This is a bit wordy, but it is a quote from my mother's book, "Three Score Years and Ten - Missionary Work in China". I know she did a lot of research into our family hisotry, but I am unable to say what her resources were except to say that she travelled to many places to see church and cemetery records. This is really everything I know about Arthur. (I haven't included any part of the many years of his ministry in northwest China.
ARTHUR MOORE
EARLY LIFE
Arthur Moore was born in Wolverhampton on 6 April 1878. He was the son of James Moore and Helen Everall, born in Chester and Wolverhampton respectively, and the grandson of Joseph Moore whose wife ( James' mother) came from Spain. Arthur's maternal grandfather was Charles Everall, who is named in James and Helen's wedding certificate as a "coachman". James was twenty and Helen only eighteen when they were married in the Parish Church of St. Mark, Wolverhampton in Staffordshire. The date was 18 February 1868.
Joseph and his wife had four other sons and one daughter, but apart from James, the only other two we know anything about are Thomas and Joseph.
Thomas , who was born in Chester, married and had one daughter, Margaret, who married a Mr. Bethell. Their only daughter Anita, who called herself a "cousin" of Arthur and Esther Moore's children, married rather late in life and settled in Gloucestershire with her farmer husband, Vernon Merritt. They had no children.
Joseph went to Canada and married there. They had three sons, Harry, Earnest and George. I have heard that Harry had a son called Cecil and Earnest a son called Roy, but apart from that I know nothing of the Canadian Moores.
James and Helen Moore had eleven children of whom Arthur was the fifth. Older than he were James, Joseph, Mary and Gertrude. Younger, were two brothers, Stephen and Percy, and four sisters, Edith, Florrie and the twins Daisy and Lil. Arthur was very fond of his younger brother Percy, and it was a great blow to him when he was accidentally drowned. He named his own eldest son Percy after him.
James Moore was a master gardener, and when Lord Leverbrook began his model village at Port Sunlight in the Wirral, he invited James Moore to be his head gardener. This was the first of this type of village for working people in the United Kingdom.
Arthur Moore must have grown up in one of those homes, and he often spoke of his delight in the lovely English countryside as he rode his bicycle through Chester and along the roads of North Wales.
At the age of twenty two, he signed on as a steward on a ship sailing to America. The vessel was an 8,200 ton steamer called the "Cymric" and, going to New York. Arthur signed on on 3 August 1900, but by 11 September he was back in Liverpool signing off! Apparently he had had enough of life as a ship's steward although his conduct and ability were both stated to be "very good".
SHANGAI POLICEMAN
The next time we hear about him is that he was in Shanghai as a detective in the Shanghai Police Force, which did not believe in "all work and no play", so they built up their own Rugby team of which Arthur Moore was one of the most enthusiastic members. Every Saturday afternoon, a match would be arranged between the Police team and any other team they could find to compete with.. The game was always held on the Shanghai Racecourse and always drew a good number of spectators.
At that time, the world Headquarters of the China Inland Mission was centred at Wusung Road in Shanghai, and Rugby fans at the CIM always took keen interest in the weekly rugger match. One who never failed to attend if he was free was Mr. D.E.Hoste who had taken Hudson Taylor's place as Director of the Mission. Himself a Cambridge "blue" nicknamed "the Tiger" in his day, his greatest relaxation was to get down to the racecourse on Saturday afternoons to watch the match. He soon began to recognise the members of the Police team and Arthur Moore, with his broad shoulders and strong physique, early caught his attention. His contact with Arthur led to Arthur's conversion.
Arthur returned to England where his parents were still living in the Wirral and, in September 1904 he entered the Glasgow Bible Training Institute (GBTI) as a student.
By July 1906 Arthur was coming to the end of his time at the Glasgow Bible Training Institute. He applied to the China Inland Mission and was accepted to sail later in that same year as a missionary to China. Among the men being farewelled at the valedictory service was Arthur Moore, and among the eleven women was Esther Andrew.
4 May 1907 was an exciting day, both at Anjing and at Yangzhou as Mr Hoste visited both Language Schools to meet and pray with each new worker and to tell them the decisions they had been coming to in Shanghai about their future sphere of service. After some months in separate language schools, Esther Andrew was sent to join her parents in Gansu. Arthur Moore was appointed to the farthest outpost of Christian work in China, north west of Sinjiang Province beyond Gansu.
Before he started there, he spent some time with the George Andrew (Esther Andrew's father) in Lanzhou to get used to the different dialects of the north west.
So, before the end of 1907, both Arthur and Esther settled in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province. Mutual attraction soon drew them together and it was not long before Arthur asked George Andrew for his daughter's hand in marriage. Permission was given, and they were married on 11 December in Shanghai.
They worked in Shaanxi Province for many years until the latter years of World War II and then finally left to settle in Canada after a long trip via India, and round the south coast of Australia to avoid enemy submarines at sea. From their meagre savings they were able to pay a deposit on a small house in North Toronto.
However in April 1948 while Percy and Amy were busy coping with a very unsettled country being liberated by the Communists, word came through that Arthur had died. His death was quite unexpected. He had turned 70 on 6 April 1948 and seemed fit and well, but just over two weeks later he suffered a heart attack and died. Arthur was buried in the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery with other CIM missionaries.
In Hanzhong the church people mourned the loss of the ‘old Pastor’ too and expressed their sympathy in many ways. He never ceased to be a missionary at home or abroad.
