Joshua Marshman was born in 1768 to a working-class family in Wiltshire England. His father, after spending years at sea and helping the British capture Quebec, worked as a weaver. His mother, meanwhile, had descended from French Huguenots, and instilled a strong protestant heritage in her son.
Marshman received little education, due to the family’s poverty, but he had a reputation for reading everything on which he could lay his hands. After marrying Hannah Shepherd in 1791, the two moved to Bristol, where Marshman was able to attend Bristol Baptist College. While studying languages and classics, he also taught at the charity school founded by the Baptist church which he and his wife attended. He was a gifted scholar, and when the Marshmans asked to become church members, the Baptist congregation worried that Joshua’s head knowledge had outpaced his heart. However, they soon came to witness the young man’s passion for the gospel and genuine faith in Christ.
As Marshman continued to study linguistics, he came across news reports of William Carey, a Bible Translator in India. When the Baptist Union of Great Britain needed more missionaries, the couple discussed the possibility of volunteering themselves. Then, in 1799, Joshua and Hannah Marshman, along with their children, set sail for South Asia.
After about six months of travel, the boat neared Portsmouth India. However, a government dispute concerning travel permits along with a potential French Naval attack forced them to dock in a Danish settlement near Calcutta. Here, the local authorities set boundaries for the passengers, forbidding them from going as far as Marshman had hoped.
The growing family (they would have 12 children altogether) settled into the city of Serampore, and Marshman began his work with William Carey. When the two missionaries first met, Marshman was notably appalled by Carey’s “neglectful parenting.” The four boys were apparently dirty, rude, and uneducated. The Marshmans, along with friend and printer William Ward, took the boys under their wings and raised them up to be well-mannered and godly.
The family valued children, and both parents took up their roles as father and mother with serious dedication. Marshman believed that his primary callings in this life were to be a husband and then a father. God wasn’t so desperate for workers that He’d call Marshman to neglect his first duties for the sake of ministry. Instead, Marshman saw himself as replaceable as a jar of clay carrying a priceless message.
The widespread access to this message was the focus of the ministry in Serampore. Marshman and Carey worked together to translate the Bible into many Indian languages. Additionally, they translated Indian literature into English, providing a better understanding of the cultural background to scholars and Christians. While the British authorities preferred all schooling be done in English, Marshman advocated for the use of local languages in teaching, insisting that cross-cultural communication would open doors for the Gospel.
In 1806, Marshman took two of his sons and one of the Carey boys on a scholarly trip. They studied Chinese languages and soon, Marshman became a fluent speaker. In 1809 he published the first direct English translation of the Chinese philosophical writings “the Analacts.” That same year, he finished his dissertation on Chinese language and writing (published by Brown University). Soon, Marshman became the first to ever publish a grammar book in Chinese. This was soon used to train missionaries for the field.
When he made it back home, Marshman hardly took a break from writing. In 1818, he published an academic periodical which he called “Friend of India.” This became hugely popular among the locals, who had never experienced regular publications of this kind. The establishment of “Friend of India” later led to the development of the first Indian newspapers.
Although money was tight for all three founders, they continued to pour into the project as well as their other translation work and ministry. Soon, Carey, Marshman, and William Ward proposed the founding of a "College for the instruction of Asiatic, Christian, and other youth in Eastern literature and European science." This effort produced Serampore College, which continues today.
In 1822, Marshman completed the first translation of the Bible into Chinese. He spent the next decade working tirelessly, advocating for the education of locals and creating opportunities for the Indian people. However, when Carey died in 1834, Marshman seemed to lose his vigor. Despite their differences, the two translators had made a great team. With half of the duo gone, Marshman’s fast-paced life seemed to catch up to him, and he became weak and sick with exhaustion. Finally, in 1837, the prolific missionary and scholar passed away.
He'd come from nothing, but his gifts and hard work propelled him into academia. Had he lived for himself, he may have become wealthy and famous, living a comfortable life. Instead, he chose to use his life to serve others, and died in poverty. God blessed this servant with a long legacy, and Marshman’s son John went on to become a Bengali translator and Indian historian, building off of the work of his father, much of which continues today.