Samuel Dyer
Encyclopedia
Samuel Dyer 台約爾 (20 February 1804 – 24 October 1843), was a British
Protestant Christian
missionary
to China
in the Congregationalist tradition
, who worked among the Chinese in Malaysia. He arrived in Penang
in 1827. Dyer, his wife Maria, and their family lived in Malacca
and then finally in Singapore
. He was known as a typographer for creating a steel typeface
of Chinese characters for printing
to replace traditional wood blocks. Dyer's type was accurate, aesthetically pleasing, durable and practical.
to John Dyer and Eliza (Seager). He was the fifth of the eight Dyer children. His father was a secretary of the Royal Hospital for Seaman, and later became Chief clerk of the Admiralty
in 1820. John was also an acquaintance of Robert Morrison, who was soon to become the first Protestant missionary to China, a connection that would have enormous implications in the life of his son, Samuel. Morrison and his Chinese tutor Yong Sam-tek visited the Dyer home in Greenwich during Morrison’s period of study in medicine and astronomy between 1805-1806.
Dyer was schooled at home until he was 12, and then educated in a boarding school at Woolwich
, in south east London from 1816, superintended by the Rev. John Bickerdike, a minister with the English Dissenters
.
In 1820 He experienced a conversion to Christ at Thomas Wilson's
Paddington Chapel, in Paddington
, Northwest London, under ministry of the Rev. James Stratten and soon Dyer began teaching Sunday school there. In 1822 he was formally admitted into membership.
Dyer later wrote about his time, there:
He studied law
and mathematics
at Trinity Hall, Cambridge
, but in 1823 he withdrew from University in his fifth term, refusing for conscience sake to declare himself a member of Church of England
in order to graduate
. While studying law, he read a pamphlet from his father’s study, the ‘’Memoir of Mrs. Charles Mead of the London Missionary Society in Tranvancore, Kerala, India’’, which afterwards turned his thoughts to missionary service that would occupy the rest of his life. The pamphlet consisted of sermon preached at Mrs. Mead’s funeral, ‘’All for Christ and the Good of Souls’’, the text of which is taken from Rev. 12:11, “and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
In ‘’A Sketch of Mr. Dyer’s Life and Character’’, his wife Maria would later write, “The reading of the pamphlet, “Memoir of Mrs. Mead” so powerfully impressed his mind with the importance of consecrating himself to missionary work, that when he began to study again, on Monday morning, he found he could not proceed; and every time he read this Memoir it had the same effect: so that at last he determined to give up the Bar, and devote himself to the work of Christ among the heathen.”
Dyer soon had opportunity to study the Chinese
under Robert Morrison, who had returned on furlough. It was there that he met two aspiring female missionaries Mary Ann Aldersey
(the first female missionary to China), and Maria Tarn
, whom he later married.
In 1824 Dyer applied to the London Missionary Society
. Then he joined the LMS seminary at Gosport
, Hampshire
to study theology under Dr. David Bogue
. His health began to suffer because of his intense regimen of study at Gosport, walking long distances to preach in villages on Sunday, and his habits of self-denial. He travelled to Islington
to recuperate, study theology, Chinese and the art of printing, punchcutting
and type-founding .
Dyer also studied under John Pye Smith at Homerton
. Smith combined missionary, philological, and scientific interests.
Dyer then entered the London Missionary Society training center at Hoxton
where his chief attention was given to the Chinese language, reading the Chinese Bible for devotions. In 1827 Samuel Dyer was ordained at Paddington Chapel where he preached, taught and was commissioned as a missionary of the Gospel.
He was married to Maria Tarn, eldest daughter of Joseph Tarn, Director of London Missionary Society, in London in 1827 and shortly afterward the newly wed couple set sail for what was then considered "Ultra-Ganges" India
with the Ultra-Ganges Mission, where the only way to live and work among native Chinese could be obtained. Now it is in an area of Malaysia. It was also known as the "British Straits Settlement". Dyer had been ordained and commissioned on 20 February 1827 at Paddington Chapel, London.
