Description of Willis 1875/1911

旅券申請書に書かれたウィリスの外見描写（人相書き）です。
身長は173センチくらいあったようです。

Two of passport applications written by Willis exist today, of 1875 and 1911.
How he described his own looks? Let's see.

1875 - Description of Willys N Whitney [*]

Age: 21 years

Stature: 5 feet 8 inches, Eng.

Forehead: high

Eyes: dark

Nose: proportioned 

Mouth: medium

Chin: round

Hair: dark

Complexion: dark

Face: oval and full

[Source: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; NARA Series: Passport Applications, 1795-1905; Roll #: 209; Volume #: Roll 209 - 01 Jun 1875-31 Jul 1875]

* He had used a spelling of Willys before he came to Japan. 
The 1870 edition of the school catalogue of the Collegiate and Commercial Institute, New Haven, Connecticut recorded his name Willys N. Whitney.

『海舟とホイットニー』より
Willis about 42 years old

1911 - Willis Norton Whitney

Description of Applicant.

Age: 55 years.

Stature: 5 feet 8 inches, Eng.

Forehead: high

Eyes: blue grey

Nose: broad

Mouth: medium with moustache

Chin: round

Hair: grey, thin

Complexion: medium 

Face: broad

[Source: United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKDF-MS4F]

* description transliterated with a kind help of Ms Alice Goss *

There was no photograph of Willis attached, because photographs have been required with applications in the U.S.A. since December 21, 1914. (cf. About U.S. passport)

detail of passport application of Willis, 1911

On the 1911 paper, Willis erased a word "swear" and wrote "affirm", expressing his faith of a member of religious society of friends.

cf. BBC News - The difference between 'affirmation' and 'oath' 
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32809040

Last updated on 09 Nov. 2017

Grave of Willis and Mary Caroline at Banbury

ウィリス夫妻の墓石の写真が見つかりました。感謝とともにご紹介。

Willis died at  2 West Bar, Banbury, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom on 26 October 1918, and was buried at Southam Road Cemetery, Southam Road, Banbury. 

Banbury Town Council

Southam Road Cemetery

http://www.banbury.gov.uk/Banbury-Town-Council/southam_road_cemetery-3837.aspx

Here is a photograph of Willis' tombstone, taken by a church historian, Ms Alice Goss of Colchester, England.

Grave of Willis Norton Whitney
Tico Productions
https://www.flickr.com/photos/glamalice/18592599021/

Click here to the photo @ Flickr 

I am really grateful to Alice for sharing the photo on the web. Furthermore, she had the kindness to send me a high-resolution image of the photo, so that I can note the inscription :

IN

AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE

OF WILLIS NORTON WHITNEY M.D. 

OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A.

BELOVED PHYSICIAN OF THE 

AKASAKA MISSION HOSPITAL.

TOKIO : JAPAN 1883 - 1911.

WHO PASSED TO HIS HEAVENLY REST 

AT BANBURY,

OCT. 26TH 1918.

AGED 63 YEARS.

BUT WITH THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST

1 Peter 1.19 *1

HIS SERVANTS SHALL SERVE HIM AND THEY SHALL 

SEE HIS FACE REV. 22.3-4 *2

AND OF OUR BELOVED MOTHER 

MARY CAROLINE WHITNEY,

(NÉE BRAITHWAITE) 

WHO DIED AT BANBURY JULY 4TH 1935

AGED 78 YEARS.

THEY TOOK KNOWLEDGE OF THEM THAT 

THEY HAD BELIEVETH JESUS. ACTS 4.13 *3

The hospital name is mentioned as “Akasaka Mission Hospital”, and there is no information of their birth years on the stone.

The rest place of Willis' was what I've looking for for years. Thank you, Alice! 

