Relationship with the CIM and other missionary societies
had arrived in Taiyuan in 1877 and worked there for several years after and hence alongside Pigott and the Sheo Yang missionaries. Little is recorded of the differences between Pigott et al. and the CIM., chapter 6 entitled "The Bible in J. Hudson Taylor's Missionary Teaching and Preaching" reports at section 6.2.3:
Given that the Sheo Yang missioners moved from the CIM to the Baptist Missionary Society it seems most likely that this Shansi spirit was the source of the disagreement. On 1 August 1883 Dr Schofield died of Typhus Fever leaving Dr E H Edwards who had arrived the previous year, via the West of China with CIM, in charge of the Hospital. Dr E H Edwards later became part of the Sheo Yang mission but was on furlough when the Boxer Rebellion caused the death of all the other Sheo Yang missionaries. In June and July 1886 missionaries of the various societies gathered for a conference with the visitingHudson Taylor. Mr Sowerby and Dr E H Edwards both questioned the level of knowledge of the localTao-li that should be acquired. Hudson Taylors response included a recollection, thus:
The Pigott's travelled out to China in January 1888 with a group of missionaries setting out on the first Kaisar-i-Hind steam ship and later the SS Deccan. Mary Geraldine Guinness was amongst their number and mentions the Pigott's in her letters home. Around the first week of April 1900 Rev Alexander Grant and Mr Hoddle an "independent worker" visited the Sheo Yang mission, in "A Thousand Miles of Miracles" Rev A E Glover records:
Members of the Sheo Yang Mission and reports mentioning them
The following people are variously listed as having been part of the Sheo Yang Mission :
A slightly less complete summary is given on p. 876. Pages 1045-46 report SYM under the headings "Shansi" or "Shansi, T'aiyuan" noting that SYM was in the capital Taiyuan of the Shanxi province of Northern China. The Boxer Rebellion included the death of 77 Christian missionaries in the Taiyuan Massacre. Some are listed elsewhere on wikipedia. It is believed that all members of the Sheo Yang Mission died in the uprising.
A letter by T W Pigott
An account of the martyrdoms in Shansi which includes reports on the reoccupation of the missionary stations includes this section with a letter written in May 1896 by Rev T W Pigott B.A., one of the martyrs:
The members of the Sheo-yang Mission, with the exception of Dr. and Mrs. Edwards, who were at home on furlough, were killed to a man, and so with the B.M.S. in Shan-si. Of the latter Mission two former members who had retired from the field have felt the present need to be a special call, and have already returned to Shan-si. In the C.I.M. the stations are being reoccupied so far as it is possible to draft workers from other districts, but many more workers are needed. The following letter, written in May 1896 by Mr. T. W. Pigott, B.A., one of the martyred missionaries, should lead us all to a careful consideration of our duty in the light of Eternity : now, will make all the difference a few years hence. /page 16/ With Armenia before us we dare not count too much on future years. How suddenly the work was arrested there and the door shut against much hoped-for labour.
Dr Lovitt's last letter
Dr Lovitt was martyred in the Taiyuan Massacre, the "Last Letters" includes this letter:
DEAR FRIEND We do not know whom you may be, but we thought it well to leave this letter in the hands of a trusty native to give to the first foreigner who might come along... We would like our dear home ones to know we are being marvellously sustained by the Lord. He is precious to each of us. The children seem to have no fear. We cannot but hope for deliverance, and our God is well able to do all things even to save us from the most impossible surroundings when hope is gone. Our trust is in Him entirely and alone. We at the same time are seeking to do all that is in our power, and asking guidance at every step... There is not much time. We are ready. ARNOLD E. LOVITT, M.E.C.S.