The inscription in remembrance of Samuel Dyer at Paddington Chapel read:
Samuel and Maria had five children while overseas. Maria Dyer (born and died at Penang 1829-1831), Samuel Dyer, Jr. (born at Penang 1833-1898), Burella Hunter Dyer (born at Penang, died in Shanghai
1835-1858), Maria Jane Dyer
(born at Malacca, died at Zhenjiang
1837-1870), and Ebenezer Dyer (born and died at Singapore 1842-aft. Oct. 1843)
Samuel Dyer and his wife left England on 10 March 1827 and they arrived at Penang, in the Straits of Malacca on 8 August 1827. The Dyers were to have gone on to Anglo-Chinese College
in Malacca but a lack of workers lead them to stay in Penang and settle in Chinese sector of town. They both began studying the Min nan
Dialect (Hokkien) spoken by the local population.
After gaining some knowledge of the language, Dyer faced the challenge of producing movable metallic types
for the thousands of Chinese characters. He started with a systematic analysis of characters and strokes. At first, using wood reliefs to create the clay molds from which type
could be cast, he soon moved to steel punches and copper matrixes
. Dyer's linguistic abilities, meticulous planning, and painstaking attention to detail resulted in Chinese fonts of high quality. They were later passed on to the American Presbyterian Mission
Press
in China and played a significant part in its development.
Maria opened school for girls with 23 students, but she was forced to close it later in the year. By 1828 Samuel was preaching in Chinese only 5 months after their arrival. He grew committed to the production of Christian literature in Chinese, printing Bibles, tracts, and books with the moveable, metal-cast type with a controlled vocabulary that he developed.
In 1829 they had their first daughter, named Maria who died about two years later. The same year, in 1831, Samuel visited Malacca, the headquarters of the London Missionary Society’s Chinese ministries.
In 1833 the childless Dyers had a boy named Samuel. About this same time some in the Chinese community requested a school. During this period Samuel was hard at work on a revision of the translation of Matthew’s Gospel in Chinese. The amount of work that still was left to be done prompted him to write to England in the following year, appealing for more workers to be sent out. Robert Morrison died at Guangzhou
in 1834.
1835 brought another daughter, Burella Hunter to the Dyer family at Penang. Samuel then took his family to Malacca to join the London Missionary Society China Mission headquarters. The Dyers established 2 schools with the curriculum including: reading, writing, sewing
and embroidery
. There Samuel worked with Liang Fa
(who had been baptized by William Milne in 1819).
Dyer soon recognized the strategic importance of his metal-type printing and proceeded with the revision of the Chinese Bible at Malacca .
Another daughter, Maria Jane Dyer was born in 1837 at Malacca.
On 19 September 1839 the Dyer family arrived in England. Maria, his wife was ill with what was thought to be a liver problem. The Dyers remained in England until 1841 when they left again for the Ultra-Ganges Mission, this time to Singapore. A single woman named Buckland accompanied them and helped Maria with the three children. They arrived in Singapore in 1842 and rented the mission-house of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
, there.
Samuel began work with John Stronach
of the LMS and learning (Chaozhou
) Teochew dialect. He also worked on a revision of the Chinese Bible,, translations, preparation of books, type-casting, printing , and compiled a comparative vocabulary of Chinese language .
Dyer printed ‘’Two Friends’’ by William Milne, a ‘’Commentary on 10 Commandments’’ by Walter Henry Medhurst
, and the ‘’Miracles of Christ’’. He also helped Chaozhou, a Christian teacher compile the ‘’Life of Christ’’.
During this busy period, Dyer conducted religious services through the week, visited house-to-house, preached in the bazaars; and visited Chinese junk (ship)
s in the harbor to reach the Chinese there with the gospel message.
Maria established a Chinese Girls’ Boarding School with 20 students in their home (at the presnt-day site of Raffles Hotel
, the school later became called St. Margaret's Primary School
).
Dyer moved the LMS press from Malacca to Singapore on James Legge
’s suggestion before the end of 1842.
1842 brought another son, Ebenezer Dyer.
The Treaty of Nanking
was signed, raising hopes that missionary work could soon begin in mainland China.
Dyer preached the first sermon at the Malay Chapel in Prinsep Street
opened by Benjamin Peach Keasberry in 1843. That summer he left with John Stronach for the LMS conference in Hong Kong. His family would never see him again.
