Henry Martyn-Clark (

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

, c. 1857 -

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, April 1916) was an Afghan-born adopted British medical missionary stationed in

Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...

in the late 19th century.

Biography

Clark was born to Afghan parents, and was adopted after his mother's death by Elizabeth and Rev.

Robert Clark Robert, Bob, or Bobby Clark may refer to: Television and film *Robert Clark (actor) (born 1987), American-born Canadian television actor *Bob Clark (1939–2007), Canadian filmmaker *Bob Clark (television reporter) (1922–2015), American televisi ...

in 1859. It is thought that he was named

Henry Martyn Henry Martyn (18 February 1781 – 16 October 1812) was an Anglican priest and missionary to the peoples of India and Persia. Born in Truro, Cornwall, he was educated at Truro Grammar School and St John's College, Cambridge. A chance e ...

after the Anglican missionary to Persia and India. Clark was educated at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

(MB, CM 1881) and received his MD in 1892. In 1881 he was accepted by the Church Missionary Society to start the Amritsar Medical Mission as a Medical Missionary where he worked with

Arthur Colborne Lankester Arthur Colborne Lankester (1868–1963) worked for the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and took station in Punjab, Peshawar, and Sindh, India before the Indian Parition. He designed and built the Peshawar Mission Hospital. Lankester was a reli ...

. He left for Amritsar to join his father on 4 February 1882. The same year he married his wife Mary Emma. In Amritsar Clark gained a reputation as a Christian debater and pamphlet writer, on Islam and Hinduism. He participated in a famous 15-day debate with

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (13 February 1835 – 26 May 1908) was an Indian religious leader and the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam. He claimed to have been divinely appointed as the promised Messiah and '' Mahdī'', in fulfillment of th ...

, the founder of the Ahmadiyya Community. This was later published by the Ahmadiyya community in Urdu as ''Jang e muqqadas'' (the Holy War). On 1 August 1897, Henry Martyn-Clark filed a lawsuit of attempted murder against

with Deputy Commissioner

Montagu William Douglas Montagu William Douglas CSI, CIE. (1863 – February 1957) was a British soldier and colonial administrator in India. As the assistant district commissioner in the Punjab, he investigated the attempted murder allegation made by Henry Martyn Clar ...

Ludhiana Ludhiana () is the most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab.164.100.161.224 http://164.100.161.224 › filesPDF Ludhiana State: Punjab Business & Industrial Centre, Tier 2 1 ... The city has an estima ...

. Clark stated that Ahmad had sent a youth named Abdul Hamid to murder him. A version of events is included in the biography ''A life of Ahmad'' by the Ahmadi Imam of Fazl Mosque London, A. R. Dard. Based on Douglas' investigation of the youth's testimony the charges against Ahmad were dropped. In his book ''Kitab ul Baryyah'' (An Account of Exoneration) Mirza Ghulam Ahmad has narrated the details of the case.Kitab ul Baryyah
/ref> He was editor in chief of the ''Dictionary of the Punjab'', and wrote a biography of his adoptive father, ''Robert Clark of The Panjab: Pioneer and Missionary Statesman''. He retired to Edinburgh in 1905 where he lectured in tropical diseases. He is buried in the

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and o ...

in Edinburgh. His birth date on the stone is 19 September 1859 and the death date is 10 April 1916. The inscription reads "Physician to both soul and body" He was survived by his wife Mary Emma Ireland, and their sons Walter Ireland Foggo Martyn-Clark and Robert Eric Noel Martyn-Clark. Their sons were both born in Amritsar and like their father studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Henry Martyn 1857 births 1916 deaths Christian medical missionaries Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh Protestant missionaries in India British Protestant missionaries