Joshua Marshman
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The Reverend Dr. Joshua Marshman was born in 1768 in Westbury Leigh, Wiltshire, England and died in Serampore, India in 1837.
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[edit] His family
Of his family little is known, except that they traced their descent from an officer in the Army of Cromwell: one of a band who, at the Restoration, relinquished, for conscience-sake all views of worldly aggrandisement, and retired into the country to support himself by his own industry.
His father John passed the early part of his life at sea and was engaged in the "Hind" Sloop of War, commanded by Captain Bond at the Capture of Quebec. Shortly after this he returned to England and in 1764 married Mary Couzener. She was a descendant of a Fench family who had sought refuge in England following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes; after his marriage he lived in Westbury Leigh and took up the trade of a weaver.
This occupation didn't pay well and he was unable to afford his son any education beyond that supplied in the village.
[edit] Early days
In 1791 Joshua married Hannah Marshman (née Shepherd) and later 1794 they moved from Westbury Leigh in Wiltshire to Bristol. In Bristol they joined the Broadmead Baptist Church and Marshman taught in a local Charity School supported by the church. At this time he also studied at Bristol Baptist College.
On the 29th May 1799 Joshua, Hannah and their then two children set out from Portsmouth for India aboard the ship "Criterion". Although there was a threat of a French naval attack the family landed safely at the Danish settlement of Serampore (a few miles north of Calcutta) on the 13th October 1799.
The couple were to eventually have 12 children; of these only five lived longer than their father. Their youngest daughter Hannah married Henry Havelock, who was to become a British General in India, and whose statue is in Trafalgar Square, London.
[edit] A talented scholar
Like the pioneer missionary William Carey with whom he had come to work, Marshman was a talented and gifted scholar. Marshman and Carey together translated the Bible into many Indian Languages as well as translating much classical Indian literature into English.
Marshman at this time also translated the Bible into Chinese - and had an important role in the development of Indian newspapers. He was a keen proponent of the new developments in educational practice and was keen to encourage school teaching in local languages, even though the colonial authorities preferred that lessons be given in English.
[edit] The founding of Serampore College
On the 5th July, 1818, William Carey, Joshua Marshman and William Ward (another member of their missionary team) issued a prospectus (written by Marshman) for a proposed new "College for the instruction of Asiatic, Christian, and other youth in Eastern literature and European science". Thus was born Serampore College - which still continues to this day.
At times funds were tight, and after a brief and false rumour alleging misapplication of funds caused the flow of funds being raised by Ward in America dried up, Carey wrote, "Dr. Marshman is as poor as I am, and I can scarcely lay by a sum monthly to relieve three or four indigent relatives in Europe. I might have had large possessions, but I have given my all, except what I ate, drank, and wore, to the cause of missions, and Dr. Marshman has done the same, and so did Mr. Ward."
[edit] Carey's children looked after
Marshman was appalled by the neglect with the way in which Carey looked after his four boys when he first met them in 1800. Aged 4, 7, 12 and 15, they were unmannered, undisciplined, and even uneducated. Carey had not spoiled, but rather simply ignored them. Marshman, his wife Hannah, and their friend the printer William Ward, took the boys in tow. Together they shaped the boys as Carey pampered his botanical specimens, performed his many missionary tasks and journeyed into Calcutta to teach at Fort William College. They offered the boys structure, instruction and companionship. To their credit - and little to Carey's - all four boys went on to useful careers.
[edit] The family tradition passes down to his son John Clark Marshman
Joshua's son, John Clark Marshman (1794-1877), was also to become an important part of the missionary work at the College; he was also an official Bengali translator and published a Guide to the Civil Law which, before the work of Macaulay, was the civil code of India; he also wrote a "History of India" (1842).
In his book "Carey, Marshman and Ward" John Marshman states that by his death his father had spent over £400,000 of his own money on his missionary related works in India.
[edit] The Bengal Obituary
An extract from the Bengal Obituary - 1848 gives us the following:
- " It would be impossible within the limits to which we must confine ourselves, to enumerate the plans which they formed for the mission, for translations of the sacred scriptures, and for education; or the obstacles which tried the strength of their principles. Neither is it possible to individualize Dr. Marshman’s efforts in every case; for, so complete was the unity of their designs, that it seemed as if three great souls had been united in one, so as to have but one object, and to be imbued with one impulse.
- But with this unity of design, there was necessarily a division of labour; and we may briefly state therefore the particular objects which engaged Dr. Marshman’s time and attention. In 1806, he applied himself diligently to the study of the Chinese language, and was enabled to publish a translation of the entire scriptures, and a grammar in that tongue. The Loll Bazaar Chapel, erected at a time when the means of religious instruction in Calcutta were small, and when religious feeling was at so low an ebb that even Martyn could not command, on an evening, a congregation of more than twenty, was mainly indebted for its existence to Dr. Marshman’s personal efforts. When the erection of it was suspended for lack of funds, he went about from house to house raising subscriptions for it; and for his pains was exhibited in masquerade, at an entertainment given to Lord Minto, as a "Pious Missionary, begging subscriptions."
