor, February 1896
* Return to China with Hudson Taylor, April 1896
* Sailed to Italy aboard the Oceania (M. M. Oceanien?) with Hudson Taylor, 2 May 1896
* Arrives at Brindisi, Italy and visits Germany en route to England, before 17 June 1896
* Arrived, 17 June 1896 in England
* Visits with Hudson Taylor I, about July 1897 in Switzerland
* Sailed to USA with Hudson Taylor, 24 November 1897
* Arrived, 18 December 1897 in USA
* Arrived, 15 January 1898 in Shanghai, China
* Conference with Hudson Taylor, 16 January 1899 in Chongquing, Sichuan, China
* Sailed to Australia with Hudson Taylor, 25 September 1899
* Sailed to New Zealand from Australia with Hudson Taylor, 5 January 1900
* Sailed to USA from New Zealand with Hudson Taylor, 20 March 1900
* Arrived, 5 April 1900 in San Francisco, USA
* Sailed to England from USA, 9 June 1900
* Arrived, 19 June 1900 in England, UK

Final Years
* Retired with Hudson Taylor, after 19 June 1900 in Davos, Switzerland
* Died 31 July 1904 in Chevalleyres, Switzerland
* Buried after 31 July 1904 in La Chiesaz church cemetery, near Vevey, Switzerland

References

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Notes

Further reading

*Historical Bibliography of the China Inland Mission

External links

* [http://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/biorptaylor.html Christian Biography Resources]
* [http://www.omf.org/omf/us OMF International (formerly China Inland Mission and Overseas Missionary Fellowship)]
* [http://www.genealogy.com/users/y/o/r/Brian-York-Burnsville/?Welcome=1091209026 The family of James Hudson Taylor] [http://Genealogy.com/ Genealogy.com]

Persondata
NAME= Faulding, Jane Elizabeth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Faulding, Jennie ; Taylor, Jennie ; Taylor, Jennie E. ; Taylor, Jane Elizabeth ; Taylor, (2nd) Mrs. Hudson
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Missionary in China
DATE OF BIRTH=October 6, 1843
PLACE OF BIRTH= England
DATE OF DEATH=July 31,1904
PLACE OF DEATH=Chevalleyres, Switzerland