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.

Early life

Cecil Henry Polhill was born on 23 February 1860. 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] Polhill returned from China in 1900 in the wake of the Boxer Uprising.^[5]

Christian evangelism

Upon his return from China, Polhill inherited a fortune, and spent much of his life donating to missionary causes.^[6] In 1908 Polhill visited Azusa Street, Los Angeles, where he had a Pentecostal experience.^[7] Before returning to England Polhill wrote a cheque for £1500 to pay off the mortgage on the Azusa Street building.^[8] After returning to England Polhill attended Alexander Boddy's first Sunderland Convention,^[9] and helped Boddy fund his Pentecostal periodical Confidence.^[10] Polhill became the first President of the Pentecostal Missionary Union (PMU),^[11] and administered it along China Inland Mission lines.^[12] 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.^[13] He maintained friendly relationships with the PMU, and missionaries in the field.

Personal life

In 1888, he married Eleanor Agnes Marston,^[14] and their marriage produced six children, three daughters and three sons.^[15]

Death

He died on 9 March 1938 Hampstead, London.

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. J. Usher, "Cecil Henry Polhill: The Patron of the Pentecostals", PNEUMA 34 (2012), 40.
6. Usher, 50.
7. C.M.Robeck, The Azusa Street Mission and Revival (Nashville:Thomas Nelson, 2006, 69).
8. Robeck, 69.
9. Confidence Vol.3/No.8 (August 1910), 197
10. Usher, 51.
11. Hocken, 125–126.
12. Hocken, 125–126.
13. Usher, 56.
14. C. Polhill, Two Etonians in China (Unpublished: c. 1925), 119.
15. 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.