Cecil Polhill

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

Cecil H. Polhill-Turner

Early life

Cecil Henry Polhill was born on 23 February 1860. His father was Frederick Polhill-Turner. He was educated at Eton College and Jesus College, Cambridge, before taking a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Bedfordshire Yeomanry.[3] In 1885 he and his brother, Arthur Twistleton Polhill, became affiliated with the China Inland Mission as part of the Cambridge Seven missionary band.[4] In 1897, Polhill along with other four CIM missionaries established a missionary station in Tatsienlu, west of Szechwan, which paved the way for the future construction of the Gospel Church.[5][6] He returned from China in 1900 in the wake of the Boxer Uprising.[7]

Christian evangelism

Upon his return from China, Polhill inherited a fortune, and spent much of his life donating to missionary causes.[8] In 1908 Polhill visited Azusa Street, Los Angeles, where he had a Pentecostal experience.[9] Before returning to England Polhill wrote a cheque for £1500 to pay off the mortgage on the Azusa Street building.[10] After returning to England Polhill attended Alexander Boddy's first Sunderland Convention,[11] and helped Boddy fund his Pentecostal periodical Confidence.[12] Polhill became the first President of the Pentecostal Missionary Union (PMU),[13] and administered it along China Inland Mission lines.[14] 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.[15] He maintained friendly relationships with the PMU, and missionaries in the field.

Personal life

In 1888, he married Eleanor Agnes Marston,[16] and their marriage produced six children, three daughters and three sons.[17]

Death

He died on 9 March 1938 Hampstead, London.

See also

References
  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. J.A. Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1973), 146.
  4. J. Pollock, The Cambridge Seven (Fearn:Christian Focus Publications, 2006).
  5. Zi, Yu (2017). "A Description of CIM Missionary Workers to the Tibetan Highlands Prior to 1950". omf.org. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  6. 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). Chengdu: Center for Tibetan Studies of Sichuan University (1): 192. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  7. J. Usher, "Cecil Henry Polhill: The Patron of the Pentecostals", PNEUMA 34 (2012), 40.
  8. Usher, 50.
  9. C.M.Robeck, The Azusa Street Mission and Revival (Nashville:Thomas Nelson, 2006, 69).
  10. Robeck, 69.
  11. Confidence Vol.3/No.8 (August 1910), 197
  12. Usher, 51.
  13. Hocken, 125–126.
  14. Hocken, 125–126.
  15. Usher, 56.
  16. C. Polhill, Two Etonians in China (Unpublished: c. 1925), 119.
  17. 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.
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