Henry Martyn
Encyclopedia
Henry Martyn was an Anglican priest and missionary
to the peoples of India
and Persia
. Born in Truro, Cornwall
, he was educated at Truro Grammar School and St John's College, Cambridge
. A chance encounter with Charles Simeon
led him to become a missionary. He was ordained a priest in the Church of England
and became a chaplain for the British East India Company
.
Martyn arrived in India in April 1806, where he preached and occupied himself in the study of linguistics. He translated the whole of the New Testament
into Urdu
, Persian
and Judaeo-Persic. He also translated the Psalms
into Persian and the Book of Common Prayer
into Urdu. From India, he set out for Bushire, Shiraz
, Isfahan
, and Tabriz
.
Martyn was seized with fever, and, though the plague was raging at Tokat
, he was forced to stop there, unable to continue. On 16 October 1812 he died. He was remembered for his courage, selflessness and his religious devotion. In parts of the Anglican Communion
he is celebrated with a Lesser Festival on 19 October.
. His father, John Martyn, was a "captain" or mine-agent at Gwennap
. As a boy, he was educated at Truro grammar school under Dr Cardew and he entered St John's College, Cambridge
, in the autumn of 1797, and was senior wrangler and first Smith's prizeman in 1801. In 1802, he was chosen as a fellow of his college.
He had intended to go to the bar, but in the October term of 1802 he chanced to hear Charles Simeon
speaking of the good done in India by a single missionary
, William Carey, and some time afterwards he read the life of David Brainerd
, a missionary to the Native Americans
. He resolved, accordingly, to become a missionary himself. On 22 October 1803, he was ordained deacon at Ely
, and afterwards priest, and served as Simeon's curate at the church of Holy Trinity, taking charge of the neighbouring parish of Lolworth
.
and left for India
on 5 July 1805. On his voyage to the East, Martyn happened to be present at the British
conquest
of the Cape Colony
on 8 January 1806. He spent that day tending to the dying soldiers and was distressed by seeing the horrors of war. He would come away feeling that it was Britain's destiny to convert, not colonize, the world. He wrote in his diary:
, where he was soon able to conduct worship among the locals in the vernacular, and established schools. In April 1809, he was transferred to Cawnpore, where he preached to British and Indians in his own compound, in spite of interruptions and threats from local non-Christians.
He occupied himself in linguistic study, and had already, during his residence at Dinapur, been engaged in revising the sheets of his Hindustani
version of the New Testament
. He now translated the whole of the New Testament into Urdu
also, and into Persian
twice. He translated the Psalms
into Persian, the Gospels into Judaeo-Persic, and the Book of Common Prayer
into Urdu, in spite of ill-health and "the pride, pedantry and fury of his chief munshi Sabat." Ordered by the doctors to take a sea voyage, he obtained leave to go to Persia and correct his Persian New Testament. From there, he wanted to go to Arabia, and there compose an Arabic
version. On 1 October 1810, having seen his work at Cawnpore rewarded on the previous day by the opening of a church, he left for Calcutta, from where he sailed on 7 January 1811 for Bombay. The ship reached port on his thirtieth birthday.
to men of position there, as also at Shiraz
and Isfahan
. After an exhausting journey from the coast he reached Shiraz, and was soon plunged into discussion with the disputants of all classes, "Sufi, Muslim, Jew, and Jewish Muslim, even Armenian, all anxious to test their powers of argument with the first English priest who had visited them." He next traveled to Tabriz
to attempt to present the Shah
with his translation of the New Testament, which proved unsuccessful. Sir Gore Ouseley
, the British ambassador to the Shah, was unable to bring about a meeting, but did deliver the manuscript. Although Martyn could not present the Bible in person, the Shah later wrote him a letter:
At this time, he was seized with fever, and after a temporary recovery, had to seek a change of climate. He set off for Constantinople
, where he intended to return on furlough to England to regain his strength and recruit help for the missions in India. On 12 September 1812, he started with two Armenia
n servants and crossed the Aras River. Urged on from place to place by their Tatar guide, they rode from Tabriz to Erivan
, from Erivan to Kars
, and from Kars to Erzurum
. They departed Erzurum and though the plague was raging at Tokat
, he was forced to stop there, unable to continue. He wrote his final journal entry on 6 October. It read, in part:
On 16 October 1812 he died and was given a Christian burial
by Armenian clergy
.
He was heard to say, "Let me burn out for God". An indication of his zeal for the things of God.
's Epitaph, composed early in 1813, testified to the impression made by his career:
An institution was established in his name in India, called the Henry Martyn Institute: An Interfaith Centre for Reconciliation and Research, Hyderabad, India. John McManners
wrote in his Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity that Martyn was a man remembered for his courage, selflessness and his religious devotion. In parts of the Anglican Communion
he is celebrated with a Lesser Festival on 19 October.
