Orphanage children, Shenyang, ca.1889

“Orphan School.” Group portrait of young children and two indigenous adults dressed for the cold weather. They are posed outside the mission house in Shenyang [Moukden]. After severe flooding in 1886 and 1888, which led to famine in the region, a large number of children had been left bereft or abandoned. The orphanages, one boys and one girls, were set up and run by Mrs Isabella Ross and Mrs Webster. ❧ The United Presbyterian Mission in Manchuria had been established by John Ross (1842-1915) when he entered the region in 1872. Shenyang [Moukden] became an important station in the interior and Hospitals, Schools and Orphanages were built there. The United Presbyterian Mission unified with the Irish Presbyterian Mission in 1890 to form an indigenous Presbytery, named Kuan Tung, with Chinese as the official language. ❧ The image is from an album associated with Rev. James A Whylie (1863-1894) who was ordained to the Manchuria mission in 1887 and based in Liaoyang, 1888-1894