Horace Newton Allen

This article is about the Protestant missionary. For the 1919 Brooklyn Robins baseball player, see Horace Allen (baseball).

Horace Newton Allen (1858–1932) was a Protestant medical missionary and a diplomat from the United States to Korea at the end of the Joseon Dynasty.

Biography

He was born in Delaware, Ohio on April 23, 1858. He received his B.S. at Ohio Wesleyan University, in 1881 and subsequently graduated from Miami Medical School in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1883.

At his own request, he was appointed on a mission to China by the Board of Foreign Missions of the Northern Presbyterian Church and a year later he was sent to work at the United States Legation to Korea as physician. Soon after his arrival with his family on September 20, 1884, he was involved in the aftermath of Gapsinjeongbyeon, during which a royal relative Min Young Ik was stabbed and injured. The German diplomat Paul Georg von Möllendorff was present at the massacre and quickly requested Allen's medical care. Under his modern medical treatment unknown to Korea at the time, Min Young Ik recovered in three months. Consequently, this initiated for Allen a close connection with Gojong, and demonstrated the benefit of western medicine to the Korean public. With this auspicious turn of events Allen was able to establish Gwanghyewon (廣惠院, House of Extended Grace) under royal finance and support in Seoul. Gwanghyewon was the first modern medical facility in Korea. The Gwanghyewon was soon renamed by Gojong to Che Chung Won (the House of Civilized Virtue) and evolved to become the current Severance Hospital and Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul, Korea.^[1] He was instrumental in lifting the nation's anti-Christianity policy to allow the influx of missionaries to evangelize, build schools and other western hospitals in the Hermit Kingdom.

Allen's residence in Seoul, in 1904; note the cartoon of a Marine in the upper left, indicating that the residence was under armed guard.

His connections in Korea enabled him to act in the role of a diplomat. In 1887 he accompanied the first Korean legation to Washington, D.C.. In 1890, he became secretary to the American legation in Seoul. By 1897 he was US minister and consul general. With his close relationship with Gojong and high government officials he was able to assist American business firms in connecting with officials, resulting in construction of the nation's first electric and water works, trolley and railway systems. He was outspoken against US noninterventionism during the Russo-Japanese War, but this was not well received by the US government, whose policy was in accord with the Taft–Katsura Agreement. He was recalled in 1905. He died in Toledo, Ohio on December 11, 1932. Gojong awarded him the highest decoration, Taeguk. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Toledo, Ohio. Allen and his wife, Frances Ann, had two sons, Horace Ethan and Maurice.

Publication

Allen's writings introduced Korean literature to the English-speaking world. His publications include:

Korean Tales, (1889)
A Chronological Index of the Foreign Relations of Korea from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Twentieth Century, (1901)
Supplement, (1903)
Things Korean, (Seoul, 1908)

References

↑ Cho, Su-hyeon (최수현) (10 May 2008). 서울 온 알렌 박사의 두 증손녀 할아버지와 '1세기 만의 대화' (in Korean). The Chosun Ilbo. Retrieved 8 January 2010.

External links

Today in History – April 23 at chi.lcms.org
Horace Newton Allen (1908), Things Korean: A Collection of Sketches and Anecdotes, Missionary and Diplomatic
Horace Newton Allen (1889), Korean Tales: Being a Collection of Stories Translated from the Korean Folk Lore
Horace Newton Allen (1901), A Chronological Index: Some of the Chief Events in the Foreign Intercourse of Korea
The first Presbyterian missionaries in Korea

Christianity in Korea

Protestantism	Korea Baptist Convention Anglican Church of Korea Conservative Presbyterian Church in Korea Conservative Reformed Presbyterian Church in Korea Korean Christian Fundamentalist Assembly Korean Methodist Church Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea National Council of Churches in Korea Pure Presbyterian Church in Korea United Presbyterian Church in Korea Union Presbyterian Church in Korea World Mission Society Church of God Women Pastors Presbyterian Church in Korea Korea Campus Crusade for Christ Independent Reformed Church in Korea Independent Reformed Presbyterian Church in Korea Orthodox Presbyterian Church of Korea Presbyterian Church of Korea branches: TongHap HoHun Fundamentalist GaeHyuk I. Jesus KoShin KoRyuPa HapDong JungAng Daeshin HapDongChongShin HapDongChunTong HapDongBokUm ChanYang BoSuHapDong BokUm YeJong JeongRip Logos HwanWon DokNoHoe JapDongJungAng YeJangHapBo DaeShin II BupTong NamBuk HapDongBoSu SungHapChuk BoSuTongHap JeongTongChongHap HapDongChungYun HapDongJeongShin HanGukBoSu HapDongEunChong DongShin HapDongJinRi HapDongYunHap YunShin JangShin SunGyo HapDongYeChong ChanYang Ko-Ryu-Anti-Accusation HapDongChongShin I. HapDongChongShin II. HapDongSeungHoe JungRip PyungAhn HapDongChongHoe JeongTongGyeSeung HapDongTongHap HapDongBoSu I. HapDongBoSu II. DaeShin II. HapDongHwanWon HapDongBoSu IV. HapDongBoSu III. HapDongBoSu II. ChongHoe II. BoSuHapDong III. TongHapBoSu DaeHanShinChuk HapDongYeChong I HapDongSeongHoe GaeHyukHapDong I GaeHyukHapDong II HapDongGaeHyuk HapDongJangShin HoHun III ChongHoe II ChongHoe I HyukShin GaeHyukHapDong III DokNoHoe II BoSuJeongTong HapDongYeSun JaeGun Presbyterian Church in Korea (GaeHyuk) In North Korea Korean Christian Federation (state-controlled body) Bongsu Church (state-controlled body) Chilgol Church (state-controlled body)

Roman Catholic Church	Roman Catholicism in South Korea • Roman Catholicism in North Korea

Eastern Orthodox Church	Korean Orthodox Church • Church of the Life-Giving Trinity

Missionaries	Gregorious de Cespedes Horace Newton Allen Henry Appenzeller James Scarth Gale Jonathan Goforth Rosetta Sherwood Hall George Heber Jones Bill Majors Nagasaka John Livingstone Nevius William Noble Donald Owens William D. Reynolds Robert Jermain Thomas Horace Grant Underwood Tom Vasel

United States Ambassadors to Korea

Envoy	Foote Foulk Parker Foulk Dinsmore Heard Sill Allen Morgan

Ambassador	Muccio Briggs Lacy Dowling McConaughy Berger Brown Porter Habib Sneider Gleysteen Walker Lilley Gregg Laney Bosworth Hubbard Hill Vershbow Stephens Kim Lippert

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 52759159 LCCN: n80090036 ISNI: 0000 0000 8382 8479 GND: 129109401 NDL: 00431283

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