The Henry Martyn Trust based in Cambridge, England can trace its history back to 1897, at a time of great enthusiasm in Cambridge for overseas missions, when an appeal was launched for a 'Proposed Missionary Library for Cambridge University', to be housed in the Henry Martyn Hall, erected ten years previously.
The Henry Martyn Library opened in the Hall in 1898, and there it remained as a small collection of missionary biographies and other books until 1995. The evolution of the Henry Martyn Library into the present Henry Martyn Centre began in 1992, when Canon Graham Kings, now Bishop of Sherborne, was appointed as the first Henry Martyn Lecturer in Missiology in the Cambridge Theological Federation.
In 1999 the Centre became an Associate Institute of the Cambridge Theological Federation, one of the largest providers of theological education in the United Kingdom.
Today, the Centre continues to seek to promote the study of mission and world Christianity, developing strong links with mission study centres around the world and fulfilling the same aim that was stated by the founders of the Library in 1897.
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
to the peoples of India
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
and Persia
Qajar dynasty
The Qajar dynasty was an Iranian royal family of Turkic descent who ruled Persia from 1785 to 1925....
. Born in Truro, Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, he was educated at Truro Grammar School and St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
. A chance encounter with Charles Simeon
Charles Simeon
Charles Simeon , was an English evangelical clergyman.He was born at Reading, Berkshire and educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge. In 1782 he became fellow of King's College, and took orders, receiving the living of Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, in the following year...
led him to become a missionary. He was ordained a priest in the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
and became a chaplain for the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
.
Martyn arrived in India in April 1806, where he preached and occupied himself in the study of linguistics. He translated the whole of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
into Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
, Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
and Judaeo-Persic. He also translated the Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
into Persian and the Book of Common Prayer
Book of Common Prayer
The Book of Common Prayer is the short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion, as well as by the Continuing Anglican, "Anglican realignment" and other Anglican churches. The original book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English...
into Urdu. From India, he set out for Bushire, Shiraz
Shiraz, Iran
Shiraz is the sixth most populous city in Iran and is the capital of Fars Province, the city's 2009 population was 1,455,073. Shiraz is located in the southwest of Iran on the Roodkhaneye Khoshk seasonal river...
, Isfahan
Isfahan (city)
Isfahan , historically also rendered in English as Ispahan, Sepahan or Hispahan, is the capital of Isfahan Province in Iran, located about 340 km south of Tehran. It has a population of 1,583,609, Iran's third largest city after Tehran and Mashhad...
, and Tabriz
Tabriz
Tabriz is the fourth largest city and one of the historical capitals of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former...
.
Martyn was seized with fever, and, though the plague was raging at Tokat
Tokat
Tokat is the capital city of Tokat Province of Turkey, at the mid Black Sea region of Anatolia. According to the 2009 census, the city of Tokat has a population of 129,879.-History:Tokat was established in the Hittite era....
, he was forced to stop there, unable to continue. On 16 October 1812 he died. He was remembered for his courage, selflessness and his religious devotion. In parts of the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
he is celebrated with a Lesser Festival on 19 October.
Early life
Martyn was born in Truro, CornwallCornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
. His father, John Martyn, was a "captain" or mine-agent at Gwennap
Gwennap
Gwennap is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately five miles southeast of Redruth....
. As a boy, he was educated at Truro grammar school under Dr Cardew and he entered St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
, in the autumn of 1797, and was senior wrangler and first Smith's prizeman in 1801. In 1802, he was chosen as a fellow of his college.
He had intended to go to the bar, but in the October term of 1802 he chanced to hear Charles Simeon
Charles Simeon
Charles Simeon , was an English evangelical clergyman.He was born at Reading, Berkshire and educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge. In 1782 he became fellow of King's College, and took orders, receiving the living of Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, in the following year...
speaking of the good done in India by a single missionary
Mission (Christian)
Christian missionary activities often involve sending individuals and groups , to foreign countries and to places in their own homeland. This has frequently involved not only evangelization , but also humanitarian work, especially among the poor and disadvantaged...
, William Carey, and some time afterwards he read the life of David Brainerd
David Brainerd
David Brainerd was an American missionary to the Native Americans who had a particularly fruitful ministry among the Delaware Indians of New Jersey. During his short life he was beset by many difficulties...
, a missionary to the Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
. He resolved, accordingly, to become a missionary himself. On 22 October 1803, he was ordained deacon at Ely
Ely, Cambridgeshire
Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about by road from London. It is built on a Lower Greensand island, which at a maximum elevation of is the highest land in the Fens...
