George Leslie Mackay | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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George Leslie Mackay

George Leslie Mackay, Presbyterian missionary (b at Zorra, Oxford County, Canada W 22 Mar 1844; d in Formosa [Taiwan] 2 June 1901). A graduate student in Edinburgh, Mackay decided to become a missionary after hearing Alexander Duff, the "apostle to India," call for foreign evangelism.

Mackay, George Leslie

George Leslie Mackay, Presbyterian missionary (b at Zorra, Oxford County, Canada W 22 Mar 1844; d in Formosa [Taiwan] 2 June 1901). A graduate student in Edinburgh, Mackay decided to become a missionary after hearing Alexander Duff, the "apostle to India," call for foreign evangelism. He was sent to mainland China in 1871 by the Canadian Presbyterian Church but settled in Tamsui, Formosa. Although natives destroyed several of his churches, his knowledge of elementary medicine won him respect. Nicknamed "the blackbearded barbarian," Mackay built a hospital, a girls' school and Oxford College, and established 60 mission stations in 20 years.

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