This book is a selection of letters from Alexander Robert Crawford (1868-1935) , a missionary in Manchuria who had been sent there by the Irish Presbyterian Church. Many of his papers are held in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and are secriibed as "Alexander Robert Crawford was licensed to preach on 1 May 1894 and was ordained
in the following year as a Presbyterian missionary. He began his journey from
Liverpool to Manchuria on 6 April 1895, travelling via New York, Canada and Japan,
and finally arrived at Newchwang, China, on 25 June 1895 to start his missionary
work. He was posted to Kirin to assist at the mission station established there. A
chapel was opened in January 1896 and a hospital in the following year. During the
period of the late 1890s he made many 'Great Journeys' in the surrounding areas
and established out-stations. In June 1900, he and the other missionaries in Kirin
escaped the Boxer rebellion troubles by river and rail to Vladivostock. He was unable
to return until autumn 1901. In June 1902, Crawford was back in Ireland for his
marriage to Anna Graham, daughter of David Graham of Portadown, Co. Armagh.
They left for Kirin together on 29 August 1902 via Siberia and arrived 5 October.
They resumed the missionary work together and stayed in Kirin until 1910 before
being moved to Kwanchengtze. During their first few months in residence there was a
severe outbreak of plague in the locality which lasted until March. In 1912 they
started a YMCA and schools for boys and girls in Kwanchengtze. However, the
health of the Rev. A.R. Crawford began to fail and in February 1913, he and his
family returned home to Ireland. " After returning to Belfast he was appointed a 'chaplain" at Queens University but eventually retired due to increasing illness. The Crawford papers are in the PRONI at D2003.