Vyvyan Donnithorne

The Venerable

Vyvyan Henry Donnithorne

MC MA
The Venerable; Vyvyan Henry Donnithorne; MC MA
Archdeacon of Western Szechwan
	V. H. Donnithorne at West China Union University, 1931.
Church	Church in China
Diocese	Western Szechwan
Installed	1935
Term ended	1949
Predecessor	Frederick Boreham
Personal details
Born	8 January 1886; Twickenham, England
Died	12 December 1968 (aged 82); British Hong Kong
Buried	Hong Kong Cemetery
Nationality	British
Denomination	Anglican
Spouse	Gladys Emma Ingram
Children	Audrey Donnithorne
Alma mater	Christ's Hospital; Clare College, Cambridge; Ridley Hall, Cambridge;

The Venerable Vyvyan Henry Donnithorne, MC, MA (8 January 1886 – 12 December 1968) was Archdeacon of Western Szechwan from 1935 to 1949.

Biography

Vyvyan Donnithorne was of Cornish descent.^[1] He was educated at Christ's Hospital, Clare College, Cambridge and Ridley Hall, Cambridge.^[2] After wartime service^[3] in the Royal Hampshire Regiment^[4] he was ordained in 1919. He was a member of the Church Missionary Society in Szechwan (now romanized as Sichuan), West China from 1920 to 1949.^[5]^[6] He served as pastor in the Gospel Church of Hanchow, since 1929.^[7] He was a chaplain in the Canary Islands, Spain from 1949 to 1953.^[8] In retirement, he lived in Hong Kong.^[9] He died in 1968 and was buried in Hong Kong Cemetery.^[10]

He was the father of Audrey Donnithorne;^[11] and was one of the key figures in the discovery of the archaeological site now known as Sanxingdui.^[12] A well to do farmer had discovered jade implements while dredging an irrigation ditch in 1927.^[13] This was near Hanchow, where Donnithorne was stationed, and the discovery was brought to his attention in 1931. He recognized the importance of the discovery and contacted a local magistrate as well as Daniel S. Dye, a professor of geology at West China Union University. The three of them then visited the site and photographed and measured it. Through the magistrate, a few items were acquired and sent to the museum at WCUU. Then, in 1934, David Crockett Graham, the new director of the museum at WCUU, organized the first archaeological excavation of the site.^[13]^[14]

Notes

^ Donnithorne, Audrey G. (29 March 2019). China: In Life's Foreground. North Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing. ISBN 9781925801576.
^ ‘DONNITHORNE, Rev. Vyvyan Henry’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, April 2014 accessed 6 July 2017
^ National Archives
^ National Archives
^ "Audrey Donnithorne obituary". thetimes.co.uk. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
^ Mission Studies
^ Ao, Tianzhao (2000). "三星堆古文化、古城、古国遗址发现始末" [The History of Discovery of the Ancient Sanxingdui Culture, and Ruins of Ancient Cities and Kingdoms of Shu]. 巴蜀史志 [Historical Records of Bashu] (in Simplified Chinese) (4): 39. ISSN 1671-265X. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
^ Crockford's Clerical Directory 1938 p2011: Oxford, OUP, 1938
^ GWULO
^ "Donnithorne, Vyvyan Henry". hkmemory.hk. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
^ Zhang, Emma (10 January 2021). "Book Review: China: In Life's Foreground". hkrbooks.com. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
^ "谁发现了三星堆？寻找九十年前揭开古蜀之谜的关键人物" [Who Discovered Sanxingdui? Looking for the Key Person Who Uncovered the Mystery of the Ancient Shu Kingdom 90 Years Ago]. new.qq.com (in Simplified Chinese). 15 April 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
^ ^a ^b Xu, Jay (2011). "Lithic Artifacts from Yueliangwan: Research Notes on an Early Discovery at the Sanxingdui Site". In Silbergeld, Jerome; Ching, Dora C. Y.; Smith, Judith G.; Merck, Alfreda (eds.). Bridges to Heaven: Essays on East Asian Art in Honor of Professor Wen C. Fong, Volume I. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-15298-1.
^ Graham, David C. (1934). "A Preliminary Report of the Hanchow Excavation". Journal of the West China Border Research Society. 6: 114–131.

[1] Donnithorne, Audrey G. (29 March 2019). China: In Life's Foreground. North Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing. ISBN 9781925801576.

[2] ‘DONNITHORNE, Rev. Vyvyan Henry’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, April 2014 accessed 6 July 2017

[3] National Archives

[4] National Archives

[5] "Audrey Donnithorne obituary". thetimes.co.uk. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2021.

[6] Mission Studies

[7] Ao, Tianzhao (2000). "三星堆古文化、古城、古国遗址发现始末" [The History of Discovery of the Ancient Sanxingdui Culture, and Ruins of Ancient Cities and Kingdoms of Shu]. 巴蜀史志 [Historical Records of Bashu] (in Simplified Chinese) (4): 39. ISSN 1671-265X. Retrieved 18 May 2021.

[8] Crockford's Clerical Directory 1938 p2011: Oxford, OUP, 1938

[9] GWULO

[10] "Donnithorne, Vyvyan Henry". hkmemory.hk. Retrieved 9 May 2021.

[11] Zhang, Emma (10 January 2021). "Book Review: China: In Life's Foreground". hkrbooks.com. Retrieved 9 May 2021.

[12] "谁发现了三星堆？寻找九十年前揭开古蜀之谜的关键人物" [Who Discovered Sanxingdui? Looking for the Key Person Who Uncovered the Mystery of the Ancient Shu Kingdom 90 Years Ago]. new.qq.com (in Simplified Chinese). 15 April 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.

[JayXu2-13] Xu, Jay (2011). "Lithic Artifacts from Yueliangwan: Research Notes on an Early Discovery at the Sanxingdui Site". In Silbergeld, Jerome; Ching, Dora C. Y.; Smith, Judith G.; Merck, Alfreda (eds.). Bridges to Heaven: Essays on East Asian Art in Honor of Professor Wen C. Fong, Volume I. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-15298-1.

[14] Graham, David C. (1934). "A Preliminary Report of the Hanchow Excavation". Journal of the West China Border Research Society. 6: 114–131.

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Biography

See also

Notes