, and afterwards priest, and served as Simeon's curate at the church of Holy Trinity, taking charge of the neighbouring parish of Lolworth
Lolworth
Lolworth is a small village and civil parish in the district of South Cambridgeshire, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England, located approximately northwest of Cambridge city centre...
.
Missionary work
Martyn wanted to offer his services to the Church Missionary Society, when a financial disaster in Cornwall deprived him and his unmarried sister of the income their father had left for them. It was necessary for Martyn to earn an income that would support his sister as well as himself. He accordingly obtained a chaplaincy under the British East India CompanyBritish East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
and left for India
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
on 5 July 1805. On his voyage to the East, Martyn happened to be present at the British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
conquest
Battle of Blaauwberg
The Battle of Blaauwberg, also known as the Battle of Cape Town, fought near Cape Town on 8 January 1806, was a small but significant military engagement. It established British rule in South Africa, which was to have many ramifications during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries...
of the Cape Colony
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
on 8 January 1806. He spent that day tending to the dying soldiers and was distressed by seeing the horrors of war. He would come away feeling that it was Britain's destiny to convert, not colonize, the world. He wrote in his diary:
India
Martyn arrived in India in April 1806, and for some months he was stationed at Aldeen, near Serampur. In October 1806, he proceeded to DinapurDanapur
Danapur , sometimes known as Dinapur or Dinapore is a satellite town of Patna in Bihar state of India. It is located on the bank of the River Sone which merges with River Ganges at Digha a few kilometers from Danapur...
, where he was soon able to conduct worship among the locals in the vernacular, and established schools. In April 1809, he was transferred to Cawnpore, where he preached to British and Indians in his own compound, in spite of interruptions and threats from local non-Christians.
He occupied himself in linguistic study, and had already, during his residence at Dinapur, been engaged in revising the sheets of his Hindustani
Hindustani language
Hindi-Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language and the lingua franca of North India and Pakistan. It is also known as Hindustani , and historically, as Hindavi or Rekhta...
version of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
. He now translated the whole of the New Testament into Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
also, and into Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
twice. He translated the Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
into Persian, the Gospels into Judaeo-Persic, and the Book of Common Prayer
Book of Common Prayer
The Book of Common Prayer is the short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion, as well as by the Continuing Anglican, "Anglican realignment" and other Anglican churches. The original book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English...
into Urdu, in spite of ill-health and "the pride, pedantry and fury of his chief munshi Sabat." Ordered by the doctors to take a sea voyage, he obtained leave to go to Persia and correct his Persian New Testament. From there, he wanted to go to Arabia, and there compose an Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
version. On 1 October 1810, having seen his work at Cawnpore rewarded on the previous day by the opening of a church, he left for Calcutta, from where he sailed on 7 January 1811 for Bombay. The ship reached port on his thirtieth birthday.
Final voyage and death
From Bombay he set out for Bushire, bearing letters from Sir John MalcolmJohn Malcolm
Major-general Sir John Malcolm was a Scottish soldier, statesman, and historian-Early life:Born at Burnfoot, Dumfriesshire, Malcolm was the son of George Malcolm, a gentleman farmer of Eskdale and Burnfoot. Jock, as he was then known, was one of the four Malcolm brothers who attained knighthoods...
to men of position there, as also at Shiraz
Shiraz, Iran
Shiraz is the sixth most populous city in Iran and is the capital of Fars Province, the city's 2009 population was 1,455,073. Shiraz is located in the southwest of Iran on the Roodkhaneye Khoshk seasonal river...
and Isfahan
Isfahan (city)
Isfahan , historically also rendered in English as Ispahan, Sepahan or Hispahan, is the capital of Isfahan Province in Iran, located about 340 km south of Tehran. It has a population of 1,583,609, Iran's third largest city after Tehran and Mashhad...
. After an exhausting journey from the coast he reached Shiraz, and was soon plunged into discussion with the disputants of all classes, "Sufi, Muslim, Jew, and Jewish Muslim, even Armenian, all anxious to test their powers of argument with the first English priest who had visited them." He next traveled to Tabriz
Tabriz
Tabriz is the fourth largest city and one of the historical capitals of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former...
to attempt to present the Shah
Shah
Shāh is the title of the ruler of certain Southwest Asian and Central Asian countries, especially Persia , and derives from the Persian word shah, meaning "king".-History:...
with his translation of the New Testament, which proved unsuccessful. Sir Gore Ouseley
Gore Ouseley
Sir Gore Ouseley, 1st Baronet GCH , was a British entrepreneur, linguist and diplomat. He was born in 1770 and died at Hall Barn Park, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire in 1844...
