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Alfred Evans was born in Holdenhurst, near Bournemouth, Dorset in 1879, and was educated at Bournemouth Technical College. He spent the latter part of his childhood in Southampton and whilst worshipping at St Mary's Road Bible Christian Church he became aware of their missionary work in China and met his future wife, Bessie Alice Bull (1876-1941). After finishing his training for the ministry at Shebbear College, Devon, in 1903 he spent two years as a minister in St Columb, Cornwall, and then was sent to work as a Bible Christian missionary in Yunnan, China. He arrived in the spring of 1906 and married Bessie Bull (who had been an evangelist in China since 1903) in Yunnan-fu [Kunming] on 11 January 1908.
The three main achievements of his service in Yunnan was encouraging and supporting the significant numbers of Kopu [Go-p'u] Chinese to convert to Methodism, the growth of the Methodist Church in Kunming, Yunnan, throughout the 1930s and his work as chairman of the district.
His wife Bessie died in 1941 of typhus and he became a supernumerary in 1943. He remained in the area and was viewed as an elder statesman by the Methodist community (amongst whom he was affectionately known as 'Uncle Alf') until forced to leave his home in China after the Communist takeover in 1951. He relocated to Hong Kong where he continued to evangelise to both the Chinese and English Methodist communities. He died in Hong Kong on 4 February 1967. |
Alfred Evans was born in Holdenhurst, near Bournemouth, Dorset in 1879, and was educated at Bournemouth Technical College. He spent the latter part of his childhood in Southampton and whilst worshipping at St Mary's Road Bible Christian Church he became aware of their missionary work in China and met his future wife, Bessie Alice Bull (1876-1941). After finishing his training for the ministry at Shebbear College, Devon, in 1903 he spent two years as a minister in St Columb, Cornwall, and then was sent to work as a Bible Christian missionar ... View more |
