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