The Rev. Alex Gregory, a young minister, and Dr James M. Howie, trained at Edinburgh, came out to China in 1888 and began work at Chang-pu (Changpoo) early in 1889. Gregory opened a boys' school but was invalided in 1892; he continued his interest in the mission until his death in 1945. Howie was joined by his wife after two years; he died of tuberculosis, aged 43, in 1904, Edward Band, ‘Working his purpose out: the history of the English Presbyterian Mission, 1847-1947' (London, 1948), pp. 311-314).