1938 - James Dempster & Sang Yongfu

April 28, 1938

Ding Xian, Hebei

Salvation Army Major James Dempster and his wife. [Salvation Army Archival Center]

After the brutal slaying of Wang Guanglong in 1937, the Salvation Army realized their presence in the dangerous political climate of China would result in more bloodshed. In 1938 another Salvation Army officer, Sang Yongfu (Sang Yung-fu) was seized by soldiers and taken away from the Xiachuang mission station and never seen again. Other heart-wrenching stories were told, including that of a Christian man who searched for the body of his wife, a Salvation Army officer of the Baoding North Corps, for one year. He “finally found it in a ditch. A Home League badge attached to what remained of her clothing provided identification.”[1]

Before dawn on the morning of April 28, 1938, a tragedy took place which shook the very foundations of the Salvation Army in China, when bandits raided the Salvation Army hospital at Ding Xian. The superintendent of the hospital was Major James S. Dempster, who was immediately murdered, as was one of the Russian guards who tried to stop the attack. Dempster’s wife “was roughly handled, but with her little son (who was in the room throughout the grisly happening) managed to escape alive, as did the doctor in charge and two officer nurses.”[2]

James Dempster, an American, had arrived in China in 1921, and for 17 years had sacrificially and skilfully served the Chinese people. He had ministered in a number of different locations, and had even had a brief stint in India before returning to China to lead the Boys’ Industrial Home in Beijing.

The destruction of the railway line between Ding Xian and Beijing delayed getting Dempster’s body to Beijing for several weeks. His funeral was attended by many grieving people whose lives had been touched by the Major.