| James Scarth
Gale (February 19, 1863 – January 31, 1937) Missionary, Scholar, Translator
A Brief Biography A very full 88-page Biography of James Scarth Gale by Richard Rutt forms the Introduction to his edition of Gale's History.
1888 Graduated from
University College at the University of Toronto
with a B.A. in arts. Registered at Knox College
to study theology, then left for Korea
as a missionary volunteer with the YMCA. 1891 Joined the U.S.A.
Presbyterian Mission in Korea. 1892 Married Hattie (née
Gibson) Heron, widow of his friend, Dr. J.W.
Heron, who had died in 1890. From 1892-1897 the Gales
lived in Wonsan while Gale served as member of
the “Board of Official Translators” of the
Korean Bible. He worked with Henry G.
Appenzeller, Horace G. Underwood, William B.
Scranton, and William D. Reynolds. 1894 Published Korean Grammatical
Forms (Seoul: Trilingual
Press) 1895 Published a Korean translation
prepared by his wife and himself of
John Bunyan’s The
Pilgrim’s Progress (Seoul: Trilingual
Press) as 천
로역정
天路歷程 with
illustrations in archaic Sino-Korean style. 1898 Returned to Korea. 1900 Gale founded Yeondong Church
in Seoul, where he remained as pastor until he
left Korea. In the same year, he was one of the
founding members of the Royal Asiatic Society
Korea Branch, of which he became the first
Corresponding Secretary, and on October 24 he
presented the first paper, on "The Influence of
China upon Korea." Later, in 1915, he served as
the Society's President. In 1900 Mrs. Gale and
her daughters went to Switzerland where they
remained for six years. 1903 Gale was one of the
founding members of the Hansong Young Men’s
Christian Association, presently the Korean YMCA
and was elected as its first president.
Travelled via the Trans-Siberian Railway to
Switzerland where he spent six months.
Wrote and published The Vanguard
(New York: Fleming H. Revell) Received an
honorary degree, Doctor of Divinity, from Howard
University, Washington, D.C. 1906 Spent a year’s leave in
Washington 1907 Returned to Korea with
his family. Mrs. Gale became ill and died the
following year. 1909 Published Korea in Transition
(New York: Young People’s Missionary Movement of
the United States and Canada) 1910 Married Ada Louise Sale,
from England, who had grown up in Japan 1911 Birth of George James
Marley Gale 1917 Vivian Scarth Gale
died in Chemulpo on August 7 during a viisit
to Fr, Drake (Anglican), causing his father
intense grief. 1917-1919 Edited (and wrote
the contents of) the Korea Magazine,
a monthly review, until just after the March 1
1919 Independence Movement, when it ceased to
appear. 1918 Birth of Ada Alexandra
Gale 1922 Published a translation
of a work by Kim Man-Choong, The
Cloud Dream of the Nine
(London: Daniel O’Connor) 1924-6 Wrote his History of
the Korean People, publishing it in
installments in The Korea
Mission Field. 1937 Died in Bath January
31st at the end of a gradual decline. Gale is
buried in Lansdown cemetery, overlooking Bath.
A Brief Bibliography of Works by
Gale which are available online Books
in English
Articles Gale,
James S. The
Influence of China upon Korea.Transactions of the
Korea Branch of the Royal Asiatic
Society, Vol. I:1-24
In his edition of History of the Korean People Richard Rutt included a copious Bibliography of all his own sources, and also a Bibliography of all the publications by James Gale (English and Korean) which is here available as a PDF scan
 Texts by and about James
Gale available through Brother Anthony's siteJames Gale published short
installments of his History in
the monthly magazine The Korea Mission
Field from July 1924 until September
1927. The work was never otherwise published
until Richard
Rutt published his edition in book
form as History
of the Korean People in 1972. The
book, published by RAS Korea, is still available for
purchase from RAS Korea). The History
itself has not yet been scanned but it is here
possible to read the translations included in it
as well as Gale's other articles from the Korea
Mission Field The Korea Magazine
From January 1917 until April 1919,
Gale was the main editor of the monthly magazine
The Korea Magazine and most though not
all of the contents were written by him.
Anonymous translations
of older texts (Goryeo and Joseon) assumed
to be by Gale, published in the Magazine
A number of completed translation projects by Gale have remained unpublished, preserved with his other papers in the University of Toronto Library. Now a team of scholars led by Prof. Ross King (UBC) are preparing to publish annotated editions of these in the James Scarth Gale Library of Korean Literature. Additional information about Gale and his work is available from the pages about the Gale Archive in the Library of the University of Toronto.
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