Maria Jane Taylor - Life in Ningbo

Life in Ningbo

In 1853, aged 16, Maria traveled to China with her sister, Burella, and they lived and worked at a school for girls in Ningbo which was run by one of the first female missionaries to the Chinese, Mary Ann Aldersey, an old friend of their mother. It was there that she met and in 1858, married Hudson Taylor, despite Aldersey's complete opposition.

Maria Taylor was better educated than her husband and from a different social background. Having spoken the Ningbo dialect fluently for several years, she was immediately able to start a small primary school. As a married couple the Taylors also took care of an adopted boy named Tianxi in Ningbo in addition to five Chinese boys that Taylor was helping. They had a baby of their own that died late in 1858. Their first surviving child, Grace Dyer Taylor, was born in 1859. Shortly after she was born, the Taylors took over all of the operations at the hospital in Ningbo that had been run by Dr. William Parker. In addition to this they cared for a young Chinese girl named Ensing and five other Chinese boys.

In 1860 the Taylors went to England so that Hudson could regain his health. But for Maria, China was still her home.

Their second child, a son, Herbert Hudson Taylor, was born in London in 1861. More children were born to the Taylors: Frederick Howard Taylor, 1862; Samuel Dyer Taylor, 1864; and Jane Dyer Taylor, 1865 (died at birth).

In London, Maria helped Hudson to write China's Spiritual Need and Claims, which had an enormous impact on Christian missions in the 19th Century.