Henry Martyn

Henry Martyn was born in Cornwall in 1781 and following a brilliant academic career at Cambridge was ordained in 1803 as a curate to Charles Simeon. He was not accepted by the Church Missionary Society and more disappointment followed when a proposal of marriage was rejected.

In 1805 sailed to Calcutta, and he spent less than ten years in his beloved India, but the legacy he left that country lasts to this day. Three distinct translations of the New testament are material witnesses to his dedication, but he also spoke and wrote to every level of Indian society as well as opening several schools. Despite personal physical hardships, Martyn persevered to bring the saving knowledge of Christ and the Gospel to a pantheistic, pagan culture.

On his way home in 1812, constant fever and the arduous journey caused his death and he was buried in Tokat, Armenia. His journals were brought home and remain among the classics of devotional literature.