Thomas Cochrane (doctor)

Thomas Cochrane M.B. C.M (1866–1953) was a Scottish medical missionary. He is notable for founding the first school to teach western medicine to Chinese trainee doctors, and for his influential London-based campaigns to promote missionary work.

Early life

Cochrane was brought up in Greenock, Scotland.^[1] In 1882, he was inspired to become a missionary after listening to the evangelical preacher Dwight L. Moody.^[2] He trained to be a doctor at the University of Glasgow, and in 1897 traveled to China with the London Missionary Society.^[3]

Work in China

Cochrane arrived in Chaoyang hospital, Mongolia when the country was in the throes of the Boxer Rebellion.^[4] Braving threats from bandits, he traveled from village to village in an ox cart dispensing medical aid. Mr and Mrs Liddell, the parents of the famous runner Eric Liddell the famous, were also there at the time.^[5] In 1900, he moved to Beijing to restore the hospital which had been almost totally demolished.^[6] Cochrane succeeded in obtaining royal support for his work after he healed the Empress Dowager Cixi's chief eunuch and her chief lady-in-waiting.^[7] He decided to establish the hospital as a training hospital so as to educate Chinese doctors in the western style of medicine. With the support of the Empress and other missionary bodies he founded the Peking Union Medical College.^[8] To support the students at the College, Cochrane translated in to Mandarin western medical books such as Heath’s Anatomy (1909) and Heath’s Osteology (1910). In 1916, the hospital was transferred to the Rockefeller Institute.^[9]

Campaigns to promote missionary work

Cochrane believed that missionary work should be co-ordinated, organised and well supplied. In 1913, the Christian Literature Society of China published his Survey of the Missionary Occupation of China with an accompanying atlas showing missionary activities in the provinces of China. The work called for trained personnel, medical equipment, and supplies. After he returned to England in 1915, he continued to encourage the gathering and promotion of knowledge on the state of missionary work and needs across the world. He founded the Mildmay Movement for World Evangelisation, based in the Mildmay Centre, next to the Mildmay Mission Hospital (a separate and older organisation) in Islington, London.^[10] In 1924, together with like minded trustees, businessman Sidney J. W. Clark and Roland Allen, he set up the Survey Application Trust, an organisation to promote missionary work through publications.^[11] He served as the editor of the publication World Dominion.^[12] In 1949, he founded the publication The World Christian Handbook.^[13] His campaigning though his publications and the missionary conferences held at the Mildmay Centre were an inspiration to many at the time to fund and participate in missionary activities.^[14]

Personal life

Cochrane was married twice. He had three sons by his first wife. After she died in 1930, he married again and gained six stepdaughters. He died in Pinner, Middlesex in 1953.

Notes

^ see F.French, p.16
^ See F. French p.18-19
^ See F. French p.22-25
^ See F. French, p.47-52
^ See F. French p.50
^ See F. French p.55
^ See F. French p.64-67
^ See F.French pp.68-78
^ See F. French p. 82
^ See F. French pp.87-92
^ See F. French p. 94
^ See F. French p.96
^ See F. French p.114
^ Oral history: personal recollections of John Haddon Martin, and S. King p.5-7

References

Francesca French, Thomas Cochrane: Pioneer and Missionary Statesman, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1956.
"Obituary: Dr T. Cochrane, Medical Missionary in China", The Times, Thursday, December 10, 1953, pg. 10, Issue 52801, col E.
George A. Hood, Thomas Cochrane, 1856-1953, in: Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity, bdcconline.net. Accessed 30 July 2010.
Practical anatomy : a manual of dissections / [by Christopher Heath]; translated by Thomas Cochrane and E. T. Hsieh. 1911. (9th ed. / edited by J. Ernest Lane.) Shanghai: China Medical Missionary Association, 1911.

External links

[1] see F.French, p.16

[2] See F. French p.18-19

[3] See F. French p.22-25

[4] See F. French, p.47-52

[5] See F. French p.50

[6] See F. French p.55

[7] See F. French p.64-67

[8] See F.French pp.68-78

[9] See F. French p. 82

[10] See F. French pp.87-92

[11] See F. French p. 94

[12] See F. French p.96

[13] See F. French p.114

[14] Oral history: personal recollections of John Haddon Martin, and S. King p.5-7

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v t e Protestant missions to China
Background	Protestantism in China Protestantism in Sichuan Chinese history Missions timeline Christianity in China Nestorians Jesuits Protestant missions in China 1807–1953
People	David Howard Adeney Mary Ann Aldersey Roland Allen Thomas J. Arnold Gladys Aylward Joseph Beech John Birch William Jones Boone Pearl S. Buck John Burdon Thomas Cochrane Hunter Corbett Jonathan Goforth Frederick Graves Karl Gützlaff Francis Hanson Laura Askew Haygood Elizabeth G. K. Hewat Jennie V. Hughes Robert A. Jaffray Carl C. Jeremiassen Griffith John Walter Judd James Legge Eric Liddell Robert Samuel Maclay Lottie Moon Robert Morrison George Moule Gideon Nye David Paton Karl Ludvig Reichelt Timothy Richard Issachar Jacox Roberts Charles Scott Cambridge Seven George Smith Vincent John Stanton John and Betty Stam John Leighton Stuart Elwood Gardner Tewksbury Hudson Taylor Thomas Torrance William C. White (more missionaries)
Missionary agencies	American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions American Methodist Episcopal Mission Canadian Methodist Mission China Inland Mission Church Mission Society London Missionary Society National Christian Council US Presbyterian Mission Protestant Episcopal Church Mission List of Protestant missionary societies in China (1807–1953)
Colleges and universities	United Board University of Shanghai Cheeloo University Ginling College University of Nanking Soochow University Yenching University St. John's University Hangchow University Fukien Christian University Lingnan University College of Yale-in-China Huachung University West China Union University Peking Union Medical College Methodist Episcopal Church Hwa Nan College English Presbyterian Mission Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui Oberlin Shansi Memorial Association Reformed Church in the United States
Impact	Bible translations into Chinese Medical missions in China Manchurian revival Chinese Christian colleges Chinese hymnody Chinese Roman Type Minnan Roman Type Foochow Roman Type Anti-footbinding Anti-opium
Pivotal events	Taiping Rebellion First Opium War Second Opium War Unequal treaty Yangzhou riot Tianjin Massacre Kucheng Massacre Boxer Crisis 1911 Revolution Chinese Civil War Second Sino-Japanese War People's Republic
Publications	The Chinese Repository Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal The Christian Occupation of China Journal of the West China Border Research Society The West China Missionary News

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