1900 - George & Catharine Farthing and Children

July 9, 1900

Taiyuan, Shanxi

George & Catharine Farthing.

George Bryant Farthing was a British missionary whose linguistic expertise resulted in him travelling around China, testing missionaries and evaluating their progress in the Chinese language. The Farthing family lived in their own house near the compound of the Baptist Missionary Society in Taiyuan. George had met and married Catharine Pope before coming to China. God blessed their union with three beautiful children—Ruth (ten), Guy (eight), and Betty (three). At the time of the Boxer outbreak the Farthings had two guests in their home, Mildred Clarke and Jane Stevens. The two ladies were soon to join the five members of the Farthing family as martyrs for Jesus Christ.

On June 21, 1900, George Farthing wrote a letter to a friend after hearing that the Empress had given permission to the Governor of Shanxi to exterminate all foreigners. Farthing wrote, “I do not know whether this is true or not, but if it is true, I am ready, and do not fear; if such be God’s will, I can even rejoice to die.”[1]

The Farthings were among more than 30 missionaries who barricaded themselves inside the grounds of the Boys’ School in Taiyuan. Day and night bricks and stones smashed against the roof and walls of the buildings. In late June, George Farthing and Arnold Lovitt repeatedly tried to visit the magistrate and secure his protection, but by then it was too late. The Governor, Yu Xian, had laid a course of death and the magistrate was complicit in the murderous plot.

On July 5th, the magistrate ordered the missionaries to leave their homes and come to the compound connected to the governor’s palace in the middle of the city, where they “could be better protected.” The missionaries were highly suspicious of the offer, but felt they had little choice. George Farthing told the officials, “If you order us to go, we will go; and if you mean to kill us we must still go.” The officials replied, “Oh, no, that is not our intention. We really mean to protect you.”[2]

On July 9th soldiers arrived at the school and roughly took the missionaries to the palace a short distance away. As they waited for the governor to appear they still held on to a glimmer of hope that all would end well, but when he stormed out of the palace brandishing his sword and screaming “Kill! Kill!” they knew they would soon see Jesus face to face.

The three Farthing children spitefully killed by the Boxers.

A Chinese Christian named Yongzheng witnessed the massacre. He said,

“Immediately Pastor Farthing stepped out. His wife clung to him, but he gently put her aside, and going in front of the soldiers knelt down without saying a word, and his head was struck off by one blow of the executioner’s knife…. When the men were finished the ladies were taken. Mrs. Farthing had hold of the hands of her children, who clung to her, but the soldiers parted them, and with one blow beheaded their mother. The executioner beheaded all the children skilfully, requiring only one blow.”[3]