*1 瑕｛きず｝なく汚點｛しみ｝なき羔羊｛こひつじ｝の如きキリストの貴｛たふと｝き血に由｛よ｝ることを知ればなり〔文語訳　ペテロ前書 1:19〕 

*2 その僕｛しもべ｝らは之｛これ｝に事｛つか｝へ、且｛かつ｝その御顔｛みかほ｝を見ん〔文語訳　黙示録22:3-4〕 

*3 そのイエスと偕｛とも｝にありし事を認｛み｝とむ。〔文語訳　使徒行伝4:13〕

Last updated  on 08 Nov. 2017

Obituary - Willis by a Friend

クエーカーの雑誌に掲載されたウィリスの追悼記事です。日本に帰国かなわず、いってみれば英国で不本意な「客死」をした彼ですが、当地の友会徒のあいだでどう認識されていたかがわかります。

The following obituary is from The Annual Monitor for 1919-20, Being an Obituary of Members of the Society of Friends in Great Britain and Ireland, from October 1st, 1917, to September 30th, 1919, London: Headley Brothers, 1920, pp. 296-300.
https://archive.org/stream/annualmonitoror191920alex#page/296/mode/2up

DR. WILLIS N. WHITNEY. 

The peaceful passing away of Dr. Willis N. Whitney, of Tokyo, Japan, at 2, West Bar, Banbury, on October 26th, 1918, recalls the memory of nearly thirty fruitful years of missionary labour in Japan. 

“Dr. Whitney was born at Newark, New Jersey, in 1855 *1. His father, the principal of a Business College in that city, was one of those who responded to the call for American educators to help in shaping the new destinies of Japan, and Dr. Whitney, then a youth of seventeen, accompanied his family to Tokyo in 1872 [sic] *2. His mother, a devoted Christian woman, seems to have exerted the strongest influence on his young life, and he resolved to study medicine so as to fit himself for carrying the Gospel to the Japanese. He was the first foreign student of medicine at the University of Tokyo in 1877, afterwards finishing his course and obtaining his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania. His knowledge of the Japanese people and their language peculiarly fitted him for this work. 

His family on their first arrival had been warmly welcomed, and given a home on the private estate of Count Katsu *3, one of the enlightened statesmen to whom Japan owed so much in the first days of opening her doors to Western civilisation. In this home in the heart of the Japanese capital, the Whitney family continued to reside. After the death of his parents, the Japanese wished to erect a memorial to his mother and at Dr. Whitney's suggestion this took the shape of a free Dispensary. Three years later, in 1886, shortly after his marriage to a daughter of the late Joseph Bevan Braithwaite, a small Cottage Hospital was built with the help of additional funds raised in England and America and a permanent work begun. 

In the meantime Dr. Whitney had accepted the post of Interpreter to the United States Legation in Japan, a post which he filled for twelve years, only giving it up then in order to devote his whole strength to the more direct Gospel work. His position at the Legation brought him into contact with a wide circle both of Japanese and foreigners, and his home became a wonderful centre of Christian life and helpfulness, to which Japanese and foreigners alike resorted for spiritual and physical help. Many circumstances of early education helped to qualify Dr. Whitney for his life work, but most of all his absorbing love for his Saviour and his desire to be used in bringing other souls to Him gave a meaning to all the little details of everyday life. He truly lived his religion, and so his life became a living epistle known and read of all men. Though intimately acquainted with some of the richest Japanese families, his heart went out particularly to the poorer classes, and his time and strength were chiefly given to these. 

The Bible was to him very precious, and he was ever on the watch for opportunities of bringing it into the hands of the people. At one time he organised a house-to-house distribution of a Gospel or portion in Tokyo, Yokohama and five or six other leading cities of the Empire. The city of Tokyo alone, where he lived, contained a population of more than two million. 

Side by side with the Akasaka hospital, and claiming an equal share of his interest and labour, were the establishment and direction of the Japan Scripture Union, a branch of the Children's Special Service Mission in London. For many years the membership averaged 11,000 to 12,000, with about 800 branches scattered throughout the Empire, and the work is still vigorously carried on. In 1909 the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Akasaka Hospital was celebrated. The Japan Advertiser published a most sympathetic article from which the following sentence is quoted  : “Strangers who visited the Hospital for the first time went away much impressed by the noble work of charity that is carried on within the walls of the modest little building. To all present there was truth in the remark of a poor patient who had been successfully treated,  ‘I have often heard of Akasaka Hospital and thought on the outside it looked like any other hospital, but inside it is heaven.’” It was only in the last years of his life in Japan that Dr. Whitney reluctantly accepted a small honorarium for his abundant labours at the Hospital. His own professional work was heavy, and his powers were taxed to the utmost by the constant claims upon him. This was certainly true of the last years of his work in Japan. 


