| Administrative History | John Howard Lechler (1883-1977) MD, FRCS (Edinburgh), grandson of missionaries who served with CMS and the London Missionary Society was born in India. From the age of seven, he was educated in England at Mount Radford School, Exeter and St Lawrence College, Ramsgate. He qualified as a doctor in 1907 from Edinburgh University and in the same year was accepted by CMS as a medical missionary and, after 6 months missionary training, was sent to the West China Mission. In 1915 he returned to England to enlist for war service with R.A.M.C. but returned to China in 1922. In 1937 he was appointed to Changtu Union Christian University in charge of surgical work. He resigned in 1938 on appointment to the Edinburgh Medical Board and became Secretary to the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society during the Second World War. After the war, Dr and Mrs Lechler went out to India to serve for a time with the Dr Graham's Homes in Kalimpong.
Sources: Register of missionaries (Men 1908-1910) (List I 1830); obituary from the magazine of Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society (n.d.) (CMS/ACC456/Z5/5); 'Reminscences' |
| Custodial History | Deposited with the CMS in November 1980 and transferred to the Special Collections Department in July 2003 |