Cecil Polhill

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Cecil Henry Polhill
Born
Cecil Henry Polhill-Turner

(1860-02-23)23 February 1860
Bedfordshire, England
Died9 March 1938(1938-03-09) (aged 78)
Hampstead, London, England
Alma mater
OccupationMissionary
SpouseEleanor Agnes Marston
Parents
RelativesArthur Twistleton Polhill (brother)

Cecil Henry Polhill, formerly Cecil Henry Polhill-Turner (23 February 1860[1] in Bedfordshire – 9 March 1938 in Hampstead, London[2]) was a British Anglican missionary and Pentecostal leader.

Early life[edit]

Cecil Henry Polhill was born on 23 February 1860, second son of Frederick Polhill-Turner and Emily Frances Barron.[3] He was educated at Eton College and Jesus College, Cambridge, before taking a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Bedfordshire Yeomanry.[4] In 1885 he and his brother, Arthur Twistleton Polhill, became affiliated with the China Inland Mission (CIM) as part of the Cambridge Seven missionary band.[5] They left London for western China on 5 February 1885. The Polhills studied local language in Hanzhong, southwest Shaanxi, then in 1887 moved into the neighbouring province Sichuan (formerly spelt Szechwan). Cecil Polhill was at first based at the provincial capital, Chengdu, and the eastern Sichuanese city Chongqing, but he felt drawn towards the people of Tibet.

Annie Royle Taylor's "Tibetan Pioneer Band" in Tibetan dress, of which Polhill assumed the leadership; c. 1894.

In 1894, at Annie Royle Taylor's suggestion, Polhill assumed the leadership of her Tibetan Pioneer Mission, whose members included Edvard Amundsen and Theo Sørensen. Under his guidance, the mission band continued their work in British Bhutan and on the Sino-Tibetan border.[6] After helping with mission work in Kalimpong, India in 1896, he moved to Tatsienlu, a Khams Tibetan city west of Sichuan,[7] where he established a missionary station along with other four CIM missionaries in 1897, which paved the way for the future construction of the Gospel Church of Tatsienlu.[8][9] He returned from China in 1900 in the wake of the Boxer Uprising.[10]

Christian evangelism[edit]

Upon his return from China, Polhill inherited a fortune, and spent much of his life donating to missionary causes.[11] In 1908 Polhill visited Azusa Street, Los Angeles, where he had a Pentecostal experience.[12] Before returning to England Polhill wrote a cheque for £1500 to pay off the mortgage on the Azusa Street building.[13] After returning to England Polhill attended Alexander Boddy's first Sunderland Convention,[14] and helped Boddy fund his Pentecostal periodical Confidence.[15] Polhill became the first President of the Pentecostal Missionary Union (PMU),[16] and administered it along China Inland Mission lines.[17] In 1925 the Executive Council of the PMU voted to merge with the British Assemblies of God, and so Polhill, an Anglican, resigned aged 65.[18] He maintained friendly relationships with the PMU, and missionaries in the field.

Personal life[edit]

In 1888, he married Eleanor Agnes Marston,[19] and their marriage produced six children, three daughters and three sons.[20]

Death[edit]

He died on 9 March 1938 Hampstead, London, England.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ P. Hocken, "Cecil H. Polhill - Pentecostal Layman", PNEUMA Vol.10/No2 (Fall 1988), 116-140.
  2. ^ "The Will of Cecil Henry Polhill", London Probate Department.
  3. ^ "The Polhill Family History". all-saints-church-renhold.org. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  4. ^ J.A. Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1973), 146.
  5. ^ J. Pollock, The Cambridge Seven (Fearn:Christian Focus Publications, 2006).
  6. ^ Suart Robson, Isabel (1909). Two Lady Missionaries in Tibet. London: S. W. Partridge & Co. pp. 88–89.
  7. ^ "Papers of Cecil and Arthur Polhill". archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  8. ^ Zi, Yu (2017). "A Description of CIM Missionary Workers to the Tibetan Highlands Prior to 1950". omf.org. Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  9. ^ Zhu, Yaling (2015). "传教士顾福安及其康藏研究" [The Missionary Robert Cunningham and His Tibetan Studies of the Khams Area] (PDF). 藏学学刊 [Journal of Tibetology] (in Simplified Chinese) (1). Chengdu: Center for Tibetan Studies of Sichuan University: 192. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  10. ^ J. Usher, "Cecil Henry Polhill: The Patron of the Pentecostals", PNEUMA 34 (2012), 40.
  11. ^ Usher, 50.
  12. ^ C.M.Robeck, The Azusa Street Mission and Revival (Nashville:Thomas Nelson, 2006, 69).
  13. ^ Robeck, 69.
  14. ^ Confidence Vol.3/No.8 (August 1910), 197
  15. ^ Usher, 51.
  16. ^ Hocken, 125–126.
  17. ^ Hocken, 125–126.
  18. ^ Usher, 56.
  19. ^ C. Polhill, Two Etonians in China (Unpublished: c. 1925), 119.
  20. ^ A.W. Marston, With the King: Pages from the Life of Mrs Cecil Polhill (London: Marshall Brothers, c.1905), 120, 141, 154, 178, 184 and 200 for each child respectively.

External links[edit]

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