Vic in China

Eight Victoria College Men set sail to China and Japan in November 1906. These included:

• N.E. Bowles, B.A.  (Vic'03)
• C.P. Holmes, B.A
• C.J.P. Jolliffe, B.A (Vic'04)
• E.W. Morgan, B.A (Vic'05)
• Arthur Ozawa
• H.D. Robertson, B.A (Vic'05)
• W.E. Sibley, B.A (Vic '05)
• E.W. Wallace, B.A, B.D. (Vic'04,'06)

As their train pulled out of Union Station, they heard the following cheer:

"Hong-Kong, Jah-ding, Heart of Sz-Chuan,
Chung-king, Hankow, China and Japan,
Wu-Chang, Chentu, Yang-tse-kiang,
Victoria! Victoria's Missionary Gang!"

(Acta XXX:5, Feb. 1907, 291)

Acta Victoriana celebrated these missionaries' departure by publishing in the November 1906 issue the men's graduating photographs on the journal's frontispiece, a poem by Edward Wilson Wallace- "L'Envoi", an editorial on 'Missions to China' and three articles in the "Missionary and Religious" section dealing with life in China and what the newest contingent should expect to find in their chosen field. In the Februrary 1907 issue of Acta Victoriana, a follow up article appeared, "The Missionary Gang": Toronto to China BY THEMSELVES."

Mrs. Gertrude Jolliffe's scrapbook provides an account of the "1907 Wreck." 
After one of our house-boats had a hole punched in its bottom and the hold was flooded, all the clothing, bedding etc. had to be hung out and dried.

The first two years of a missionary's posting to China involved language learning. After this, the Canadian Methodist Mission assigned postings at the annual Council meeting.

In 1910 - 11, the "Vic Eight" were given the following assignments:

Chengtu -- N.E. Bowles--Church, Junior and Senior Primary and Charity Schools and H.D. Robertson -- Theological and Middle Schools
Penghsien --W.E. Sibley - Church and Outstations, including Tsungninghsien Day and Boarding Schools (until Sept. 1st)
Chungking --E. W. Wallace -- Schools (On rise of Council).
Luchow -- C.J.P. Jolliffe - Church, School and Outstations
On furlough--E.W. Morgan

In 1920 the "Vic Eight" were in the following places: 

Luchow, Szechwan -- C.P.  Jolliffe 
Fowchow, Szechwan -- E.W. Morgan
Junghsien, Szechwan -- W.E. Sibley
On Furlough -- E.W.  Wallace and N.E. Bowles
Resigned -- H.D. Robertson

A Reminiscence of the 1906 Voyage on the Empress of China

I must tell you about the other members of our party. There were Rev. R.B. McAmmond and wife, both of whom are now living at Beamsville Ont. Mr. and Mrs. Harold Robertson, Mr. and Mrs. Egbert Carson. The latter is Aunt Florence. He died in 1910 of typhus fever, got when itinerating. Typhus is caught from the bite of a body louse, sometimes referred to in China as China's millions. Rev. W.E. Sibley and wife. The latter was beheaded on a Chengtu street in 1926 by a demented Chinese man. Then there were 3 unmarried men, Bowles, Morgan and Wallace. The last of these was afterwards Chancellor of Victoria University. He and Wes. Morgan are both gone. There was another couple, Dr. and Mrs. Frank Allan. Frank was in charge of the Chungking hospital. He worked himself to death. One day after a hard morning he lay down on a couch and went to sleep, his long last sleep. Besides these men and women there were 3 W.M.S. Ladies, Miss Caroline Wellwood, Hattie Woodsworth, afterwards Mrs. Morgan and Uberta Steele. The latter two still live.
"We Go to China", Our Work in China, (1) & (2)

Sources:
"Appendix, No. 2 - Missionaries and their Stations, 1910 - 1911," in Omar L. Kilborn, Heal the Sick. Toronto: The Missionary Society of the Methodist Church, The Young People's Forward Movement, c1910. 
Appendix, "Names and Post Office Addresses of Missionaries and their Assignment for Support, May, 1920" in Our West China Mission. Toronto: The Missionary Society of the Methodist Church, The Young People's Forward Movement, c1920.
Rev. & Mrs. C.J.P. Jolliffe. "Our Work in China." Mimeographed typescript.
Gertrude Jolliffe. Scrapbook, loose leaf binder, undated.