William Henry Lacy (;

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: ''Lì Wéilián'';

Foochow Romanized Foochow Romanized, also known as Bàng-uâ-cê (BUC for short; ) or Hók-ciŭ-uâ Lò̤-mā-cê (), is a Latin alphabet for the Fuzhou dialect of Eastern Min adopted in the middle of the 19th century by Western missionaries. It had varied at dif ...

: ''Lĭk Ùi-lièng''; January 8, 1858 - September 3, 1925) was an American

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

missionary to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Life

William Henry Lacy was born on January 8, 1858, in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

. He graduated from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

and the

Garrett Bible Institute Garrett may refer to: Places ;United States * Garrett, Illinois * Garrett, Indiana * Garrett, Kentucky (multiple places) ** Garrett, Floyd County, Kentucky, an unincorporated community ** Garrett, Meade County, Kentucky, an unincorporated communi ...

, and was ordained in 1883. In 1887, he was sent to

Fuzhou Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute t ...

as a missionary under the Board of Foreign Missions of the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...

. He and his wife Emma Nind Lacy, daughter of

Mary Clarke Nind Mary Clarke Nind (16 August 1825 – 1 January 1905), known as "Our Little Bishop", was a British philanthropist and worker for social justice. It was during her time living in Minnesota that she fulfilled her calling into missionary work through ...

,Yale Finding Aid Database: Guide to the Lacy Family Papers
/ref> arrived in Fuzhou on November 5, 1887. Bashford, James W. (1906)
''China and Methodism''
p.111 Rev. Lacy consequently served as a professor at the Foochow Anglo-Chinese College () from 1887 to 1894, superintendent of the Anglo-Chinese Book Concern in Fuzhou from 1891 to 1902, senior manager from 1902 to 1906, and manager of the Methodist Publishing House in China () in Fuzhou and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

after 1907. On September 3, 1925, Lacy died in Shanghai. His four sons, Walter Nind, Henry Veere, George Carleton and William Irving Lacy, and one daughter, Alice Maie Lacy (1893-1921), were also missionaries to China.

References

American Methodist missionaries Methodist missionaries in China Christian missionaries in Fujian Northwestern University alumni Religious leaders from Milwaukee 1858 births 1925 deaths American expatriates in China {{Methodist-stub