William Edward Soothill

Born in Halifax, Yorkshire in January 1861, Soothill matriculated at London University.{{cite book | title = Who's who in the Far East |date=June 1906 | publisher = The China Mail | location = Hong Kong | pages = [https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinfareast00hongrich/page/295 295]–6 | url =https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinfareast00hongrich}} He entered the ministry of the United Methodist Free Church arriving in China in 1882 and spent 29 years as a missionary in Wenzhou, China.{{Cite web|last=Anderlini|first=Jamil|date=2014-11-07|title=The rise of Christianity in China|url=https://www.ft.com/content/a6d2a690-6545-11e4-91b1-00144feabdc0|access-date=2020-07-30|website=www.ft.com|language=en-GB}} Another leading missionary there until 1909 was Grace Stott who led the China Inland Mission there.{{Cite ODNB|title=Stott, George (1835–1889), missionary|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-49394|access-date=2020-07-30|year = 2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/49394}}

Soothill founded a hospital, a training college, schools and 200 preaching stations. In 1911 Soothill became President of the Imperial University at Shanxi. Upon his return to England in 1920 he was appointed Professor of Chinese at Oxford University.

In 1921, he was awarded the Order of Wen-Hu (third class) by the Republic of China in recognition of services rendered in connection with the Chinese Labour Corps in France. In 1926 he was a member of Lord Willingdon's delegation to China on the settlement of the Boxer Rebellion indemnities.

He is best known for his translation into English of the Analects of Confucius and his Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms with Sanskrit and English Equivalents and a Sanskrit-Pali Index.

He married Lucy Farrar in 1884. She wrote an account of their years in China entitled A Passport to China. A daughter was Dorothea Hosie, whose husband was the diplomat Sir Alexander Hosie; Lady Hosie was the author of a number of books about China.[https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp100387/dorothea-nee-soothill-lady-hosie Dorothea (née Soothill), Lady Hosie (1885-1959), Writer and lecturer; second wife of Sir Alexander Hosie; daughter of W. E. Soothill]; National Portrait GalleryJohn Young [http://www.methodistheritage.org.uk/...history-young-dorothea-hosie-2013.pdf Friend of China: Lady Dorothea Hosie (1885-1959)] John Farrar Soothill, medical doctor, was a grandson.

• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8nwuAAAAYAAJ|title=The student's four thousand [characters] and general pocket dictionary|author=William Edward Soothill|year=1900|publisher=American Presbyterian Mission Press|edition=2|pages=420|access-date=2011-07-06}}
• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BKEMAQAAIAAJ|title=The student's four thousand ...: characters and general pocket dictionary, Volume 3|author=William Edward Soothill|year=1903|publisher=American Presbyterian Mission Press|edition=3|pages=420|access-date=2011-07-06}}
• {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/studentsfourtho00sootgoog|title=The student's four thousand tzu and general pocket dictionary|author=William Edward Soothill|year=1908|publisher=American Presbyterian Mission Press|edition=6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/studentsfourtho00sootgoog/page/n249 211]|access-date=2011-07-06}}
• [https://archive.org/details/studentsfourtho00sootgoog The Student's Four Thousand and General Pocket Dictionary] (1899)
• [https://archive.org/details/missioninchina00soot A Mission in China] (1906,1907)
• [https://archive.org/details/analectsofconfuc00confrich The Analects of Confucius] (1910)
• China and Education, with Special Reference to the University for China (1912)
• The Three Religions of China (1913; revised edition 1929)
• Timothy Richard of China (1924)
• China and the West: A sketch of their Intercourse (1925)
• A History of China (1927)
• China and England (1928)
• The Lotus of the Wonderful Law: or, The Lotus Gospel (1930)
• A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms: with Sanskrit and English Equivalents and a Sanskrit-Pali Index (1937, with Lewis Hodous)
• The Hall of Light: A study of Early Chinese Kingship, edited by Lady Hosie and G. F. Hudson (1951)

The Methodist Archives Biographical Index: Minutes of Conference 1958 and Encyclopedia of World Methodism (1974)

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web |url=http://www.methodistheritage.org.uk/missionary-history-young-william-soothill-2012.pdf |title=William E. Soothill (1861-1935): Missionary and Sinologist |last =Young |first =John |date=2012 |website=Methodist Heritage |access-date=20 April 2015 }}

• [http://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/s/soothill-william.php "William E. Soothill,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150424002141/http://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/s/soothill-william.php |date=24 April 2015 }} Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity

{{Protestant missions to China}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soothill, William Edward}}

Category:1861 births

Category:1935 deaths

Category:British sinologists

Category:English lexicographers

Category:Chinese–English translators

Category:People from Halifax, West Yorkshire

Category:English Methodist missionaries

Category:Methodist missionaries in China

Category:British people of the Boxer Rebellion

Category:Shaw Professors of Chinese

Category:Missionary linguists