Introduction: A great man of God who translated the Holy Bible into the common man's Tamil, [ Power version] Rev. Dr. Henry Bower, D.D, was a great Missionary and a remarkable man of God. He was a multi-faceted personality; he was a great Tamil Scholar, prolific Author, Linguist, soul winning Evangelist, par excellence Translator and a Man of Prayer. By translating the Bible into the common's easy to understand Tamil he facilitated the Bible to reach every protestant Tamil Christian home living in India and abroad. Generally, Christians love. Bower version [Power version] of the Tamil Bible, but they do not have adequate knowledge about the profile of Rev Henry Bower who played the pivotal role to translate the Bible into Tamil. Definitely Rev Henry Bower was a remarkable milestone in the field of Translation, evangelisation, literature and linguistics.
Rev. Henry Bower's Parents and Birth: Rev. Henry Bower's father Mr Francis Bouvie [ 1780- 1824] was a French soldier, and he was a prisoner of war in India, and he married an Indian woman by name Ms Justina[1782-1872] and according to the records of the St Marys Church, St George Fort , Madras, this couple gave birth to Rev. Henry Bower on the 17th of January 1813, at a house located near the Zion Church [ Present CSI Zion Church] at Chintadripet, Madras. But Power's family celebrates his birthday on 18th December 1812. It is said that American missionary Dr. John Scudder built a small church by name Zion Church, in Chintadripet . But there is another account that the then Governor of Madras at St George Fort Mr George Mortin Pitt founded Chintadripet [ Chinna Thari Pettah] in 1734 with the settlement of 230 families of weavers to produce cotton for export and built the original Zion church in 1734 at Chintadripet.
Mr. Henry Bower's Education: Rev. Henry Bower's Alma Mater the Madras Military Male Orphan Asylum was opened in 1789 under the superintendence of Dr. Andrew Bell. It was housed in a converted Military building called Egmore Redoubt. As the son of a European Prisoner of War young Henry Bower got the privilege to study at the Madras Military Male Orphan Asylum at Egmore, Madras. After having passed his school education young Henry Bower wanted to become a Missionary. One Colonel John Corle who was serving as the Colonel Secretary to the then Governor of Madras at St George Port liked young Henry Bower so much and did many favourable things to Mr. Henry Bower. Colonel John Corbe took young Henry Bower to England with him in 1832. Mr. Henry Bower joined the Missionary Academy, England, run by the London Missionary Society in 1833. Mr Henry Bower studied Theology with great enthusiasm and devotion and passed his Theology course meritoriously and he returned to Madras in 1837. Rev Henry Bower studied Tamil grammar and Literature. with consuming interest from a Jain Poet by name Sastram Iyer.
Mrs Emma Bower
- Birth
- Death
- 24 Jan 1844 (aged 25–26)
- Burial
- Thanjavur District, Tamil Nadu, India
- Memorial ID
- View Source
Rev. Henry Bower's Marriages and Children: Rev Henry Bower married Ms Emma Taylor on 9th of May 1839, and God blessed the conjugal life Rev Henry Bower, and this couple gave birth to the following children namely: [1]Ana Power [1839- 1857] and [2] John Power. While Rev Henry Bower was working in Thanjavur, Mrs. Emma Bower died on the 24tth of January 1844, and her body was buried in St. Peter's Church cemetery in Thanjavur. After three years since the death of his first wife Rev Henry Bower married Ms Jessie Plucker on the 10th of May 1847 and this couple gave birth to the following children:[1] Mr. Henry Francis Power, [2] Mr William Lone Power ,[3] Mr. Frederick Gordon Power, [4] Mr Alexander George Power, [5] Ms Emma Eliza Power and [6] Mr Robert Stephen Power.
Serial No: 6; Rev Henry Bower, and Serial No; 7: Rev G.U. Pope.
Rev. Henry Bower's Missionary Work Track: After successfully completing his theological training Rev Henry Bower was employed as Catechist by the Wesleyan Missionary Society. He began his missionary work at a Dalit majority village called Thirupachur, near Ikkadu, in Thiruvallur District In 1838 he moved to Purasawalkam, Madras from Thirupachur. He joined the Society for the Promotion of the Gospel [SPG} in 1842. He worked as an Assistant Missionary in the Madras Mission [ Vepery Mission} As an Assistant Missionary he discharged his duties with devotion and enthusiasm. In the year 1845 he was ordained as a Priest and in the year 1848 he was appointed as a Deacon. Then he was transferred to Thanjvur in the year 1844 and he served in Thanjavur area[ Thanjavur & Vediapuram] from 1844 to 1856. As a great Evangelist with great vision and mission Rev Henry Bower started an Institute in the suburb of Thanjavur for the training of the catechists who will carry the gospel message everywhere including the rural villages and named it as "Vediapuram". Rev. Henry Bower was a great Church founder and in the year 1853 Rev. John Guest and Rev Bower together bought one acre and 82 cents of land on behalf of SPG for Rs 8500, where the St Paul's CSI Church, Vepery, stands today. Even though already the St Mathas Church was there in Vepery, the service was conducted in English, so there was a pressing need for a Tamil Church in that area. To meet this necessity, the then Governor of Madras Mr. George Harris [The Founder of the University of Madras] laid the foundation stone of the new Church for the Vepery native congregation, at the place bought by the SPG, on the 9th February 1855, in the presence of a large representative gathering [The Rev. A. Westcott, M.A, Our Oldest Indian Mission, Madras, 1897, Chapter VIII]. The new church was named as 'St Paul's Church' and was consecrated by bishop Rt.Rev Dealtry on the 18th of November 1858. Rev. Henry Bower served as the Pastor in charge of St Peter's Church Thanjavur from 1850 to 1856. and during that period the famous Tamil scholar and translator of Thirukural into English, Rev G.U. Pope, worked as his Colleague at St Peter's Church. In 1858 Rev Henry Bower left, Vediapuram and fully devoted himself to Bible translation work. In 1864 he was ordained as a Pastor at the St Paul's Chruch at Vepery [ Choolai] Madras. He served in Madras from 1857 to 1875 [First Phase] with a short break. In 1872, he was sent to Trichy and from there to Tirunelveli and was posted back to Vepery St Paul's Church.
Part Final will follow soon
By. P. Babu Manoharan, M.A. [ All rights are reserved. This Blogpost will be enlarged, modified, or corrected later in needed]
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