, the British ambassador to the Shah, was unable to bring about a meeting, but did deliver the manuscript. Although Martyn could not present the Bible in person, the Shah later wrote him a letter:
At this time, he was seized with fever, and after a temporary recovery, had to seek a change of climate. He set off for Constantinople
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, where he intended to return on furlough to England to regain his strength and recruit help for the missions in India. On 12 September 1812, he started with two Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
n servants and crossed the Aras River. Urged on from place to place by their Tatar guide, they rode from Tabriz to Erivan
Yerevan
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
, from Erivan to Kars
Kars
Kars is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. The population of the city is 73,826 as of 2010.-Etymology:As Chorzene, the town appears in Roman historiography as part of ancient Armenia...
, and from Kars to Erzurum
Erzurum
Erzurum is a city in Turkey. It is the largest city, the capital of Erzurum Province. The city is situated 1757 meters above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 361,235 in the 2000 census. .Erzurum, known as "The Rock" in NATO code, served as NATO's southeastern-most air force post during the...
. They departed Erzurum and though the plague was raging at Tokat
Tokat
Tokat is the capital city of Tokat Province of Turkey, at the mid Black Sea region of Anatolia. According to the 2009 census, the city of Tokat has a population of 129,879.-History:Tokat was established in the Hittite era....
, he was forced to stop there, unable to continue. He wrote his final journal entry on 6 October. It read, in part:
On 16 October 1812 he died and was given a Christian burial
Christian burial
A Christian burial is the burial of a deceased person with specifically Christian ecclesiastical rites; typically, in consecrated ground. Until recent times Christians generally objected to cremation, and practised inhumation almost exclusively, but this opposition has weakened, and now vanished...
by Armenian clergy
Armenian Apostolic Church
The Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest National Church, is part of Oriental Orthodoxy, and is one of the most ancient Christian communities. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD, in establishing this church...
.
He was heard to say, "Let me burn out for God". An indication of his zeal for the things of God.
Legacy
His devotion to his tasks won him much admiration in Great Britain and he was the hero of a number of literary publications. Thomas Babington MacaulayThomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay PC was a British poet, historian and Whig politician. He wrote extensively as an essayist and reviewer, and on British history...
's Epitaph, composed early in 1813, testified to the impression made by his career:
An institution was established in his name in India, called the Henry Martyn Institute: An Interfaith Centre for Reconciliation and Research, Hyderabad, India. John McManners
John McManners
John "Jack" McManners CBE FBA was a British clergyman and historian of religion who specialized in the history of the Church and other aspects of religious life in 18th century France...
wrote in his Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity that Martyn was a man remembered for his courage, selflessness and his religious devotion. In parts of the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
he is celebrated with a Lesser Festival on 19 October.
The Henry Martyn Trust based in Cambridge, England can trace its history back to 1897, at a time of great enthusiasm in Cambridge for overseas missions, when an appeal was launched for a 'Proposed Missionary Library for Cambridge University', to be housed in the Henry Martyn Hall, erected ten years previously.
The Henry Martyn Library opened in the Hall in 1898, and there it remained as a small collection of missionary biographies and other books until 1995. The evolution of the Henry Martyn Library into the present Henry Martyn Centre began in 1992, when Canon Graham Kings, now Bishop of Sherborne, was appointed as the first Henry Martyn Lecturer in Missiology in the Cambridge Theological Federation.
In 1999 the Centre became an Associate Institute of the Cambridge Theological Federation, one of the largest providers of theological education in the United Kingdom.
Today, the Centre continues to seek to promote the study of mission and world Christianity, developing strong links with mission study centres around the world and fulfilling the same aim that was stated by the founders of the Library in 1897.
See also
Henry Martyn Centre- Henry Martyn Hall, Cambridge, built 1887
- Saints in AnglicanismSaints in AnglicanismIn a catholic sense the term "saint" refers to any spiritually saved person—however, since the 10th century, the title "Saint" is only given to persons who have been officially recognised by the Church for outstanding Christian service and conduct. In the days when the Church of England was...
- List of missionaries in India
Further reading
- Padwick, Constance. Henry Martyn: Confessor of the Faith, Inter-Varsity Fellowship: London (1953).
- Bentley-Taylor, David. My Love Must Wait: the Story of Henry Martyn, Downers Grove: IVP (1975).
- Henry, B. V. Forsaking All for Christ: A Biography of Henry Martyn London: Chapter Two, 2003.
- Sargent, John. Memoir of the Rev. Henry Martyn B. D., London: Hatchard (1816). Links to editions from 1820 and 1844
- Kellsye M. Finnie, Beyond the Minarets: A Biography of Henry Martyn Bromley: STL Books, 1988
- Smith, George. Henry Martyn, Saint and Scholar, London: Religious Tract Society (1892).
- Martyn, Henry in the Christian Cyclopedia