Birdwood Van Someren Taylor

Birdwood Van Someren Taylor (1852 – 31 July 1939) was an English physician, teacher and clergyman. He was the second Church Mission Society medical missionary to go to China in 1878, working during the height of the Opium War, with a focus on Fuzhou (Fuh-Chow), Fukien, and Hinghwa. Noted for his work addressing opium addiction and leprosy, Taylor founded mission hospitals in Fukien, including three significant hospitals with the largest in Hingwa. He incorporated medical education into the hospitals and translated English medical textbooks into the local dialects. He also served as the founding Principal of Union Medical College in Western China. to work as the second medical missionary for the Church Missionary Society in China. He followed William Welton, who helped the Chinese Medical Society establish the first dispensary hospital in Fuh-Chow in 1850. He opened the first hospital in Funing in 1883.

Taylor established his reputation as a medical provider, through the curing of opium addiction of a senior military officer. Upon his cure, the officer held a public ceremony and hung an official military banner outside the Funing Hospital declaring the ability of the foreign Taylor to provide cures.

Taylor worked in both Fuh-Chow and Fuh-Ning, serving Fuh-Chow from 1878 to 1882. Taylor also assisted Dr. Rigg, a medical missionary who had similar duties in Kieng-ning, a nearby town in Fuh-kien.

In 1894, Taylor transferred to Hinghwa, In 1929, the China Medical Journal covered the Hinghwa hospital, highlighting that it had eight separate departments and at least 260 beds.

In 1911, Taylor was called back to Fuh-Chow. Due to his experience teaching medicine, he was appointed Founding Principal of Union Medical College when it opened in 1911. Taylor served as the principal until 1918.

Writing During his time in China, Taylor published several articles and letters of importance: "The Training of Chinese Students in Medicine and Surgery by Medical Missionaries, in its Missionary Aspect" which was published by the Chinese Medical Association Publishing House. "The Massacre of Missionaries" which appeared in The Times (London) on 8 August 1895. "Medical Mission Work During the Plague at Hing-hwa", Mercy and Truth Feb 1897, pp 42-43. "The Year's Work at Hing-hwa", Mercy and Truth, Sept 1897, pp. 203-207. China Mission: Original Papers: Letters and Papers of Missionaries: Birdwood Van Someren Taylor, 1878–1880. United Kingdom: Adam Matthew Digital, 2018.

Retirement and death On 24 February 1929, Taylor returned to England to retire at The Vale in Golders Green, Middlesex. He died on 31 July 1939.