In 1911 he and his wife came to England with their youngest son, the other four children being already there. They were fully expecting to return after a year's furlough to the land of their adoption, and he had no idea that he was leaving his loved work for the last time, but so it proved, for, after a few months, the long overstrain showed itself in complete breakdown. After a prolonged time of rest, he partially recovered and was able to enjoy outdoor life among the plants and flowers. During all his time of physical weakness he never ceased to take an interest in the sick and needy, and latterly one of his great pleasures was visiting in the cottages around, where he made many friends among the people. They realised his sympathy with them, and many testimonies have been received since his death showing how he was loved. His was a large-hearted Christianity, which reached out to seek fellowship with everyone who loved his Lord. — The Friend. 

[Notes by the editor]

*1 His sister Clara strangely wrote on her diary that Willis became 23 years old at his birthday in 1876 [Kodansha ed., 1976, Vol.1, p.129]. This means he was born in 1853. Actually he was born on 18 October 1854. 
*2 The Whitney family arrived Yokohama on 5 August 1875. Willis was 20 years old then.
*3 Count Katsu : Katsu Kaishu 勝海舟 (1823-1899), Japanese naval officer and statesman. 
  See http://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/datas/51.html
         https://www.jref.com/articles/katsu-kaishu.84/

Thanks for the those prepared the original data on the net.

*          *          *          *

This obituary has rather short of concrete facts, however, showing how he was regarded by British Quakers. The name of his wife, Mary Caroline was not shown, but “a daughter of the late Joseph Bevan Braithwaite”.

Staff of Akasaka Hospital at the entrance in 1900's.
photo from 渋沢輝二郎『海舟とホイットニー――ある外国人宣教師の記録』

東京: ティビーエス・ブリタニカ, 1981, p.70.

Charles Lloyd Whitney, born 23 Feb. 1898 at Tokyo
was sitting between Dr & Mrs Whitney

Last updated on 08 Nov. 2017

Akasaka Hospital in 1900

1900年当時の赤坂病院の紹介文。ウィリス院長の手によるものです。

Willis reported about his hospital on General Conference of Protestant Missionaries in Japan, held in Tokyo on 24-31 October, 1900.

The following is from
Proceedings of the General Conference of Protestant Missionaries in Japan

Held in Tokyo October 24-31, 1900, Methodist Publishing House, Tokyo 1901, p.925. 

4. The Akasaka Hospital. 

W. Norton Whitney, M. D., Director. 

     The Akasaka Hospital was begun as a dispensary in 1882, the present building being erected in 1886, in memory of Mrs. A. L. Whitney, by Japanese and foreign contributions. The work is carried on as an independent, interdenominational Christian Medical Mission. Daily clinics for out-patients are held, which are attended by from 1,200 to 2,000 individuals annually, a total number of 7,000 to 8,000 visits. About 100 of these are treated as in-patients.
     All are required to pay as their circumstances permit, those unable to contribute anything being admitted free. The income from the patients amounts to about yen 2,000 a year, and the expenditure yen 3,500. The deficit is made up by donations from Japan, and abroad.
     Reading of the Scriptures, and prayer is conducted daily in the out-patients clinic room, and in the wards; and a Bible woman visits them in their homes.
     The staff consists of 3 physicians, 2 assistants, 5 nurses, 1 Bible woman, and a lady-superintendent.

     During the past year 18 conversions have been recorded. A Gospel Society has been organized to furnish temporary spiritual oversight of those of the patients who  become Christians, or desire to do so. 

Thanks for the those prepared the original data on the net.