, Fujian
to open missionary work there.
Samuel visited Guangzhou
where he had a severe attack of fever and was cared for by Peter Parker, M.D.. He was taken to Macau and died in there on 21 October 1843 before being able to live in China itself at his newly assigned designation of Fuzhou
. This was the same outbreak that took the life of Robert Morrison's son, John Robert Morrison
at Guangzhou.
Dyer was buried next to the graves of Robert and Mary Morrison at the Old Protestant Cemetery in Macau
.
Dyer had once written: Maria Dyer died only three years later at Penang, leaving 3 orphaned children in the care of her second husband, Johann Georg Bausum. Fellow missionary to Penang, Evan Davies
, wrote a memoir of Samuel Dyer and a volume of Samuel's letters to his children in 1846.
The Chinese Repository
recorded his obituary and mentioned that,
The type that came to be known as Dyer's Penang font became the standard in Chinese printing until the 1850s when it was replaced by William Gamble's font in 1859.
All three of the Dyers' surviving children became involved in work to spread the Gospel
in China, fulfilling their father's prayers. The Dyers' daughters, returned to China as teenagers and worked with Mary Ann Aldersey
at her school for Chinese girls in Ningbo
, Zhejiang
. Maria Jane Dyer
eventually married James Hudson Taylor, who went on to found the China Inland Mission
. She had a strong influence in the beginnings of that agency. Burella Dyer had married a year earlier to John Shaw Burdon
, but had died in Shanghai very soon after they were married. Samuel Dyer, Junior succeeded Alexander Wylie with the British and Foreign Bible Society
as their agent in China in the 1870s.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Protestant Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
in the Congregationalist tradition
Congregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
, who worked among the Chinese in Malaysia. He arrived in Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
in 1827. Dyer, his wife Maria, and their family lived in Malacca
Malacca
Malacca , dubbed The Historic State or Negeri Bersejarah among locals) is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south...
and then finally in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. He was known as a typographer for creating a steel typeface
Typeface
In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
of Chinese characters for printing
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
to replace traditional wood blocks. Dyer's type was accurate, aesthetically pleasing, durable and practical.
Life in England
Samuel Dyer was born at the Royal Greenwich Hospital (London), EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to John Dyer and Eliza (Seager). He was the fifth of the eight Dyer children. His father was a secretary of the Royal Hospital for Seaman, and later became Chief clerk of the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
in 1820. John was also an acquaintance of Robert Morrison, who was soon to become the first Protestant missionary to China, a connection that would have enormous implications in the life of his son, Samuel. Morrison and his Chinese tutor Yong Sam-tek visited the Dyer home in Greenwich during Morrison’s period of study in medicine and astronomy between 1805-1806.
Dyer was schooled at home until he was 12, and then educated in a boarding school at Woolwich
Woolwich
Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...
, in south east London from 1816, superintended by the Rev. John Bickerdike, a minister with the English Dissenters
English Dissenters
English Dissenters were Christians who separated from the Church of England in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.They originally agitated for a wide reaching Protestant Reformation of the Established Church, and triumphed briefly under Oliver Cromwell....
.
In 1820 He experienced a conversion to Christ at Thomas Wilson's
Thomas Wilson (philanthropist)
Thomas Wilson was a Congregationalist benefactor of chapels and educational institutions and founder member of the Council of University College London from 1825....
Paddington Chapel, in Paddington
Paddington
Paddington is a district within the City of Westminster, in central London, England. Formerly a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965...
, Northwest London, under ministry of the Rev. James Stratten and soon Dyer began teaching Sunday school there. In 1822 he was formally admitted into membership.
Dyer later wrote about his time, there:
He studied law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
and mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
at Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Trinity Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the fifth-oldest college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich.- Foundation :...
