Dr George Shearer  

Annie Barbara Shearer, was born 1869 in China, married Robert Wylie & in Birkenhead in 1900 had a son Norman Shearer Wylie
James Augustus Shearer, my grandfather  2nd child of was born 10 Oct 1870 Kiukiang in the British Concession Lower Yangtze Ports CHINA. Married Lily Daisy Machin 1907  they had 4 children. He died Christmas 1950 at St Albans Hertfordshire.
Katherine Pomeroy Shearer born 1872 China -  working Birkenhead District Hospital  a nurse in 1891 & in 1911;  age 40  she was living as housekeeper to her brother Walter in Oswestry where she died in 1921, after her long hair caught fire.
George Herbert Shearer born 1873 China - in 1911 he was Book keeper sugar refiners  living in a Birkenhead boarding house where in 1912 he married Alice Maddock the sister of the woman who ran it . They had  least one child.
Walter Campbell Shearer born 1875 in Liverpool married Frances Moxon. & lived at 41 Church Street Oswestry where he became a dental surgeon - He was a Lieutenant in Kings Shropshire Light Infantry in 1908 & after the war a Territorial  Army   Captain (commanding)   His mother came to live about 15 miles away  He died in Southsea Hampshire in 1965 

Dr George & his wife Georgiana had 2 children born in Liverpool, Ernest & Mabel, both died in infancy.

2024 &  I exchanged a series of very interesting emails about Dr George and his time in China

杨成林   Yang Chenglin wrote this article at my request
& I now know a great deal more about my great grandfather thanks this generous person.

In August 1868, Dr. and Mrs. Shearer left Liverpool for China sailing on the SS Nestor  [The London and China telegraph 1868]. He worked as a missionary of the London Missionary Society at the London Mission Hospital in Hankow & was in charge of the hospital there & writing the annual report [The second report of the london mission hospital]. In 1870, Dr. Shearer dissolved his connection with the London Missionary Society, and went to Kiukiang [The Chinese recorder and missionary journal 1870]. He was appointed the first medical officer of customs at Kiukiang [Customs gazette 1871], and he is probably the first Western medical doctor to this port.
In April 1874, Dr. and Mrs. Shearer left China [The London and China telegraph 1874], perhaps because of the bad health. [Edinburgh medical journal 1892].

The experiences of wives at that time are usually difficult to know. However, an American woman missionary wrote that Mrs. Shearer left her (out of tune) piano to the mission school for girls [The Heathen woman's friend 1875]. As a music teacher, Mrs. Shearer might have taught the girls herself.

Based on his medical practice in China, Dr. Shearer wrote on different topics: leprosy, mental diseases and opium. He was also an enthusiastic collector of botanical, geological and zoological specimens and gave a lecture in the North China branch of the Asiatic Society [The London and China telegraph 1874].

 His botanical collection was sent to Kew Gardens, and new species were identified, some of which were named after him, like Sheareria, Pyrrosia sheareri, Anisocampium sheareri.
(Two letters from Dr. Shearer to the director of Kew Gardens are also archived  and can be see below

杨成林   Yang Chenglin  continues ....

People who may have influenced Dr George  included Wong Fun & Armand David.

Armand David is a French Catholic missionary to China, and is better known as a zoologist and a botanist. A book about his early travels, Natural History of North China, was translated into English by Dr. Shearer. (The book itself did not show the translator, but Edinburgh medical journal 1874 said it was translated by Dr. Shearer.)
Dr. Shearer introduced Armand David  and his collection when he came to Kiukiang. [Journal de mon troisième voyage d'exploration dans l'empire Chinois v2]. Later when Armand David became ill  Dr. Shearer's cared for him, but David did not recover well & returned to France [Journal de mon troisième voyage d'exploration dans l'empire Chinois v2].

At that time, the University of Edinburgh was a world-renowned center of medical education. After Dr. Shearer left China the position of the medical officer of customs at Kiukiang was held by Scottish doctors who graduated from Edinburgh. The first Chinese to study medicine in the West, Wong Fun, graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1855. After returning to China, Wong Fun also first worked as a missionary of the London Missionary Society for several years, and while Dr. Shearer was the medical officer of customs at Kiukiang, Wong Fun was the medical officer of customs at Canton. Dr. Shearer's interest in botany was not accidental. Botany was then very important in medical education at the University of Edinburgh. One of Wong Fun's most famous achievements at the university was gaining the highest prize in botany class. The professor of botany then was John Hutton Balfour, who also taught Dr. Shearer. John Balfour's brother, Andrew Balfour, was a doctor in Hong Kong and also a teacher in Wong Fun's school. In Edinburgh, Wong Fun lived with their father, the older Andrew Balfour. Whether Dr. Shearer and Wong Fun were at the university at the same time is unknown, but Dr. Shearer possibly knew this Chinese senior early.