*          *          *          *

photos of Akasaka Hospital from Remi 1930/1995

Last updated  06 Nov. 2017

Adelaide Norton Whitney - 1

函館外国人墓地に眠るウィリスの妹、アデレード・ノートン・ホイットニーのお話です。日本語版はこちらからどうぞ

Adelaide N. Whitney
講談社版『クララの明治日記（上）』
カバージャケットより（部分）

If you look for the image of foreigners' cemetery in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan on a search engine, you could find a grave with a low white cross near a hydrangea bush among hundreds of photos, like the following.

Hakodate Foreign Cemetery [click here]

This is the final rest place for Adelaide Norton Lang, née Whitney, younger sister of Willis Norton Whitney.

You might think why the cross has not a good balance - the vertical bar is too short, even as a Greek cross? This mystery was solved when I found a book Hakodate Gaijin Bochi [函館外人墓地, Hakodate Foreigners' Cemetery] written by BABA Osamu, published in 1975.

Mr BABA (1892-1979), a well-known local historian, a dentist, who was born and raised in Hakodate city, compiled the fruits of years of research on buried non-Japanese-persons in Hakodate into a book. This is a great, unprecedented work.

『函館外人墓地』馬場脩 著/図書裡会 1975

  http://search.library.utoronto.ca/details?4036709&uuid=3cbbe878-8f0f-4efa-944f-cbde0a741e49

Addie's gravestone had fell a victim of vandalism, and the cross went missing for a long while. Mr BABA, an Orthodox Christian, found the cross in 1972 and the Anglican Church in Hakodate [Hakodate St. John Church 函館聖ヨハネ教会] restored the grave a few years before the book published.

『函館外人墓地』 p.22 より

ADELAIDE NORTON LANG

THE BELOVED WIFE OF

REV. D. M. LANG, C. M. S.

WHO DIED AT HAKODATE

OCTOBER 1ST 1896

AGED 26 YEARS

“SO HE GIVETH HIS BELOVED SLEEP”

Hakodate St John Church put a metal plate
for Addie, just beside the grave.
Photo taken in 2016.

Mr BABA wrote that “nothing was known about this priest's wife” [p.59], however, I can add something.

Adelaide Norton was born 17 June 1868 at Newark, NJ, as the third and youngest child of Mr & Mrs Whitney. She was 7 years old when her family arrived Japan on August 1875. On 17 January 1893 Addie married a Scottish missionary, Rev. David Marshall Lang (1862-1946) of CMS at St Andrews Church, Tokyo. She passed away just after she delivered her first-born on 1 October 1896, at the age of 28, not 26.

Dr. Whitney's younger sister had married a missionary of the Church Missionary Society, Rev. David M. Lang and they resided at Hakodate. Four years later, and only a week or two after our return from furlough in 1896 the news came to us by telegram that a son was born； but the dear mother had died about two hours after. On hearing this Dr. Whitney immediately started for Hakodate, with a sorrowful heart, and came back five days later bringing the beautiful motherless boy with him for me to take care of. He was with us for six months and then an opportunity offered to send him to Mr. Lang's sister in London, where he was brought up. [ Remi1933, p.55 ]

The son was baptized David Marshall after his father, was grown up in England. He became a medical doctor as his uncle Willis, had a practice at Bath and died on 16 August 1978. His eldest son, born on 6 May 1924 was named also David Marshall Lang, became a professor of Caucasian Studies, University of London.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Marshall_Lang

I felt so happy when I had found Professor Lang's son lives in London  — poor Addie's great-grandson IS alive! What I might tell his family is, the small corner of a foreign field your great-grandmother resting is very beautiful place with a fine view. Her life was short, but was blessed.

The following is her obituary, written by her husband.

Mrs. D. Marshall Lang. 