, but in 1823 he withdrew from University in his fifth term, refusing for conscience sake to declare himself a member of Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
in order to graduate
. While studying law, he read a pamphlet from his father’s study, the ‘’Memoir of Mrs. Charles Mead of the London Missionary Society in Tranvancore, Kerala, India’’, which afterwards turned his thoughts to missionary service that would occupy the rest of his life. The pamphlet consisted of sermon preached at Mrs. Mead’s funeral, ‘’All for Christ and the Good of Souls’’, the text of which is taken from Rev. 12:11, “and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
In ‘’A Sketch of Mr. Dyer’s Life and Character’’, his wife Maria would later write, “The reading of the pamphlet, “Memoir of Mrs. Mead” so powerfully impressed his mind with the importance of consecrating himself to missionary work, that when he began to study again, on Monday morning, he found he could not proceed; and every time he read this Memoir it had the same effect: so that at last he determined to give up the Bar, and devote himself to the work of Christ among the heathen.”
Dyer soon had opportunity to study the Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
under Robert Morrison, who had returned on furlough. It was there that he met two aspiring female missionaries Mary Ann Aldersey
Mary Ann Aldersey
Mary Ann Aldersey 艾迪綏 , the first Christian missionary woman to serve in China. She founded a school for girls in Ningbo, Zhejiang. Her pioneering the field of mission work for single women in China was the most remarkable outcome of her life.Aldersey was a native of London from a wealthy...
(the first female missionary to China), and Maria Tarn
Maria Tarn
Maria Dyer , was a British Protestant Christian missionary to the Chinese in the Congregationalist tradition, who worked among the Chinese in Malaysia. She arrived in Penang in 1827 with her husband, Samuel Dyer. She was the eldest daughter of Joseph Tarn, Director of London Missionary Society...
, whom he later married.
In 1824 Dyer applied to the London Missionary Society
London Missionary Society
The London Missionary Society was a non-denominational missionary society formed in England in 1795 by evangelical Anglicans and Nonconformists, largely Congregationalist in outlook, with missions in the islands of the South Pacific and Africa...
. Then he joined the LMS seminary at Gosport
Gosport
Gosport is a town, district and borough situated on the south coast of England, within the county of Hampshire. It has approximately 80,000 permanent residents with a further 5,000-10,000 during the summer months...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
to study theology under Dr. David Bogue
David Bogue
David Bogue was a British nonconformist leader.-Life:He was born in the parish of Coldingham, Berwickshire, Scotland. After a course of study in Edinburgh, he was licensed to preach by the Church of Scotland, but made his way to London in 1771, to teach in schools at Edmonton, Hampstead and...
. His health began to suffer because of his intense regimen of study at Gosport, walking long distances to preach in villages on Sunday, and his habits of self-denial. He travelled to Islington
Islington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
to recuperate, study theology, Chinese and the art of printing, punchcutting
Punchcutting
In traditional typography, punchcutting is the craft of cutting letter punches in steel from which matrices were made in copper for type founding in the letterpress era. Cutting punches and casting type was the first step of traditional typesetting. The cutting of letter punches was a highly...
and type-founding .
Dyer also studied under John Pye Smith at Homerton
Homerton
Homerton is a place in the London Borough of Hackney. It is bordered to the west by Hackney Central, to the north by Lower Clapton, in the east by Hackney Wick, Leyton and by South Hackney to the south.-Origins:...
. Smith combined missionary, philological, and scientific interests.
Dyer then entered the London Missionary Society training center at Hoxton
Hoxton
Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, immediately north of the financial district of the City of London. The area of Hoxton is bordered by Regent's Canal on the north side, Wharf Road and City Road on the west, Old Street on the south, and Kingsland Road on the east.Hoxton is also a...
where his chief attention was given to the Chinese language, reading the Chinese Bible for devotions. In 1827 Samuel Dyer was ordained at Paddington Chapel where he preached, taught and was commissioned as a missionary of the Gospel.
He was married to Maria Tarn, eldest daughter of Joseph Tarn, Director of London Missionary Society, in London in 1827 and shortly afterward the newly wed couple set sail for what was then considered "Ultra-Ganges" India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
with the Ultra-Ganges Mission, where the only way to live and work among native Chinese could be obtained. Now it is in an area of Malaysia. It was also known as the "British Straits Settlement". Dyer had been ordained and commissioned on 20 February 1827 at Paddington Chapel, London.
