Marshall Broomhall

Marshall B. Broomhall (Chinese: 海恩波; 17 July 1866 – 24 October 1937), was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China with the China Inland Mission. He also authored many books on the subject of Chinese missionary work. He was the most famous son (the fifth of ten children) of the anti-opium trade activist and General Secretary of the CIM Benjamin Broomhall and Amelia Hudson Taylor. Thus he was also the nephew of the founder of the mission, James Hudson Taylor.

Youth in London In 1875, the Broomhall family, including 9 year old Marshall, moved from Bayswater to Newington Green, London. At Westbourne Grove, where he was born, the family had been members of the Baptist Westbourne Grove Church led by William Garrett Lewis. Marshall's father, Benjamin, then began 20 years of service as the China Inland Mission's general secretary at the London headquarters. In 1887 Marshall went to classical studies at Jesus College, Cambridge. After his graduation (BA) in 1890, he became engaged to Florence Corderoy, the daughter of his father's close friend, John Corderoy. In the same year Marshall was accepted as a missionary by the CIM London Council. His sister Gertrude and his eldest brother had already travelled to China as missionaries.

Missionary life Marshall Broomhall sailed for China on 2 October 1890 on the S.S. Shannon. He attended a year at the CIM's Chinese Language School at Anqing, Anhui, and then he was appointed to the work in Taiyuan, Shanxi. Three of his siblings (Hudson, Marshall and Edith) had all contracted typhus there, but all three recovered.

Marriage and family Florence Corderoy followed him to China in 1894, but mission regulations required that they could not marry until both had served for two years on the field. Marshall and Florence were finally married on 17 March 1897. They had two children: Honor Irene and Dorothea Broomhall. Marshall had been transferred to Hongdong, Shanxi in 1896, to work with Dixon Edward Hoste, his brother-in-law, and with Gilbert Ritchie, who later married his sister, Edith. The famous Pastor Hsi (Xi Shengmo) had recently died. The area that Marshall worked in was 40 miles north and south, and 70 miles wide. In 1897 there was a church membership of 490 in 17 villages, with 14 opium refuges. The churches were largely self-supporting, led by an ordained native pastor, three elders, and 17 deacons. Broomhall worked here for three years.

Further work and the Boxer Crisis Florence's poor health necessitated their leaving for Britain in 1899. After the 1911/12 founding of the Republic of China he visited China again, and travelled extensively to obtain first-hand and up to date information. He was a member of the commission on "Carrying the Gospel to all the Non-Christian World". In this commission constant reference was made to his important work , and to the statistics in it.

One of Broomhall's particular interests was the conversion of Chinese Muslims to Christianity. To this end, he authored a book , which he believed to be the first book in English on Chinese Muslims. He called for sending Arabic-speaking missionaries to China, who in his views could work more effectively among the Muslim community.

In 1927 he retired as Editorial Secretary. But he continued to do his literary work.

In 1936, when the Rev. Frank Houghton returned to China to be Bishop of East China, Marshall took over briefly the editorship of China's Millions.

Published works (see: List of the martyred missionaries of the China Inland Mission in 1900). . .

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