Henry Martyn
Henry Martyn was a Cambridge prodigy who turned from a glittering academic future to the mission field. Arriving in India in 1806 as an East India Company chaplain, he threw himself into translation, producing a New Testament in Hindustani (Urdu) and then, travelling on to Persia, a New Testament and Psalms in Persian. Frail and driven, he burned himself out and died of fever at Tokat in Anatolia in 1812, aged only thirty-one. His private journals were later published and became a devotional classic that stirred generations toward mission.
- Translated the New Testament into Hindustani (Urdu), and the New Testament and Psalms into Persian. Sargent
- 1781Born in Truro, Cornwall, England. Sargent
- 1806Sailed to India as a chaplain of the East India Company. Sargent
- 1810Completed his Hindustani (Urdu) New Testament; travelled on toward Persia. Sargent
- 1812Died of fever at Tokat, in Anatolia, aged 31. Sargent
His translations opened the Scriptures to millions of Urdu and Persian speakers, and his memoir made him one of the most influential missionary examples of the nineteenth century.
Martyn is often remembered in almost hagiographic terms, romanticised by his early death; his pioneering translations were later revised by others. The devotional memoirs are moving but should be read as devotion, not neutral biography.
John Sargent — A Memoir of the Rev. Henry MartynThe Letters of Henry MartynWikipedia — Henry Martyn
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