Adelaide Norton Lang, wife of Rev. D. M. Lang, M. A. of the Church Mission Society, who died at Hakodate, October 1st. 1896, was the daughter of Prof. W. C. Whitney of Newark, New Jersey, U. S. In 1875 (when she was only 6 [sic] years old) her father was invited to found a Commercial College in Japan. Five years later a visit was paid to England, and while there she became interested in the Scripture Union; so on her return she endeavoured to start a branch in Japan. Through the influence of Mr. Tsuda Sen [*1] this was begun, and the number of members rapidly increased until now there are over 11,000 with 460 secretaries and branches in all parts of the Empire. For a while Mrs. Lang was teacher of English in the Peeress' School [*2] in Tokyo, until her marriage in January 1893. Since then first at Osaka, then at Hamada [*3], and lastly at Hakodate, she truly helped the work of her husband for the spread of the Saviour's kingdom in Japan. Whether visiting Kushiro and other outstations with him, or preparing Bible Women for their work and herself holding women's meetings, she was ever labouring for the good of those around her. 

Her long residence in Japan gave her a command of the language rarely attained, which she always used for God's glory. By translating the life of Catherine Tait [*4] and in other ways she also tried to impress upon the mothers of Japan the duty and beauty of a Christian Home. Her death, at a time when a wider sphere of usefulness seemed opening out for her, was a great loss to the work, but her service is only continued in a higher and more perfect sphere for the Master she loved and served below. D. M. L.

— Proceedings of the General Conference of Protestant Missionaries in Japan,  p.703.

[ Notes by the editor ]

*1 TSUDA Sen : 津田仙 1837-1908, a Methodist educator, agriculturist. Father of Miss TSUDA Umeko, founder of Tsuda College [津田塾大学].
*2 Peeress' School in Tokyo : 女子学習院. See History of Gakushuin School. 
*3 Hamada : 石見国浜田町〔現・島根県浜田市〕 Now Hamada City, Shimane.
*4 Catherine Tait : 1819-1878, wife of Archibald Tait (1811-1882), Archbishop of Canterbury (1868-1882).

Rev. D. M. Lang got remarried with his Scotland-born maternal first cousin in 1902 and had another son, who became a school teacher. He continued his missionary work on Hokkaido in Japan with his second wife until 1920. He died in the first day of 1946, aged 83, as a rector of Fillingham, Lincolnshire, England. Incidentally, Rt. Rev. William Cosmo Gordon Lang (1864-1945), Archbishop of Canterbury (1928–1942) was his paternal first cousin.

Images are cut out and processed by the editor.

Thanks for the those prepared the original data on the net.
Images of “Kurihon” stamped were photos taken by me,
for the Japanese edition of my blog.

Last updated 27 November 2016

De Forest's 1898 report on Akasaka Hospital

Here is an ads of Akasaka Hospital, Tokyo, on January 1898.

『基督教名鑑（明治30年11月調査）』 教文館 1899 より

http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/824326/157

The following is an article from October 1898 issue of the Missionary Herald, a monthly magazine containing the proceedings of the American Board [アメリカン・ボード] of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, with notes by the editor.

A Fine Christian Work in Tokyo. 
by Rev. J. H. Deforest, D.D., Sendai [仙台], Japan [*1].

If you should go to the great capital of Japan, Tokyo, you would see, as you ride over the vast city, the Greek cathedral high up on Suruga Dai [駿河台], the Catholic cathedral at the other end of the city [*2], spires of smaller Protestant churches here and there, an occasional Christian school, and frequent sign-boards with Chinese characters on them meaning, “Christian Preaching Place.” These are some of the signs of missionary activity in Tokyo. But these are not all. Among the best pieces of missionary work in the whole East is that of Dr. W. N. Whitney, who belongs to no missionary society, but of whom it can be said that Christianity is his whole business and medicine is his means of carrying it on. 

When I first became acquainted with him, many years ago, he was the interpreter of the United States Legation, where he served through the terms of several ministers, publishing several works, among which is, “A Dictionary of the Principal Roads, Chief Towns, etc., of Japan.” But while carrying on his Legation work he established a Christian hospital near the Legation, in 1886, in memory of his sainted mother. “We endeavor,” he says, “to seek the spiritual good of the patients. Many of them have never heard of the true God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Not a few have, we thankfully believe, responded to the gospel message and have become true Christians. It seems to us that although there is undoubtedly a high standard of native medical skill in Japan, yet there is just as much need for medical mission work here as in London or New York.” 

