1900 - Edith Sherwood

July 23, 1900

Quzhou, Zhejiang

Edith Sherwood.

Edith Sophia Sherwood was born in England on April 11, 1854. From the start of her life she seemed to love the Lord with all her heart, mind and strength. Even as a schoolgirl she was active in sharing her faith with people. When she returned home for the holidays, Edith

“would produce little penny Gospels that she had bought with her pocket-money, and confidentially present them to fellow passengers…. As she advanced to womanhood, her powers and opportunities of service increased. Her natural force of mind and will made her services valuable, and her talents were in constant demand.”[1]

After leaving school, Sherwood worked among the sick and poor in the north London suburb of Barnet. She was also involved with outreach to soldiers and for a time assisted at a mission in Paris. During these years of fruitful ministry, she formed an acquaintance with David and Agnes Thompson. Their resolve and zeal to be missionaries rubbed off on Sherwood, and she ended up going to China with them in 1893. Although she commenced her missionary career at a relatively late age of almost 40, Edith Sherwood played a key role at Quzhou. She soon decided it was disadvantageous for missionaries to live in walled compounds separated from the people they had come to reach, so she rented a small house in the middle of a busy neighbourhood, “and as she looked out upon these from her balcony, she prayed and longed for the salvation of the people. She visited freely amongst them, and was always well received, and for them she was called to lay down her life.”[2]

Edith Sherwood and Etta Manchester were terribly wounded when their homes were ransacked on July 21, 1900. For two agonizing days they hid in a neighbour’s home before being discovered and heartlessly put to death. They had given their all to God and to China, and had gone to receive their reward. In July 1901 a formal funeral ceremony was held for all the martyrs of Quzhou and Changshan. One participant in the ceremony reported, “Regret for what happened in 1900 seemed to be written on [the officials’] faces and in their eyes…. They prostrated themselves, bowed and knocked their heads and rose up and stood as stiff and immovable as a line of soldiers at drill!”[3]

1. Forsyth, The China Martyrs of 1900, 471.
2. Forsyth, The China Martyrs of 1900, 471.
3. J. Meadows, “The Official Burial of the Cheh-kiang Martyrs, Who Were Massacred at Kü-chau Fu, July 21st-24th, 1900,” China’s Millions (December 1902), 171.