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William Edward Macklin

William Edward Macklin
Statue of William E. Macklin in Gulou Hospital in 2010
Personal details
Born(1860-05-19)19 May 1860
London, Ontario, Canada
DiedAugust 8, 1947(1947-08-08) (aged 87)
California, United States
DenominationProtestant
Alma materUniversity of Toronto
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese马林
Traditional Chinese馬林
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinMǎ Lín

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]

Biography

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Standing statue of Ma Lin in Gulou Hospital

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

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

References

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  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

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