From Paoking. He has received Emily's letter of September 4/5 from Hong Kong. Here he is with the Cooks [family of Clifford Vallance Cook], [Katherine] Warren who is about to go on furlough with [James] Clegg, Miss Dymond (now recovered) and the Tuckers who are en-route to the Red Cross headquarters at [Kweiyang].
H B R hopes to leave with [Cyril George] Baker for Yungchow tomorrow by bus and train, from where they will continue to Changsha, Pingkiang, Liuyang, Suichow and then to Hong Kong.
Yungchow has been bombed again and one 'theol' [theology student?] killed and another seriously injured. Neither were Methodists.
He is having great meetings and the visit will certainly do some good.
'There was a sort of joy yesterday at a reported attempt to bomb Hitler among a Swede, a Nazi, a Jew, Americans & British; but I think he had better not go as a martyr but as a failure & a psychological case...'
He was pleased to hear how the children are getting on.
There has been lots of alarms but no bombing raids as yet.
He hopes the diary is arriving alright. There are lots of things happening here but much of it must be brought back in his memory as opposed to on paper.
There have been many enquiries after the Gibsons [family of William Wildridge Gibson] and the Stanfields [family of John Howard Stanfield].
Notes
- James Clegg trained for the Wesleyan ministry at Handsworth. He served as a missionary in China from 1925 to 1942. After his return to Britain he was appointed to the Ilkley Circuit and then worked for three years as a teacher in a secondary school in Dorking. Clegg superannuated in 1948 and disappears from the list of ministers after 1961. Source: Minutes of Conference 1961 and Hill's Arrangement 1957 .
- John Howard Stanfield (1888-1971) was born in London, the son of the Methodist minister John C. Stanfield. He was educated at Kingswood and taught for several years in Macclesfield before candidating for the Wesleyan ministry. He trained at Didsbury and in 1912 was appointed to serve overseas. Stanfield spent twenty-seven years in China where he taught for many years in the Methodist College at Wuchang. During his time as Chairman of the Hunan District, Stanfield witnesses the destruction of much of the mission property during the civil war of the late 1920s but was able to get the staff away safely. He returned home in 1938 and spent seven years in circuit ministry before going back to China for three years. After the Communist take-over, Stanfield returned to England and superannuated in 1959. Source: Minutes of Conference 1971.
- William Wildridge Gibson (1874-1951) was born at Bath, Somerset. He was educated at Penrith Grammar School and privately at Carlisle. Gibson qualified in law and practised as a solicitor for five years. He trained for the Wesleyan ministry at Richmond with the specific ambition of entering the mission field. Gibson served as a missionary in China from 1901 to 1935 when he was invalided home. As Chairman of the Hunan District from 1920 to 1935, he was an early advocate of giving greater responsibility to Chinese ministers. Gibson superannuated in 1937. Source: Minutes of Conference 1951.