ROWLAND BATEMAN Nineteenth Century Apostle

224 Pages·2016·8.33 MB·English

THE REV. ROWLAND BATEMAN-LAST PORTRAIT
Frontispiece
ROWLAND BATEMAN
Nineteenth Century Apostle
BY
R. MACONACHIE
(LATE I.C.S.)
LONDON
CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY
SALISBURY SQUARE, E.C.
1917
TO
THE YOUNGER MEN OF THE EMPIRE
NOW GLORIOUSLY PROVING THEIR MANHOOD
ON THE BLOOD-STAINED BATTLE-FIELDS OF A HOLY WAR;
IN THE HOPE THAT WHEN GOD SHALL, LARGELY
THROUGH THEIR FORTITUDE, HAVE VINDICATED HIS OWN CAUSE,
AND EUROPE ONCE MORE SHALL BE AT PEACE,
SOME OF THEM, FIRED BY THE LIFE HEREIN SET FORTH,
MAY ENLIST AS SOLDIERS IN A STILL HOLIER WAR
UNDER THE DIVINE COMMANDER, WHOSE VICTORIES ARE WON BY LOVE,
AND WHOSE SPECIAL GLORY IS THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF
SOULS SOUGHT OUT FROM THE DARK PLACES
Oli' THE EARTH
PREFACE
I F any reader of this book is given to the habit of
" skipping over " a Preface, I hope he will make an
exception in the present case, otherw\se an injustice
may be done to him whose life is here described, as well as
to the writer, though that is a point of less importance.
Had Rowland Bateman (or as I shall generally call him for
convenience "R. ~.") followed his own inclinations, he
would not have had his biography written at all. During
the course, however, of his last illness, representations
were made to him that an account of the work which God
had done through him might still after his death serve the
great cause to which he had so whole-heartedly given his
life. After some hesitation he acquiesced in the proposal,
but expressed his wish that I should write the story.
I take up the task therefore as a trust, and can only hope
that remembering steadily the purpose of the book, and
doing my best to represent faithfully the man and his work,
I may produce something not quite unworthy of the
"noble dead."
The main sources of the information here recorded
have been fragments of R. B.'s journals kept intermit
tently in India; some printed accounts of his missionary
work drawn from reports sent home by him from time
to time; the verbal statements of relatives; letters of
friends, English and Indian ; and my own personal
recollections supplemented by letters received from him.
My memories of him are indeed multitudinous. To quote
my own language used elsewhere, for forty-four years, in
vii
viii PREFACE
three continents, we pursued our friendship, getting
together on every opportunity possible. In a great
variety of circumstances, on land and on wa~er, on hill
and plain, in heat and cold, in joy and sorrow, in work and
in sport we have companied together, with the result that
I may claim to have known as much perhaps of his mind
and character as any other man living. This knowledge
I have used in the following pages, entailing not seldom
mention of myself, but always with the intention of
throwing light on the character of my friend. If even so
the reader requires an apology for such personal references
I tender it here once for all.
Again, a good many stories and anecdotes told in
conversational style will be found here and there through
out the book-and some of them are humorous. For
inserting them in a work the general purport of which
must necessarily be grave, even to solemnity, I have two
reasons-both well considered. The first is that they
serve as a helpful counterfoil to the sustained earnestness
of a life which as regards its main object might well bear
the motto, " This one thing I do." The second-in my
opinion the more important-is that without this lighter
setting R. B.'s life and doings could not be presented
in any rounded or complete form-his humour and
" larkiness " (there is no other term that so well describes
the trait) were an essential part of him, though both were
always kept well in hand. Every incident thus recalled
throws light on some point of his many-sided character.
The reader may feel assured that every story given is
absolutely true, or as near the truth as history ever gets.
I have no pleasure in altering narratives" so as to improve
them." There is an inimitable charm, which no wit can
increase or even supply by fictive imagination, in the fact
that things did actually once happen " just so."
These lighter passages will not be allowed to usurp
undue importance. The deepest notes of R. B.'s life are
those telling of his struggles, amounting at times to agony,
PREFACE
IX
for soul!!. These give the very heart of the man ; when we
read his journals, we see into the centre of a keen spiritual
struggle-the saint of God using all his gifts of natural
temperament and grace in combat with the hideous powers
of evil to win over to the Kingdom of God's light and purity
those youthful Indian souls that were so dear to him, and
which in their turn were so powerfully affected by him.t
Hardly any missionary narrative that I know exceeds in
simple dramatic power some of the tales of the early
Narowal days. No earthly census can ever tell how many
Indian souls came through him to Christ's own peace and
truth; but we have facts enough to furnish types and
samples, and careful perusal of the story here told will
give a fair idea of the leading points of R. B.'s methods.
Yet it is probable that much of the very best work that
he did as evangelist and teacher can be known to no one
save Him " from Whom no secrets are hid."
