Cecil Henry Polhill, formerly Cecil Henry Polhill-Turner (23 February 1860P. Hocken, "Cecil H. Polhill - Pentecostal Layman", ''PNEUMA'' Vol.10/No2 (Fall 1988), 116-140. in

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

– 9 March 1938 in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

, London) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

and

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

leader.

Early life

Cecil Henry Polhill was born on 23 February 1860, second son of Frederick Polhill-Turner and Emily Frances Barron. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...

, before taking a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the

Bedfordshire Yeomanry The Bedfordshire Yeomanry was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army. Serving intermittently between 1797 and 1827, it was re-raised in 1901 for the Second Boer War. It participated in the First World War before being converted to an artillery re ...

. In 1885 he and his brother, Arthur Twistleton Polhill, became affiliated with the

China Inland Mission OMF International (formerly Overseas Missionary Fellowship and before 1964 the China Inland Mission) is an international and interdenominational Evangelical Christianity, Christian missionary society with an international centre in Singapore. It ...

(CIM) as part of the

Cambridge Seven The Cambridge Seven were six students from Cambridge University and one from the Royal Military Academy, who in 1885, decided to become missionaries to China through the China Inland Mission. The seven were: * Charles Thomas Studd * Montagu ...

missionary band. They left London for

western China Western China ( zh, s=中国西部, l=, labels=no or zh, s=华西, l=, labels=no) is the west of China. It consists of Southwestern China and Northwestern China. In the definition of the Chinese government, Western China covers six provinces ...

on 5 February 1885. The Polhills studied local language in

Hanzhong Hanzhong ( zh, s= , t= , l=middle of the Han River (Hubei), Han River; abbreviation: Han) is a prefecture-level city in Southern Shaanxi, the southwest of Shaanxi, Shaanxi province, China, bordering the provinces of Sichuan to the south and Gans ...

, southwest Shaanxi, then in 1887 moved into the neighbouring province

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

(formerly spelt ''Szechwan''). Cecil Polhill was at first based at the provincial capital,

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

, and the eastern Sichuanese city

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

, but he felt drawn towards the

people The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

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. After helping with mission work in

Kalimpong Kalimpong is a town and the headquarters of an eponymous district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located at an average elevation of . The town is the headquarters of the Kalimpong district. The region comes under Gorkhaland Territo ...

, India in 1896, he moved to

Tatsienlu Kangding ( zh, c=康定), also known as Dartsedo (), is a county-level city and the seat of Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province of Southwest China. Kangding is on the bank of the Dadu River and has been considered the histor ...

, a

Khams Tibetan Khams Tibetan () is the Tibetic languages, Tibetic language used by the majority of the people in Kham. Khams is one of the three branches of the traditional classification of Tibetic languages (the other two being Amdo Tibetan and Ü-Tsang). In ...

city west of Sichuan, 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. He returned from China in 1900 in the wake of the

Boxer Uprising The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious ...

.J. Usher, "Cecil Henry Polhill: The Patron of the Pentecostals", ''PNEUMA'' 34 (2012).

Christian evangelism

Upon his return from China, Polhill inherited a fortune from his uncle Sir Henry Page-Turner Barron, 2nd Baronet, and spent much of his life donating to missionary causes. In 1908 Polhill visited Azusa Street,

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, where he had a

experience. Before returning to England Polhill wrote a cheque for £1500 to pay off the mortgage on the Azusa Street building. After returning to England Polhill attended Alexander Boddy's first Sunderland Convention, and helped Boddy fund his Pentecostal periodical ''Confidence''. Polhill became the first President of the Pentecostal Missionary Union (PMU), and administered it along China Inland Mission lines. In 1925 the Executive Council of the PMU voted to merge with the British Assemblies of God, and so Polhill, an

, resigned aged 65. He maintained friendly relationships with the PMU, and missionaries in the field.

Personal life

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

Death

He died on 9 March 1938

, London, England.

References

External links