The inscription in remembrance of Samuel Dyer at Paddington Chapel read:
Missionary life
Samuel and Maria had five children while overseas. Maria Dyer (born and died at Penang 1829-1831), Samuel Dyer, Jr. (born at Penang 1833-1898), Burella Hunter Dyer (born at Penang, died in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
1835-1858), Maria Jane Dyer
Maria Jane Dyer
Maria Jane Dyer was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China, and "Mother" of the China Inland Mission with her husband, founder James Hudson Taylor. She was a pioneer missionary and educator there for 12 years . In 1858, she married Taylor and was an invaluable assistant and influence...
(born at Malacca, died at Zhenjiang
Zhenjiang
Zhenjiang is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Jiangsu province in the eastern People's Republic of China . Sitting on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, it borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the west, Changzhou to the east, and Yangzhou across the river to the north.Once...
1837-1870), and Ebenezer Dyer (born and died at Singapore 1842-aft. Oct. 1843)
Samuel Dyer and his wife left England on 10 March 1827 and they arrived at Penang, in the Straits of Malacca on 8 August 1827. The Dyers were to have gone on to Anglo-Chinese College
Anglo-Chinese College
Anglo-Chinese College may refer to:* Ying Wa College, Hong Kong * Anglo-Chinese College , Fuzhou, China...
in Malacca but a lack of workers lead them to stay in Penang and settle in Chinese sector of town. They both began studying the Min nan
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
Dialect (Hokkien) spoken by the local population.
After gaining some knowledge of the language, Dyer faced the challenge of producing movable metallic types
Movable type
Movable type is the system of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document ....
for the thousands of Chinese characters. He started with a systematic analysis of characters and strokes. At first, using wood reliefs to create the clay molds from which type
Typesetting
Typesetting is the composition of text by means of types.Typesetting requires the prior process of designing a font and storing it in some manner...
could be cast, he soon moved to steel punches and copper matrixes
Matrix (printing)
In hot metal typesetting, a matrix is a mold for casting a letter, known as a sort, used in letterpress printing....
. Dyer's linguistic abilities, meticulous planning, and painstaking attention to detail resulted in Chinese fonts of high quality. They were later passed on to the American Presbyterian Mission
American Presbyterian Mission
American Presbyterian Mission was an American Presbyterian missionary society, operated by the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, that was involved in sending workers to countries such as China during the late Qing Dynasty and to India in nineteenth century...
Press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
in China and played a significant part in its development.
Maria opened school for girls with 23 students, but she was forced to close it later in the year. By 1828 Samuel was preaching in Chinese only 5 months after their arrival. He grew committed to the production of Christian literature in Chinese, printing Bibles, tracts, and books with the moveable, metal-cast type with a controlled vocabulary that he developed.
In 1829 they had their first daughter, named Maria who died about two years later. The same year, in 1831, Samuel visited Malacca, the headquarters of the London Missionary Society’s Chinese ministries.
In 1833 the childless Dyers had a boy named Samuel. About this same time some in the Chinese community requested a school. During this period Samuel was hard at work on a revision of the translation of Matthew’s Gospel in Chinese. The amount of work that still was left to be done prompted him to write to England in the following year, appealing for more workers to be sent out. Robert Morrison died at Guangzhou
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
in 1834.
1835 brought another daughter, Burella Hunter to the Dyer family at Penang. Samuel then took his family to Malacca to join the London Missionary Society China Mission headquarters. The Dyers established 2 schools with the curriculum including: reading, writing, sewing
Sewing
Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...
and embroidery
Embroidery
Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins....
. There Samuel worked with Liang Fa
Liang Fa
Liang Fa was the first Chinese Protestant minister and evangelist. He was ordained by Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary to China....
(who had been baptized by William Milne in 1819).
Dyer soon recognized the strategic importance of his metal-type printing and proceeded with the revision of the Chinese Bible at Malacca .
Another daughter, Maria Jane Dyer was born in 1837 at Malacca.
Furlough and return to Asia
Samuel and Maria had been at the LMS Penang station from 1827-1835. They were at the Malacca station from 1835-1839. The Dyers went on furlough from 1839-1842. It was the first time that their children had seen England.On 19 September 1839 the Dyer family arrived in England. Maria, his wife was ill with what was thought to be a liver problem. The Dyers remained in England until 1841 when they left again for the Ultra-Ganges Mission, this time to Singapore. A single woman named Buckland accompanied them and helped Maria with the three children. They arrived in Singapore in 1842 and rented the mission-house of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was the first American Christian foreign mission agency. It was proposed in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College and officially chartered in 1812. In 1961 it merged with other societies to form the United Church Board for World...