- To him the Benevolent Institution in Calcutta was indebted for its birth and subsequent vigour. The idea of it was struck out when Dr. Leyden, Dr. Marshman, and Dr. Hare were dining together; and the prospectus, drawn up by Dr. Marshman, was carefully revised by Dr. Leyden. He continued to act as Secretary to the Institution to the last moment in which his health permitted him to act. He was also associated with Dr. Carey in the translation of the Ramayana into English, of which three volumes were published. To the plan of native schools, he gave up much time and labour; and the valuable "Hints" which he published, in the form of a pamphlet, just at the period when the first efforts were made for education in India, twenty-one years ago, was deemed worthy of being incorporated with one of the leading publications in England.
- In 1826, he revisited England after an absence of twenty-seven years, and travelled through the United Kingdom, endeavouring by his public addresses, and in private conversation, to urge on the cause of missions; and there are many now in India, to whom this notice will recall, with a melancholy pleasure, the warmth and animation which he was the means of communicating to their mind; on that subject. He visited Denmark, and was graciously received by his Majesty Frederick the Sixth, to whose steady and uninterrupted protection the mission may be said to have been indebted for its existence, when assailed by the British government.
- His Majesty was pleased to grant a charter of incorporation to the Serampore College, upon Dr. Marshman’s petition. He returned to Serampore in May 1829, and joined Dr. Carey and his associates in superintending the mission under the new form of an independent association, which it had acquired. In June, 1834, he was deprived of this venerable friend and colleague with whom he had been permitted to act for thirty-five years. He bore the separation with more firmness than was expected; but the dissolution of such an union, cemented by the noblest of all undertakings and sanctified by time, made a deep and indeed indelible impression on his mind. All the veneration and affection of his younger associates, could not fill up the void created by the loss of Dr. Carey. He appeared among us as the solitary relic of a past age of great men.
- The activity of his mind, however, though with occasional interruptions, continued till the mind itself appeared to be worn out. About six weeks before his death, he was taken out on the river by the advice of Dr. Nicolson and Dr. Voigt, but his constitution was exhausted. Yet when the excitement of this short excursion, which was extended to Fort Gloster, had given him a small return of strength, both bodily and mental, the energy of former times seemed again to come over him, and he passed several days in arranging plans of usefulness, the accomplishment of which would have required years. At length, on Tuesday, the 5th of December, he gently sank to rest, without pain or sorrow, in the lively enjoyment of that hope which is full of immortality.
- The form of Dr. Marshman was tall and athletic. His constitution appeared to be framed of iron. He exposed himself to all the severities of an Indian climate, with perfect impunity. He enjoyed, till within the last year of his life, such uninterrupted health as falls to the lot of few in India. During thirty-seven years he had not taken medicine to the value of 10 rupees. The strength of his body seemed to be admirably adapted, with the structure of his mind, to fit him for the long career of usefulness was permitted to run.
- He was peculiarly remarkable for his ceaseless industry. He usually rose at four, and despatched half the business of the day before breakfast. When extraordinary exertions appeared necessary, he seemed to have a perfect command over sleep, and has been known, for days together, to take less than half his usual quantity of rest. His memory was great beyond that of most men. He recalled facts, with all their minute associations, with the utmost facility. This faculty he enjoyed to the latest day of his existence.
- During the last month of his life, when unable even to turn on his couch without assistance, he dictated to his daughter, Mrs. Voigt, his recollections of the early establishment of the Mission at Serampore, with a clearness and minuteness perfectly astonishing. The vast stores of knowledge which he had laid up in early life, and to which he was making constant addition, rendered his personal intercourse in society a great enjoyment. His manners and deportment, particularly towards his inferiors, were remarkable for amenity and humility. To his family he was devoted almost to a fault, so that his enemies found in this subject a fertile field for crimination."
[edit] His memorial
His gravestone records him thus:
- Joshua Marshman, D. D.
- the last of the Serampore Missionaires,
- by whom Christian truth and general knowledge
- were introduced into these provinces,
- was born at Westbury Wilts, April 20th, 1768,
- died at Serampore, December 5th, 1837,
- and lies buried at the foot of this stone, in the
- same Cemetery with his beloved Colleagues,
- Carey and Ward.
"They that turn many to righteousness, shall shine as the stars for ever and ever."
[edit] Sources
- J.C Marshman - Life and Times of Carey, Marshman and Ward (2 vols., 1859)
- J.C.Marshman - Carey, Marshman & Ward (1864)
- John Clark Marshman (A trustworthy friend of India) - Sunil Kumar Chaterjee [2001]
[edit] Modern descendants
The late architect Arthur Marshman is a descendant of Joshua Marshman.
[edit] See also
- Article on the name Marshman
