William Edward Soothill, FRGS (1861 – 1935) was a Methodist missionary to China who later became Professor of Chinese at the University of Oxford, and a leading British sinologist.
Born in Halifax, Yorkshire in January 1861, Soothill matriculated at London University.
[2] In 1921, he was awarded the Order of Wen-Hu (third class) by the Republic of China in recognition of services rendered in connection with the Chinese Labour Corps in France.
In 1926 he was a member of Lord Willingdon's delegation to China on the settlement of the Boxer Rebellion indemnities.
The Methodist Archives Biographical Index: Minutes of Conference 1958 and Encyclopedia of World Methodism (1974)