Emma Farnworth writes:
When I began my work placement with the Christian Brethren Archive at the University of Manchester, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Tasked with reading missionary correspondence in order to improve the catalogue descriptions, I was anticipating religious fervour, the logistics of an international operation, and possibly some outdated views and language. While I did encounter all of these things, I was far more surprised to find eyewitness accounts of several major 20th-century conflicts: the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Second World War, the Chinese Civil War. These files reveal an underutilised resource exploring these conflicts from an unusual perspective.
The letters in these files were sent to the editors of Echoes of Service, the monthly magazine that published letters from the field while also acting as the missionaries’ unofficial support system. Knowing that these letters would be shared at least within the Brethren community may have encouraged the missionaries to report on events and conditions in the areas they lived and worked, often accompanied with calls for prayer. Following Japanese incursions into Manchuria (north-eastern China), stories appeared in letters about the impact of war on local communities, such as Anna Fischer’s story of a woman set on fire by “brigands”. However, she makes it clear that violence is almost the status quo in China, thereby justifying the presence of missionaries in the region: “if one was to wait for altogether peaceful conditions in China, one would never be able to get anywhere in China […] How this poor war-stricken country needs the Prince of Peace. We are so happy still to be able to proclaim His love to these people.”
Missionary opinions of the Japanese appear to have varied: in 1931, J. Herbert Brewster believed the Chinese people “would be better off under the Japanese, and many of them openly say so” compared to prior instability. Others felt less safe under growing Japanese occupation: in several letters from the early 1940s, Florence Bartlett either uses euphemism or asks for portions of her letters to be kept out of print, seemingly out of fear of the new authorities. The situation, which had deteriorated steadily, worsened considerably in December 1941, when the bombing of Pearl Harbour led to Britain declaring war on Japan. Letters from missionaries in Japanese controlled China reduced in volume, with many detained or fleeing the region.
These war time letters display the broad range of attitudes and experiences the missionaries faced. Many could not share their stories until their release: Anna Fischer managed to send only a handful of short Red Cross letters like the one here. J. Herbert Breswter, along with his wife and a group of other missionaries, was detained for eight months, with descriptions of their own conditions and the treatment of local Christians included in letters sent from their voyage home. Others were even less fortunate: Florence Bartlett spent the remainder of the war interned on Stanley Island in Hong Kong, while Caroline Brixton and Trevor and Agnes Oliver were imprisoned in Japan. All appear to have chosen not to dwell on these experiences, at least not in their letters to Echoes of Service, preferring to focus on their ability to maintain their religious practices or their concern for believers in China and in the UK. Brixton witnessed the bombing of Nagasaki while interned there with the Olivers, writing simply that: “None of us ever want to see or hear another.”
Following the end of the Second World War, the missionaries faced significant barriers in returning to their homes and work in China. The Chinese Civil War had resumed with major advances by the communist forces leading to missionary property being damaged or requisitioned by forces on both sides of the conflict. In their letters, the missionaries decry the difficulties of securing passage to the region and moving around the country when there, with railways a common military target. Concern about the advance of communism centred around the threat it caused for missionary work, with letters to the editors highlighting the potential restrictions they would face under communist control. Fears included persecution of local Christian communities, the closure of schools or hospitals run by missionaries, or complete expulsion from the country. Harry Bishop was particularly explicit in his call to prayer for the wider Brethren community: “As this literally involves the destiny of millions of souls I do want to beg of you to intercede on their behalf.” The more mortal threats to local populations from the conflict seem to have been given less attention in the letters.
Ultimately, communist advances across China forced the missionaries I was reading about to flee China entirely, never to return. In retirement, or in their new missionary fields, many of them continue to write to the editors about China and the communities they worked with there. They expressed concern about religious freedoms and socio-economic conditions, and wide sense of loss at being cut off from the place many of them had spent decades living in, despite the waves of conflict they faced there. As a resource about 20th-century conflict, these letters remain and invaluable tool for researchers interested in the unusual perspectives they provide.
