Emily Blatchley (c. 1842 – July 26, 1874) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Protestant Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 missionary

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

 to China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 with the China Inland Mission

China Inland Mission

OMF International is an interdenominational Protestant Christian missionary society, founded in Britain by Hudson Taylor on 25 June 1865.-Overview:...

. She pioneered the work of single women missionaries in China and served as personal secretary to the founder of the mission, James Hudson Taylor.

Biographical sketch

Blatchley lost her mother and father before her experience as a missionary. She was an 1865 graduate of the Home and Colonial Training College along with her friend, Jane Elizabeth Faulding. The Taylor family unofficially adopted her as one of their own and her attendance at the weekly prayer meeting for China at Coborn Street in Bromley-by-Bow

Bromley-by-Bow

Bromley-by-Bow, historically and officially Bromley, is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is an inner-city district situated east north-east of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:...

, East End of London

East End of London

The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...

 ( as well as Taylor's book "China's Spiritual Need and Claims

China's Spiritual Need and Claims

China’s Spiritual Need and Claims is a book written by James Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, in October, 1865. It is arguably the most significant work regarding Christian missions to China in the 19th century...

") soon led to her volunteering to join the largest party of Protestant missionaries to ever yet set sail for China, the Lammermuir Party

Lammermuir Party

The Lammermuir Party of 1866 was a British Protestant Christian group of missionaries to China with the China Inland Mission led by James Hudson Taylor, who were identified with the tea clipper Lammermuir which brought them to China. Mission historians have indicated that this event was a turning...

, in 1866. In China, she dressed in Chinese clothes along with the rest of the new C.I.M. missionaries, including all of the single women. Blatchley was a governess

Governess

A governess is a girl or woman employed to teach and train children in a private household. In contrast to a nanny or a babysitter, she concentrates on teaching children, not on meeting their physical needs...

 for the Taylor children: Grace Dyer Taylor

Grace Dyer Taylor

Grace Dyer Taylor was the eldest surviving daughter of James Hudson Taylor and Maria Jane Dyer, Christian missionaries to China...

, Herbert Hudson Taylor

Herbert Hudson Taylor

Herbert Hudson Taylor , British Protestant Christian missionary to China, author, speaker and eldest son of James Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission and Maria Jane Dyer...

, Frederick Howard Taylor

Frederick Howard Taylor

Frederick Howard Taylor a.k.a F. Howard Taylor , was a British pioneer Protestant Christian missionary to China, author, speaker and second son of James Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission , and Maria Jane...

, and Samuel Dyer Taylor. She taught them daily lessons and freed Maria Taylor to participate in more missionary work with her husband. She was also the "right hand secretary" of the mission and took charge of much of the correspondence with William Thomas Berger

William Thomas Berger

William Thomas Berger was a Christian starch manufacturer in London and owner of Samuel Berger & Co., a patent rice starch manufacturer, who became the first home director of the China Inland Mission with James Hudson Taylor in 1865. At this time the headquarters of the mission agency was located...

 at the home headquarters in England.

Blatchley traveled with the Taylors as a fellow pioneer missionary and survived the Yangzhou riot

Yangzhou riot

The Yangzhou riot of August 22–23, 1868 was a brief crisis in Anglo-Chinese relations during the late Qing Dynasty. The crisis was fomented by the gentry of Yangzhou who opposed the presence of foreign Christian missionaries in the city, who claimed that they were legally residing under the...

 in 1868. She struggled with tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 throughout the end of her life. In 1870, at the request of Hudson and Maria Taylor, she chaperoned the Taylor children back to England for their own health and safety. She also assumed many responsibilities of an acting home-director (a "guardian secretary") in England of the China Inland Mission while Taylor was still in China. After the death of Maria Taylor (from tuberculosis) she once privately hoped that Taylor would seek her hand in marriage. However, her health finally deteriorated and she died of the same illness as her friend in 1874.

Quote about her life

From: Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission, Growth of a Work of God: A Quote from The Christian eulogizing Blatchley:

Quote

After the Lammermuir party survived two typhoons she noted:

External links

• Christian Biography Resources
• OMF International (formerly China Inland Mission and Overseas Missionary Fellowship)
• http://www.genealogy.com/users/y/o/r/Brian-York-Burnsville/?Welcome=1091209026