Marshall Broomhall (1866-1937)

Marshall, at an early age, suffered poor eye sight - he was ‘blind’ in one eye, but was still able to write many books.

He was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China with the China Inland Missions (CIM). He authored many books on the subject of Chinese missionary work . He is related to James Hudson Taylor -his mother was Amelia Hudson Taylor- the daughter of Taylor.

In 1890 he was accepted as a missionary by CIM London Council. October 1890 he sailed to China. Florence Corderoy, his future wife, joined him in 1894.

In 1900 the Boxer Rebellion broke out in China. The CIM had the greatest loss of life- 79 people were massacred including children… Marshall diligently sought out information to send home. He later wrote 2 memorable books documenting the harrowing stories of both the martyrs and the survivors.

In 1900 he was appointed Editorial Secretary for the mission in London.

In 1910 he took part in the Edinburgh Missionary Conference,

In 1911/12 , after the founding of the Republic of China, he visited China and travelled extensively to obtain first hand, up to date information. This resulted in The Chinese Empire: A General and Missionary Survey being written. This book was constantly referred to by the commission to Carrying the Gospel to all ythe Non-Christian World, of which he was a member.

In 1927, after 27 years, aged 61, he stopped being the Editorial Secretary but continued with his literary work. He became an expert at writing biographies.

He also gave preliminary Chinese language lessons to CIM candidates.

In 1936 he briefly edited the** China’s Millions** but ill health forced him to stop.

On the 27th October 1937, aged 71 he died. His wife Florence died in 1957.