Horace Newton Allen
Horace Newton Allen (1858 - 1932) was a Protestant medical missionary and a diplomat from the United States. He was born in Delaware, Ohio in April 23, 1858. He received his B.S. at Ohio Wesleyan University, in 1881 and subsequently graduated from medical school in Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, in 1883.
At his own request, he was appointed on a mission to Korea by the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church. Soon after his arrival with his family on November 26, 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.
His connections in Korea enabled him to act in the role of a diplomat. In 1887 he accompanied the first Korean legation to Washington. In 1890, became secretary to the American legation in Seoul. By 1897 he was US minister and consul general. 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 and practiced medicine in Toledo, Ohio and died there on December 11, 1932.
His 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, (1900)
Supplement, (1903)
Things Korean, (Seoul, 1908)
External link
- http://chi.lcms.org/history/tih0423.htm
- Horace Newton Allen (1908), Things Korean: A Collection of Sketches and Anecdotes, Missionary and Diplomatic
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