One would think that the Legation and hospital work would be enough for an ordinary man, but Dr. Whitney is a big man and his manifold work corresponds to his size. He felt that he could do more. So, believing that the early Christians of Japan should be rooted and grounded in Bible truths, he started the Scripture Union Readings [*3] ― a printed schedule of daily readings for the entire year. Strange, is it not, that none of us regular missionaries should have thought of that? Its success is unique, for over 10,000 copies sell annually. Then, in order to make the readings more profitable, he started a monthly magazine in Japanese, with explanations of the daily lessons and other kindred matter, and this magazine has kept up as high a paid circulation as any other Christian periodical in Japan. 

Many times the question came up as to what his life work should be. Legation interpreter is a pretty sure berth, being a permanent appointment, with fair salary and good social position. But, with his medical education, he decided to leave official life and support his family and carry on his work by his medical practice. 

It is astonishing how many lines of work a Christian man with organizing power can evolve and carry out. Riding all day in the cars once to Sendai, he loaded his pockets with tracts and Bibles, and made it a point to see every station master and give him some Christian reading. Then he started the Railroad Mission. Miss Gillett [*4], from England, has come to assist in this branch. One of the pastors of the Presbyterian church [*5] has long been the superintendent of this work. Station masters, guards of trains, and other employees are being reached. He has added another Japanese monthly magazine to his work for this class of people, and it costs subscribers only twenty-four cents a year, and there are about six hundred subscribers. 

But the Doctor always seems to have room for one more endeavor in his heart. So he started another Christian magazine, this time for the police. I saw a report of this movement the other day which says there are over one hundred Christian policemen in Tokyo! A lady missionary who has recently come to Tokyo was called upon by one of these policemen. She was somewhat alarmed at an official call, lest she should have unwittingly violated some regulation. But her fears vanished when the policeman told her that he, too, was a Christian, and kneeled down with his sword by his side to ask God's protection on that home. 

Willis is at back row, second from the left.
Woman in the front row, far right, Miss Jessie Harrison

By this time it will not surprise you to know that the Doctor runs a Post and Telegraph Mission [*6] also, and all his work goes on in faith that God, who has put these things in his heart, will provide all necessary means. Friends in England and America who have seen his work, or learned about it through friends (for the Doctor is a kind of Quaker [*7]), assist to some extent, and Christian people, regardless of their shade of Christianity, gladly make occasional offerings; yet it pained the Doctor, at the beginning of this year, to have to cut off, from lack of funds, a gift of 1,500 copies of his Scripture Union Readings to the great prisons of Hokkaido, where a most interesting work of grace has been going on for several years.  

This is enough to introduce the man to you who may see this meager sketch. When you come to Tokyo, be' sure and call on Dr. W. N. Whitney, at the Akasaka Hospital. He may not be in, but you could leave your card and any filthy lucre you might have in your pockets. 

Dr. Pettee [*8] of Japan adds an incident connected with Dr. Whitney's hospital, where about a year ago he met among the patients a sweet little Chinese girl perhaps thirteen years of age. As she understood almost no Japanese and still less English, it was very difficult for the doctors and nurses to show all her the kind attention they desired to show. One day a missionary, a true-hearted Christian Englishwoman, was sitting by the child's bedside holding her hand and bathing her head. It occurred to the lady to sing to the patient little sufferer one of whose feet had just been amputated. Her first or second venture was “Jesus loves me. This I know. [主われを愛す]” What was her surprise to see the girl start up in bed, express great pleasure and join with her in singing in broken English that old-time children's favorite. On making inquiry of her Chinese friends at the legation, it was learned that she had attended for a short time, some years before, a Christian Sunday school in China, where she had been taught this hymn in English. A more delighted girl it would be difficult to find anywhere.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.ah6n9k;view=1up;seq=485

[ Notes ]
*1 Rev. J. H. Deforest : Rev. John Kinne Hyde De Forest [Rev. J. H. De Forest], D.D, (1844-1911) デフォレスト. born in Westbrook, Connecticut. He entered Yale College as John Kinne Hyde. Receiving the DeForest Scholarship, added DeForest to his name. American Board missionary, came to Japan 1874 with Joseph Neesima [新島襄], worked mainly in Sendai, Miyagi and rests in Sendai. His daughter Miss Charlotte Burgio Deforest (1879-1973) was the fifth president of Kobe College [神戸女学院], Hyogo, Japan.