As to the plan of the narrative, it will for the most
part move on in simple chronological order ; but in some
special cases I have adopted a topical treatment where
that seemed more convenient. Chapter III, for instance,
dealing with R. B.'s personality in an analytic manner, will
anticipate in time many years of his active career ; while
on the other hand Chapter XII, on deputation work, is in
large measure retrospective when compared with the place
given it in the book. 2
The foregoing remarks will show that I have under
taken a difficult task, and that I know it. If, God
helping me, I can make this apostolic messenger of truth
1 See the striking statement made by Jella.luddin Amber, a. Christian
Indian official, a.s to R. B.'s reputation of almost magical attractiveness for
young men, p. 131.
1 A word ma.y be added on the minor but not unimportant subject of
spelling of Indian names. A thoroughgoing adherent myself of the
"Hunteria.n " system, thinking it simple a.nd scientific, I ha. ve in the
present case to adopt a. compromise. R. B. is not a.lwa.ys consistent, but I
try to get him in line for the most part with Hunteria.n spelling, except in
epecia.l cases--e.g., " Lahore," " Mahomet "-where custom ha.s fixed the
English form of the word.
PREFACE
X
stand out in fair fashion somewhat as he was in life,
the English thinking world will get to know a man who
ought to be known, and a strong hope, based on prayer,
arises that some of my younger readers may be stirred up
to emulate his career, and seek the same goal that R. B.
sought, as " a faithful soldier of Jesus Christ." The
fulfilment of such a hope would be humbly received as
a blessing on this labour of love, the tidings of which
(such is my faith) would assuredly reach R. B. himself
In those high realms of help, that heaven his home.
R. M.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. ,PARENTAGE, BIRTH, AND EARLY DAYS 1
II. THE PUNJAB AS A MISSIONARY ENVIRONMENT • 10
III. His PERSONALITY • •, 28
IV. WoRK AT DERA IsMAIL KHAN, 1868-9 87
V. WORK AT AMRITSAR AND LAHORE, 1869-72 45
VI. ITINERATION FROM MAnHOPUR, 1872-4 55
VII. EARLY VISITS TO NAROWAL, 1872-4 64
VIII. NAROWAL, HoME, AND NAROWAL AGAIN-TYPHOID
FEVER, 1874-7 . 76
IX. CLARKABAD - MARRIAGE-SECOND FURLOUGH -
NAROWAL--KASHMIR, 1876-85 89
x.
NAROWAL--THREE VISITS TO ENGLAND-BEGINNING
OF " 0UTCASTE " WoRK-LAST YEARS AT NAROWA L,
1886-97 99
XI. HoME-CANADA-THE INDIAN AFTERMATH~LAST
DAYS IN INDIA, 1897-1902 . 110
XII. A" FISHER OF MEN "-LIVING EPISTLES 125
XIII. DEPUTATION WORK-SERMONS-ADDRESSES 188
XIV. R. B. AS HE APPEARED TO HIS FRmNDS 149
rrs
XV. WORK IN ENGLAND, 1902-15 .
XVI. THE END-A BEGINNING 186
POSTSCRIPT 194
APPENDIX 195
INDEX 198
ILLUSTRATIONS
THE REV. ROWLAND BATEMAN • Frontispiece
R. B. AT MAGDALEN CoLLEG, OXFORD, 1864,
AND R. B. WITH WARIS AND PRITHU, 1875 To face p. 6
R. B. AND MIAN SADIK, 1870 , 47
NAROWAL CHURCH, 1874 , 77
CLARKABAD CHURCH, 1876-7 , 91
R.B., 1878 , 98
MAPS:-
PART OF NORTHERN INDIA, WITH FRONTIER , 87
CENTRAL PUNJAB, ILLUSTRATING ITINERA
TIONS OF R.:B. 55
ROWLAND BATEMAN
CHAPTER I
PARENTAGE, BIRTH, AND EARLY DAYS
Out of this mighty world of land and sea
Millions of men and women-and mystery
How came this one man, just himself to be ?
ANoN.
'' ROWLAND BATEMAN'S father was the product
of a line of respectable, small, Westmorland
squires,l seated at an old, dull, but roomy house near
Kendal, known as Tolson Hall. The family annals barely
reach back 200 years, and are by no means full. Presum
ably nothing much happened there till genius arrived in
the person of James, elder son of John, of Tolson. He,
an eager boy, as full of machines and nothing else as his
great co-temporary James Brindley, soon tired of Tolson
life, and on attaining his majority made an arrange
ment with his younger brother whereby he, James, made
over to that brother all his rights to Tolson and its acres
in exchange for the few thousand pounds that the younger
son was entitled to under the marriage settlements.
"This being agreed to, and settled, James went off
to Manchester, set up engineering works, and soon began
turning out all sorts of mining machinery. It must
have been sound work that he did, for in 1885 a great
grandson of his went to see an old deep mine pump at
1 This a.ccount has been supplied by his surviving brother, Robert.
B