, there.
Samuel began work with John Stronach
John Stronach
John Stronach was a Protestant Christian missionary who served with the London Missionary Society during the late Qing Dynasty China.-Notes:...
of the LMS and learning (Chaozhou
Chaozhou
Chaozhou is a city in eastern Guangdong province of the People's Republic of China. It borders Shantou to the south, Jieyang to the southwest, Meizhou to the northwest, the province of Fujian to the east, and the South China Sea to the southeast...
) Teochew dialect. He also worked on a revision of the Chinese Bible,, translations, preparation of books, type-casting, printing , and compiled a comparative vocabulary of Chinese language .
Dyer printed ‘’Two Friends’’ by William Milne, a ‘’Commentary on 10 Commandments’’ by Walter Henry Medhurst
Walter Henry Medhurst
Walter Henry Medhurst , was an English Congregationalist missionary to China, born in London and educated at St Paul's School, was one of the early translators of the Bible into Chinese language editions.-Early life:...
, and the ‘’Miracles of Christ’’. He also helped Chaozhou, a Christian teacher compile the ‘’Life of Christ’’.
During this busy period, Dyer conducted religious services through the week, visited house-to-house, preached in the bazaars; and visited Chinese junk (ship)
Junk (ship)
A junk is an ancient Chinese sailing vessel design still in use today. Junks were developed during the Han Dynasty and were used as sea-going vessels as early as the 2nd century AD. They evolved in the later dynasties, and were used throughout Asia for extensive ocean voyages...
s in the harbor to reach the Chinese there with the gospel message.
Maria established a Chinese Girls’ Boarding School with 20 students in their home (at the presnt-day site of Raffles Hotel
Raffles Hotel
Raffles Hotel is a colonial-style hotel in Singapore, and one of the world's most famous hotels. The hotel was established by the famous Armenian Sarkies Brothers. Opened in 1887, it was named after Singapore's founder Sir Stamford Raffles. Managed by Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, it is...
, the school later became called St. Margaret's Primary School
St. Margaret's Primary School
St. Margaret's Primary School is a government-aided girls' primary school in Singapore. It is the oldest girls' school in Singapore and East Asia, founded in 1842.-Crest:...
).
Dyer moved the LMS press from Malacca to Singapore on James Legge
James Legge
James Legge was a noted Scottish sinologist, a Scottish Congregationalist, representative of the London Missionary Society in Malacca and Hong Kong , and first professor of Chinese at Oxford University...
’s suggestion before the end of 1842.
1842 brought another son, Ebenezer Dyer.
The Treaty of Nanking
Treaty of Nanking
The Treaty of Nanking was signed on 29 August 1842 to mark the end of the First Opium War between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Qing Dynasty of China...
was signed, raising hopes that missionary work could soon begin in mainland China.
Dyer preached the first sermon at the Malay Chapel in Prinsep Street
Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church
The Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian church in Singapore. It is located at Prinsep Street in the Rochor Planning Area, within the Central Area in Singapore's central business district....
opened by Benjamin Peach Keasberry in 1843. That summer he left with John Stronach for the LMS conference in Hong Kong. His family would never see him again.
Final days
Dyer was able to finally reach China on 7 August 1843 at Hongkong. At the LMS general conference he was appointed as Conference Secretary. The Dyers were appointed to go to FuzhouFuzhou
Fuzhou is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute the Mindong linguistic and cultural area....
, Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
to open missionary work there.
Samuel visited Guangzhou
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
where he had a severe attack of fever and was cared for by Peter Parker, M.D.. He was taken to Macau and died in there on 21 October 1843 before being able to live in China itself at his newly assigned designation of Fuzhou
Fuzhou
Fuzhou is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute the Mindong linguistic and cultural area....
. This was the same outbreak that took the life of Robert Morrison's son, John Robert Morrison
John Robert Morrison
John Robert Morrison was the second son from Robert Morrison's first marriage with Mary Morton. He was a translator, diplomat and missionary in China and the Far East, most closely associated with Canton City and Hong Kong...
at Guangzhou.