His name sometimes written as Rev. J. H. Forest, or Deforest. On official papers, John Hyde De Forest or John Hyde DeForest. About his life, See History of the Class of 1868, Yale College, pp.110-18.

*2 the Greek cathedral : Holy Resurrection Cathedral, generally known as “Nikolai Do (ニコライ堂)”, built in 1891 by Bishop Nikolai (1836-1912) of Russian Orthodox Church. It is still one of the greatest cathedral in Japan. The Catholic cathedral was built in 1878, located in Tukiji [築地] then.

*3 Scripture Union Readings : About Scripture Union of Japan [聖書之友], See : 
1894: Annual Report of the American Bible Society, pp.163-65.
1898: 聖書之友 基督教名鑑 明治30年調査 広告
1900: Proceedings of the General Conference of Protestant Missionaries in Japan, p.924.
1909: The Christian Movement in Japan, pp.342-43.
1910: World Missionary Conference, Vol.3, pp.158-59.

*4 Miss Gillett : Elizabeth Rachel Gillett (1865-1954), ジレット, ギレット, the superintendent of Railway Mission (鉄道ミッション, not Railroad Mission), was a first cousin of Mary Caroline Whitney, whose mother was from Gillett family of Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. The fourth son of Willis and Mary C. born in 1890 named George Gillett. Miss E. R. Gillett arrived Japan by the same ship with the Whitney family and Miss Jessie Harrison (later Bible woman at Akasaka Hospital) on June 1896. About Railway Mission, See Proceedings of the General Conference of Protestant Missionaries in Japan, p.925.

*5 One of the pastors of the Presbyterian church : Unknown. Mr Akiyama Yoshigoro 秋山由五郎 (1865-1948) was likely, however, he was not a pastor nor Presbyterian.

*6 Post and Telegraph Mission : Correctly Postal and Telegraph Mission. See Proceedings of the General Conference of Protestant Missionaries in Japan,  p.925.

*7 a kind of Quaker : Mary Caroline Whitney, née Braithwaite was born in a notable English Quaker family, and Willis actually became a member of the Baltimore Yearly Meeting on December 1889, also Mary C. transferred on April 1890.  He was a genuine Quaker at the time.

*8 Rev. James Horace Pettee [Rev. James H. Pettee], D.D, (1851-1920) ペティ. American Board missionary, born in Hampshire, came to Japan 1878, worked mainly in Okayama [岡山]. 

Images are cut out and processed by the editor.

Thanks for the those prepared the original data on the net.

Last updated 18 November 2016,
edited 12 November 2016

Dr. William Russell Watson - 2

There is a report of medical missions in Japan Christian Year Book 1917. At the part of General Hospitals, St. Barnabas', St Luke's, Akasaka and Salvation Army Hospital are coming up. Among those four hospitals, three of them are still working for Japanese people. Sadly, Akasaka is no more.

The Akasaka Hospital, Tokyo. This hospital was founded by Dr. W. N. Whitney in memory of his mother, who was a missionary in Japan from 1872-1883. In 1886 a small beginning was made with but two rooms, the success of the work was assured from the very first, and the hospital has been enlarged several times since. Paying patients can be received into the hospital, first, second and third class. So far as funds permit those unable to pay are treated free of charge. Dr. W. R. Watson, F.R.C.S. of Dublin, has been in charge since the return home of Dr. Whitney. Though the hospital is under the control of an interdenominational committee in Japan, the Society of Friends in Britain and Japan is very much interested in the financial and general management of the work. This hospital has been singularly blessed in the spiritual work that is carried on in it, and a Japanese evangelist as well as a bible woman give their whole time to this side of the work. [p.258]

“the Society of Friends in Britain and Japan” mentioned.

