William Small FLEMING

FLEMING, WILLIAM SMALL (b. Broughty Ferry, Scotland, 25 Sept 1867; d. Kweichau, China, 4 Nov 1898). CIM missionary.

Fleming left his native Scotland at the age of 17 for a seafaring life. After seven years at sea he landed in Adelaide. Under the influence of John Virgo of the YMCA, Fleming was converted. Despite little education he became an ardent reader of the Bible and was one of the most earnest and regular attenders of the YMCA Bible and prayer classes. The rugged experiences of sea life proved useful with rescue work in Adelaide. Through open air meetings he developed the power of simple speech and was always forceful and impressive. Linking himself with the Adelaide City Mission he assisted in the work of educating and evangelising the many Chinese then in Adelaide.

Fleming was one of the earliest students of Rev Lockhart Morton's (q.v.) Training Home, Belair. Here he spent 3 years in training before being accepted by CIM in Oct 1894. He left for China in Jan 1895 cheerfully working his own passage, for he was very strongly built. Fleming was one of the 'Special 100' sent to China from Australasia in the ten years prior to 1899.

After reaching China, Fleming worked at mastering the language. As soon as possible he was out among the people where he worked as an itinerant evangelist. Like other CIM missionaries, William Fleming wore Chinese dress to identify himself with the local people. His field appointment was to work among the aboriginal people known as the Miao. Even in his brief period of service there were about two hundred enquirers in his district. He was assisted by a native Miao evangelist.

In a nearby mission station five days journey away, sickness and isolation had taken toll of missionaries and so the young missionary went to Pang-hai to help. Fleming had already been away from his base for 16 days. The party consisted of Fleming on a mule followed by his coolie carrying a load, then the native teacher and finally the native evangelist. Suddenly the evangelist was attacked by a group of men, one with a sword. Seeing the evangelist in trouble Fleming, rather than sparing his own life, went to his aid but after a violent struggle he too was killed. During the struggle the other two escaped and reported the matter to the nearest missionaries. The reason for the planned attack from those opposing the gospel was to place the blame for the murders on the responsive Miao people.

Thus William Fleming was the first CIM missionary to have lost his life as a result of an act of determined violence. Many more were to lose their lives in the later Boxer rebellion in 1900. A colleague wrote of Fleming, 'I have seldom met anyone so hungry for the Word of God. His large heart and merry laugh and absolute willingness to spend and be spent had won William the love of so many and his heart was so right with God'. His last letter was to a YMCA friend and part of it goes as follows: 'I hope to go on a journey tomorrow. I will be going alone yet not alone. How precious is the text "Lo, I am with you alway." ... I am a bit like Paul, I like to stretch out to untouched parts'.

Following Fleming's death, the flow of candidates for China increased and the work among the Miao became one of the more responsive groups in China. The work begun by Fleming and fellow missionaries not only brought a great work among the Chinese Miao but also the Miao in Northern Thailand and Burma.

China's Millions (China Inland Mission monthly publication); W Lockhart Morton, Drifting Wreckage (Adelaide, 1913); M Loane, The Story of the CIM in Australia and New Zealand 1890-1964 (Sydney, 1965); M Broomhall, Martyred Missionaries of the CIM (London, 1900); M Broomhall, The Jubilee Story of the CIM (London, 1915)

DON GOLDNEY