19 October
Henry Martyn, Translator of the Scriptures, Missionary in India and Persia, 1812
Henry Martyn was born in 1781, studied
at Cambridge, and became Senior Wrangler. (That is, he won the
Cambridge University annual mathematics problem-solving competition,
and was accordingly recognized as the University's best
undergraduate mathematician. "Wrangling" is a British University
expression for solving mathematical problems.) He had, moreover, a
considerable facility in languages. Under Simeon's encouragement, he
abandoned his intention of going into law and instead went to India
as a chaplain in 1806. In the six remaining years of his life, he
translated the New Testament into Hindi and Persian, revised an
Arabic translation of the New Testament, and translated the Psalter
into Persian and the Prayer Book into Hindi. In 1811 he left India
for Persia, hoping to do further translations and to improve his
existing ones, there and in Arabia. But travel in those days was not
a healthy occupation, and he fell ill and eventually died at Tokat
on October 16, 1812. (The American Kalendar commemorates him on 19
October.) He was buried by the Armenian church there, with the
honors ordinarily reserved for one of their own bishops. His diary
has been called "one of the most precious treasures of Anglican
devotion."
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