1900 - George Ward & Li Yun

July 22, 1900

Changshan, Zhejiang

George Ward.

Raised in a wealthy family, George Frederick Ward found Christ during a meeting at the YMCA in Aldersgate Street, London, in 1890. From the start the fruit of his salvation expressed itself in good works, and before long he was burdened by the needs of the mission field. Ward applied to the China Inland Mission, offering to meet all of his own expenses if they accepted him. He accompanied David and Agnes Thompson to China in 1893, and after a time of language study was stationed at Changshan in Zhejiang Province.

On July 20, 1900, the local magistrate who had been on friendly terms with George Ward sent the missionaries a note advising them to flee, for he could no longer guarantee their protection. George Ward thought he should remain at his post, but made arrangements for his wife, five-month-old son Herbert, and Emma Thirgood to leave the next morning, July 21st. Ward still didn’t believe there was any serious danger, and promised his wife if any attack on the city was launched, he would leave immediately.

Soon after Ward’s wife and son had left Changshan by boat, a mob attacked the city. George Ward fled in the evening of July 21st, escaping on foot with a Chinese evangelist, and a servant named Li Yun. Travelling on small pathways in an effort to escape detection, the trio made their way unmolested until the following afternoon, when they stopped at a small village named Sanmojia, located about five miles (eight kilometres) from the city. A crowed of unfriendly people surrounded Ward and his colleagues. Ward pushed past them and ran along a path, only to find it came to a dead end at a pond. The mob laughed at him as he returned,

“then set upon and beat Mr. Ward and his servant to death with sticks and clubs, and left the evangelist on the ground, also supposing him to be dead. He was not, however, even insensible, but saw all that was going on, and in the night crawled to a place of safety, and afterwards recovered to tell the tale here related.”[1]