Rudolf Alfred Bosshardt

Who was Rudolf Alfred Bosshardt?

Rudolf Alfred Bosshardt was a Protestant Christian missionary in China. He served with the China Inland Mission. He was born of Swiss parents in Manchester and was accepted for training by the China Inland Mission in 1920. Within two years he departed for China and was assigned to work in Guizhou province. He was married to Rose Piaget in Guiyang in June 1931. On 1 October 1934, exactly 12 years after he had left for China, while returning from a prayer conference with Rose and several other missionaries they were captured by soldiers of the Red Army led by general Xiao Ke. Rose was later released but he and a fellow missionary were forced to join the Red Army on the weary trek which became known as the Long March. He trudged 2500 miles during the 18 months of captivity. He was released on Easter morning 1936 after 560 days of captivity. The book "The Restraining Hand" tells the story of this captivity. General Xiao Ke had translated Alfred's book " The guiding hand" into Chinese in 1989 calling it the most accurate story on the Long March ever written by any foreigner. Being restored to health in Europe and doing many speaking engagements he returned to China in 1940 until, like many foreign missionaries, he and Rose were expelled from China in 1951. They went on to work in Laos among the many Chinese in Laos. Following Rose's death in 1965, he returned and settled in Manchester in 1966, still opening his house to Chinese students. There he continued a fruitful ministry to the Chinese and was a founder-member of the Manchester Chinese Christian Church, while remaining a faithful member of Union Hall Evangelical Church. The longest mile was his last mile which he spent in a house of retired missionaries of the C.I.M. in Pembury, Turnbridge Wells, Kent. He died at the age of 96 of bronchitis in his room at Cornford House.