The Story of Adam Davidson of Hillsborough

During the Second Opium War (1856-1860) Adam Davidson, a 24-year-old Methodist from County Down in Ireland, was a Corporal in the 12th Brigade of the Royal Artillery. He was appalled by the British behaviour in China, the slaughter engendered solely by commercial interests; he found the Chinese people friendly and could not see them as an enemy. Deeply upset by the notorious sacking of the Imperial Summer Palace in 1860, he refused to take any part in the looting by the British Army. He later recounted that it was while on sentry duty on the walls of Beijing (Peking), with the ruins of the Palace still smoking in the distance, that he began to wonder how he could reconcile such actions with his Christianity. This led him to pacifism, and after his return to Ireland his pacifism drew him to join the Society of Friends in 1865 as a member of Lisburn Meeting.

The photograph shows the China Military Medal presented to Adam Davidson, recording his service in 'Canton 1857, Taku Forts 1860, Pekin 1860' [mus. acc. 193]

Adam Davidson never returned to China himself, but he passed on to his family his love of the place and its people. It was his heartfelt desire that his sons should go to China to make recompense for the wrong which he felt he had done. The first to go was his son Robert, followed by three other sons, Alfred, Warburton and Henry. Shortly after Robert offered his services as a missionary Adam fell seriously ill, and Robert volunteered to stay home to look after his younger brothers. His father told him "You must not stay. Go to China and as you meet the Chinese tell them you come with the Bible and not with a gun as I mistakenly did." Adam died on 5th April, 1885. In September 1886 Robert Davidson and his wife Mary Jane left for China. The couple were the pioneer Quaker missionaries in West China; joined later by others they were to found schools and a hospital and lay the foundation for the Sichuan (Szechwan) Yearly Meeting.

The Davidson brothers are in the back row with their wives. Robert second from the left, Warburton fourth from the left, Alfred sixth from the left, and Henry eighth from the left

The Mission to China (continued)