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』
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
was sitting between Dr & Mrs Whitney
Last updated on 08 Nov. 2017
