Mission and Revolution in Central Asia - Svenska Missionskyrkan

The Högberg couple got their financial support during all the years in the mission field
from “mission friends” in Gotland.
Adolf Bohlin arrived in the mission field, shortly after the printing press in 1912.
Before his departure he had gone through typographical training, and in Kashgar he was
responsible for the printing for many years. 122 He was a skilled craftsman, but towards
the end of the 1910s he incurred criticism from his missionary colleagues for having
mismanaged his work. 123 He admitted his injudicious behaviour and left the mission field.
Later on he settled with a brother in America. 124
In 1920, Hilda Nordqvist and Ellen Törnquist went home definitely. They were both
nurses. Hilda Norqvist had been working in Kashgar and Mrs Törnquist in Hancheng.
They both went home with the group following the route across Mintaka. Miss Nordqvist
had poor lungs and was about to give up several times during the trying journey. Her
health was broken down totally during the journey, and she could never go back to the
mission field. 125 The numerous years in the mission field and the atrocities of the journey
back home had also broken down Hanna Arell in 1921. She was obliged to have hospital
care and could never return to the field. 126
When Mr and Mrs Gösta Raquette went home to Sweden in 1921 they had been
working in Eastern Turkestan for 25 years. During this period, Gösta Raquette had made
a pioneering and lasting work within medical care and linguistics. Within this latter field
he had produced such well documented work that he was given an associate
professorship in Turkish linguistics at the University of Lund. One of the advocates was
the associate professor Hannes Sköld, stating in 1923 that “Raquette’s position within
Turkology is outstanding”. 127 In 1937, Raquette was promoted Honorary Doctor of
Philosophy at the University of Lund. Moreover he was a member of the Society of
Science of Lund and of the Finnish-Uigur society of Helsinki. K.A. Adrup puts it in a
disrespectful way saying about Raquette that “he had converted the pagan dogs of
Eastern Turkestan, learning the language as a result.” 128
Lovisa Engvall broke with the Mission already in 1913. She remained in the country
however, working in the northern part of the province as a missionary and as a nurse in
private practice. She continued like this up to the middle of the 1930s when she was
reunited with the Mission in Kashgar, shortly before her journey back home.
She had arrived in Eastern Turkestan at the turn of the year 1900/1901. Her troubles
started already after a few years. She then turned to her brother C.J. Engvall, the first
MCCS missionary to the Congo, at the beginning of the 20 th century back home in
Sweden again. She tells him that she has been the object of malicious rumours and
122 Palmberg to Raquette, July, 22 nd , 1919.
123 Ahlbert to the Board, April, 20th, 1920. Arell to Lundahl, March 26 th , 1920.
124 Arell to Lundahl, March 26th, 1920.
125 The Ansgarius, 1924, p. 133 ff.
126 Palmaer, 1942, p. 107. Arell’s daughter, Mrs Svea Egeskog, confirms that “mum came home to Sweden,
bodily and mentally broken down”. (Egeskog to Hultvall, October, 19 th , 1977.) Mrs Arell’s father, Mr.
Larsson, accountant from Nora, writes about this in his memoirs. (Not published. Available in Partille , at
the Egeskogs.)
127 The Göteborgs Handels. och Sjöfartstidning, July 16 th , 1923. DEM, 1923, p. 141. One of Raquette’s
students in the 1920s was Gunnar Jarring. From 1933, Gunnar Jarring became associate professor in
Turkology, alongside with Raquette.
128 Westin, 1927, p. 898. Adrup, 1978, p. 111.
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