Martyn, Henry (1803-1805)

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VENN: Adm. pens. (age 16) at ST JOHN'S, May 27, 1797. 2nd s. of John, of Truro, Cornwall. B. [Feb. 18, 1781], in St Mary's parish, Truro. School, Truro Grammar. Matric. Michs. 1797; Scholar, 1797; B.A. (Senior Wrangler and 1st Smith's prize) 1801; Members' prize, 1802; M.A. 1804; B.D. (per Lit. Reg.) 1805. Fellow, 1802-12. Ord. deacon (Ely) Oct. 22, 1803; priest (Winchester, Litt. dim. from Ely), March 10, 1805. C. of Lolworth, Cambs., and of Holy Trinity, Cambridge, 1803-5. Obtained a chaplaincy on the Bengal establishment of the H.E.I. Co., 1805. Arrived at Calcutta, 1806, and proceeded to Dinapore, where he worked amongst Europeans and established native schools. In Cawnpore, 1809; opened a church there for natives. Worked at a Hindustani version of the New Testament; translated the Psalms into Persian, the Gospels into Judaeo-Persic and the Prayer Book into Hindustani. Obtained leave to visit Persia and to journey thence to Arabia to prepare an Arabic translation, 1811; seized with fever at Tabriz, he was nursed there by Sir Gore Ouseley, the English Ambassador. Left Tabriz with a Tartar guide and endured great hardships. Died of fever Oct. 16, 1812, at Tokat, Persia; buried there in the Armenian cementery. Left Journals and Letters, which were published in 1837. Sir James Stephen extols him as ‘the one heroic name which adorns the annals of the Church of England from the days of Elizabeth to our own.’ Portrait (lent by the University) in the Henry Martyn hall, Cambridge. (St John's Coll. Adm. IV. 376; Boase, Biblio. Cornub., III. 1275; D.N.B.; C. H. Cooper, Memorials of Cambridge; John Sargent, Memoir of Rev. Henry Martyn; G. Mag., 1813, I. 595.)

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