Lockhart, William

( 1811-1896 )

   pioneer medical missionary

   William Lockhart was born on October 3, 1811, in Liverpool. He took his medical training at Meath Hospital in Dublin and Guy's Hospital in London. He subsequently became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons (1834).

   He applied to the London Missionary Society (LMS), and in 1838 sailed to Canton. He then located in Macau, where he opened a hospital. He eventually moved to Shanghai, where the largest community of Western missionaries was located, and opened a hospital there in 1842. He remained in Shanghai for the next 14 years.

   In 1857, he returned to England for a visit, at which time he was named a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. He returned permanently in 1864 to become one of the directors of the LMS. In 1878, he became the first president of the Medical Missionary Association, and frequently wrote for its periodical, Medical Missions at Home and Abroad.

   While in China, he had been outspoken on a variety of issues, including the binding of women's feet, a traditional Chinese practice. In his 1861 book, The Medical Missionary in China, he advocated the strict separation of the roles of preacher and physician. He died at Blackheath, England, on April 29, 1896.

   See also medical missions.

   Further reading:

   ■ William Lockhart, The Medical Missionary in China: A Narrative of Twenty Years' Experience (London: Hurst & Blackett, 1861).