What was Dr. Watson like? There is more information at the Field Reports of The 1913 Minutes, Baltimore Yearly Meeting of Friends. Yes, Quakers of Baltimore (Maryland, USA) supported the Hospital.  He was reported as:

Japan. ―  A contribution of $150.00 was again sent to the work of the Tokio Hospital. Although Dr. and Mrs. Whitney have been unable to return to Japan, the out-patient department has been faithfully conducted by the Japanese. In August an Irish Friend, Dr. William Watson, who has spent a year in Medical Mission Work in London since taking his doctor's degree, was sent out to assume responsibility for this work. He is quiet and earnest, and possessing a most attractive personality; he has already proved himself a successful soul-winner, we may count it a privilege to have a share in his financial support.

The future policy as outlined by the London Committee is to use the hospital to fight Japan's great curse of tuberculosis, and to co-operate more and more in this with the Philadelphia Friends' Mission, which has undertaken to carry on a seaside sanitarium for incipient tubercular cases. With such an earnest, well-equipped physician at the head as Dr. Watson, and such a successful Bible woman as Mrs. Mori, we may well believe that the Akasaka Hospital has a beautiful future of Christ-like Work before it. [ Minus of BYM, 1913, pp.18-19]

Well, “quiet and earnest, and possessing a most attractive personality...”

That may be rather too much praise. This report tells that he had worked as a medical missionary in London before he came to Japan.

[ His resignation ]

Now let's see the time when he resigned as the director of the hospital.

It could be before January 1919, because an ad of the 1918 Christian Year Book in Japan (基督教年鑑 大正７年版) contains no name of Watson, but only acting director Dr. KOGA. [ see this page ]. This edition was printed in 20 January 1919. Thus, he probably resigned in 1918.

In Japan Christian Year Book 1919 Dr. & Mrs. Watson's address was Akasaka Hospital, and they are independent missionaries, but they are absent. The UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 tells that Mr and Mrs Watson left Japan in 1919 with their daughter, and reached Liverpool by way of Montreal, Canada, on 1 June 1919, about seven months after the great war ended. 

While a year book of 1920 still his name was within the hospital, Directory 1920 shows Watson returned to Japan, but had connection with the Akasaka Hospital no more. Seeing that he had a telephone installed, he must have practiced medicine. 

Church Missionary Society Archive holds a letter of “
Watson, Dr William R: Hangchow, China, Nov 1921” (see this page). He went to China as a CMS missionary. He  transferred to Church of England, of his wife had belonged.

The following image is the last one  I've found on Directory 1922. Yes, he was at Hangchow Hospital with his wife. (Hangzhou 杭州/中国浙江省の省都; 廣濟醫院、広済医院、広済病院)

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b581044;view=1up;seq=980

According to the obituary of him, he was back to Japan about 1922. Unfortunately, I've not found his name on after 1920 edition of Japan Christian Year Book, except his obituary in 1934.

The 1931 edition of Medical Register informs that:

Watson, William Russell : 16, Zion road, Rathgar, Dublin [here]

1910, May 10, I

M.B., B.Ch.1910, M.D.1919, U. Dubl.; F.R.C.S. Irel.,1913 

*   *   *   *

I've found Mrs Watson's obituary in the 1965 edition of Japan Christian Year Book (p.632), under Matson surname mistakenly.  She died in 1962.

MATSON, MRS. W., (nee Miss Pat Reeves), Church Missionary Society, died May 17, 1962. In Japan: 1914-1916. In China 1921-1922. She was late president of the Irish C.E. 2 M.S.              2 Yrs. 

This notice tells that Pat Watson resigned the CMS when she married Dr. Watson. Her missionary years in Japan was only two years. Their work in Chine also lasted two years.

Images are cut out and processed by the editor.

Thanks for the those prepared the original data on the net.

Last updated 13 November 2016,
edited 21 July 2015