People · Southern Baptist missionary, interpreter, municipal councillor
Matthew Tyson Yates
晏玛太Yànmǎtài · 1819–1888
American Southern Baptist missionary in Shanghai from 1847, later an interpreter, real-estate dealer and member of the municipal councils in the 1860s.
Matthew Tyson Yates (晏玛太, Yànmǎtài) was an American Southern Baptist missionary who arrived in Shanghai in 1847 and, over time, took on civic and commercial roles in the foreign settlements.
According to the Shanghai Concessions Gazetteer, he learned the local dialect by visiting wine shops and teahouses and built a church outside the Old North Gate in November 1847. During the Small Sword uprising of 1853 he stayed at a church near the fighting, sent reports to his consul and to the North-China Herald, and helped the Shanghai daotai, Wu Jianzhang (吴健彰, Wú Jiànzhāng), escape the rebels’ custody.
When the American Civil War cut off the mission’s funds in 1860, Yates worked as translator for the Municipal Council and the American consulate. The gazetteer lists him as a director of the French Municipal Council in 1866-1867 and of the Shanghai Municipal Council in 1868-1869, at times as US vice-consul and as Mixed Court assessor. He also traded in real estate.
Timeline
- 1847Arrived in Shanghai; built a church outside the Old North Gate in November1
- 1853Stayed near the fighting in the Small Sword uprising; helped daotai Wu Jianzhang escape1
- 1860Took work as interpreter after the US Civil War cut mission funds1
- 1866Director of the French Municipal Council, 1866-18671
- 1868Director of the Shanghai Municipal Council, 1868-18691
Connections
- Wu Jianzhang吴健彰Helped Wu Jianzhang escape the Small Sword rebels, 1853