Dyer was buried next to the graves of Robert and Mary Morrison at the Old Protestant Cemetery in Macau
Old Protestant Cemetery in Macau
The Old Protestant Cemetery , located close to the Casa Garden, was established by the British East India Company in 1821 in Macau in response to a lack of burial sites for Protestants in the Roman Catholic Portuguese colony....
.
Dyer had once written: Maria Dyer died only three years later at Penang, leaving 3 orphaned children in the care of her second husband, Johann Georg Bausum. Fellow missionary to Penang, Evan Davies
Evan Davies (missionary)
Evan Davies was a Welsh Protestant Christian missionary in the Congregationalist tradition. He served with the London Missionary Society and worked among the Chinese in Malaysia in Penang....
, wrote a memoir of Samuel Dyer and a volume of Samuel's letters to his children in 1846.
The Chinese Repository
The Chinese Repository
The Chinese Repository was a periodical published in Canton between May 1832–1851, for the use of Protestant missionaries working in southeast Asia. The Repository was the brainchild of Elijah Coleman Bridgman, the first American Protestant missionary appointed to China. Bridgman served as...
recorded his obituary and mentioned that,
The type that came to be known as Dyer's Penang font became the standard in Chinese printing until the 1850s when it was replaced by William Gamble's font in 1859.
All three of the Dyers' surviving children became involved in work to spread the Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
in China, fulfilling their father's prayers. The Dyers' daughters, returned to China as teenagers and worked with Mary Ann Aldersey
Mary Ann Aldersey
Mary Ann Aldersey 艾迪綏 , the first Christian missionary woman to serve in China. She founded a school for girls in Ningbo, Zhejiang. Her pioneering the field of mission work for single women in China was the most remarkable outcome of her life.Aldersey was a native of London from a wealthy...
at her school for Chinese girls in Ningbo
Ningbo
Ningbo is a seaport city of northeastern Zhejiang province, Eastern China. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, the municipality has a population of 7,605,700 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 3,089,180 in the built up area made of 6 urban districts. It lies south of the Hangzhou Bay,...
, Zhejiang
Zhejiang
Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
. Maria Jane Dyer
Maria Jane Dyer
Maria Jane Dyer was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China, and "Mother" of the China Inland Mission with her husband, founder James Hudson Taylor. She was a pioneer missionary and educator there for 12 years . In 1858, she married Taylor and was an invaluable assistant and influence...
eventually married James Hudson Taylor, who went on to found the China Inland Mission
China Inland Mission
OMF International is an interdenominational Protestant Christian missionary society, founded in Britain by Hudson Taylor on 25 June 1865.-Overview:...
. She had a strong influence in the beginnings of that agency. Burella Dyer had married a year earlier to John Shaw Burdon
John Shaw Burdon
John Shaw Burdon was a British Christian missionary to China with the Church Mission Society. Burdon was ordained to the priesthood by the Bishop of London in December 1852. He opposed Britain's part in the Opium Wars in China. In March 1874 he was consecrated bishop of the South China Diocese of...
, but had died in Shanghai very soon after they were married. Samuel Dyer, Junior succeeded Alexander Wylie with the British and Foreign Bible Society
British and Foreign Bible Society
The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply as Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world....
as their agent in China in the 1870s.
Epitaph in Macau
His tombstone inscription reads:Published works
- Vocabulary of the Hokkien Dialect (1838)
- A Selection of Three Thousand Characters Being the Most Important in the Chinese Language for the Purpose of Facilitating the Cutting of Punches and Casting Metal type in Chinese (1834)
- Aesop's FablesAesop's FablesAesop's Fables or the Aesopica are a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and story-teller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE. The fables remain a popular choice for moral education of children today...
(in Hokkien, 1843)
See also
- History of typography in East AsiaHistory of typography in East AsiaThe history of printing in East Asia refers to the use of woodblock printing and movable type printing by East Asian artisans. The former existed in Tang China as early as the 7th century, and the latter in Song China by the 11th century. Use of woodblock printing quickly spread to other East Asian...