Boxer Rebellion Losses at Green Lanes

Image ©Hugh Flouch

Having discovered what is apparently England's oldest surviving terrace of houses on Newington Green, I was hungry for more historical goodies. 

The Green seems like a fascinating little area with a wonderful history of being the home of dissent in and after the 17th Century. Here's how Wikipedia characterises the Green:

The area became the home of English Dissenters during the 17th century. Following the religious upheavals after the Restoration, some Protestants chose to remain in England and maintain their faith openly, but they had to live with the restrictions the state placed upon them. They moved to places tolerant of them; often they set up educational establishments, known in general as dissenting academies, which were intellectually and morally more rigorous than the universities. One such place was Newington Green, then still an agricultural village, but conveniently near London.

Oliver Cromwell's family had links there: his great-granddaughter Mary was born at the Green on 11 April 1691. A critical mass of "dissident intellectuals, pedagogues with reforming ideas and Dissenters" and "the well-to-do edge of radical Protestantism" clustered around Newington Green, and other villages nearby such as Stoke Newington and Hackney. Not all of these free-thinkers were Unitarians: other notables include the Quaker physician John Coakley Lettsome and the Anglican pacifist Vicesimus Knox.

One such academy was set up on north of the Green, run by Charles Morton. One of the academy's students was Daniel Defoe, the writer, journalist and spy famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Another pupil was the controversial poet Samuel Wesley, father of John Wesley, the great religious leader. A later schoolmaster was the Rev. James Burgh, author of The Dignity of Human Nature and Thoughts on Education, who opened his Dissenting Academy on the green in 1750 and sent his pupils to the church there.

Apparently in part as a result of this critical mass, the China Inland Mission chose the Green as its home in the late 19th Century. The organisation was set up in 1865 to spread Christianity in China. The founder was convinced that Chinese clothing should be worn when engaged in missionary work in inland China (Hmmm!).

Missionaries in local dress - why you'd never know they weren't Chinese!

This nod to local custom seems to have done litttle to protect the Mission's fieldworkers during the Boxer Rebellion however. More from Wikipedia:

In 1900, attacks took place across China in connection with the Boxer Rebellion which targeted Christians and foreigners. The China Inland Mission lost more members than any other agency: 58 adults and 21 children were killed. However, in 1901, when the allied nations were demanding compensation from the Chinese government, the mission refused to accept payment for loss of property or life in order to demonstrate the meekness of Christ to the Chinese.

Today, the imposing building remains and the mission's name is still there above the archway, but the changshan and moustaches are long gone. in 2015 it is a student hostel.

Next time you pass, a wee kowtow to times past wouldn't be inappropriate.