Gilbert Reid was an American missionary to China, editor, and author.
Background
Gilbert Reid was born on November 29, 1857 in Laurel, Long Island, New York, the son of John and Ann Elizabeth (Lawrence) Reid. His father was a Scotch Presbyterian minister whose rigid orthodoxy was tempered by appreciation of honest quest for truth.
Education
He graduated from Hamilton College in 1879, and from Union Theological Seminary in 1882.
Career
During his seminary course he supplied various churches, and on May 7, 1882, he was ordained by the Presbytery of New York. In the fall of that year he sailed as a missionary to China. On the mission field the independence of his methods was soon evident. Three years at Chefoo and seven years at Tsinan revealed the direction of his interests.
Chinese scholar-officials and the Chinese religious background fascinated him. Differences of opinion arising between Reid and the leaders of his mission, he returned to the United States in 1892 and advocated before the missionary board an intellectual approach to the Chinese literati.
The board feared that emphasis on such a method would compromise the uniqueness of the Christian claim, and after two years Reid presented his resignation and started back to China as an independent missionary. He continued to have cordial relations with the board's representatives, however; and though later some of his acts were criticized as "wrong-headed, " there was never question of his Christian spirit and his outstanding ability.
Until the Boxer uprising in 1900, Reid knew the exhilaration of a rising tide of success.
During the war between Japan and China he became correspondent of the London Times, a connection which gave him access to the highest officials, and opened the way for his launching of the International Institute of China. The purpose of the Institute was to promote the welfare of China by enlightenment of the influential classes, by cultivation of harmony among nations, and by fostering a spirit of mutual appreciation in adherents of different religions.
The Chinese government gave it official sanction in 1897, in 1909, and in 1914. Reid, who had matured into a man of striking personality, became director-in-chief. During 1897 and 1898 he traveled in the United States and Europe and awakened substantial interest in the enterprise.
As resources increased, property was acquired for the Institute, a library and a museum were opened, publications were issued, and an open forum was maintained. The Institute was essentially an instrument for the promotion of peace; wars wellnigh wrecked it.
Reid and his wife were confined in Peking during the Boxer siege, and Reid himself was wounded. Again he undertook newspaper correspondence, this time for the London Morning Post. He was also appointed interpreter for the British legation. In 1903 the Institute was moved to Shanghai, and for several years was in a thriving condition; but the Director's fear of the devastations of revolution brought him into disfavor with the Chinese revolutionary party of 1911.
Severe reverses occurred during the World War. Reid engaged in public discussion by contributions to various newspapers, and in 1917 became proprietor and editor of the Peking Post. By June he had been summoned before the consular authorities because of criticisms of the American government. He apologized, and the matter was dropped; but since he was stoutly opposed to China's entering the war, his daily editorials exposed him to attack by the Allies generally. The paper was suppressed by the Chinese police, and on his attempt to use other channels for publicity, the Chinese government requested his deportation for the duration of the war. This action was taken by the United States consular court on December 19, 1917.
After several months in the Philippines, he returned to the United States and used his enforced leisure to prepare two books, both of which were published in 1921. The first - China, Captive or Free? - was a brief for the position he had held in 1917, and revealed his fundamental desire for the good of China; the secon - A Christian's Appreciation of Other Faiths - contained an effective presentation of his religious position and of his attitude toward missions.
In 1921 he courageously returned to China, and, aided by his wife and son and daughter, strove to rehabilitate the discredited Institute. There were glimmerings of encouragement. China was plunged in warfare, however, and Reid's health had become enfeebled. He died in Shanghai, shortly after the thirty-third anniversary of the founding of the Institute.
Achievements
Personality
He was a tall, angular youth, self reliant and intellectually eager.
Connections
In 1897 he was married, in Columbia, South Carolina, to Sallie B. Reynolds, who had been a Methodist missionary in Shanghai. They had a son and a daughter.