Pollard , Samuel , 1864-1915 , missionary

Samuel Pollard was born in Camelford on 20 April 1864, the son of Samuel Pollard snr., a preacher with the Bible Christian Church. Samuel Pollard jnr. also entered the Ministry of the Bible Christian Church. In 1907 the Bible Christian Church united with other sections of Methodism to form the United Methodist Church. Samuel Pollard went to China in 1886. He attended the Ganking Language School in 1887. In 1888 he was posted to Yunnan. From 1905 he worked in Miao Country amongst the Miao people. His work there was evangelical, but he was also responsible for developing a unique phonetic script to translate the New Testament into the Miao language (Hua Miao). He died of typhoid fever in Miao Country on 16 September 1915. Further reading: R Elliott Kendall, Eyes of the Earth: the Diary of Samuel Pollard (1954); W A Grist, Samuel Pollard: Pioneer Missionary in China (Taipei, 1971).