Real memorial obituaries – Combe Down, Monkton Combe, Midford

In memoriam et celebrationem

In memorial and celebration

ONCE VICAR OF MONKTON COMBE

DEATH OF THE REV. SIR MONTAGU PROCTOR-BEAUCHAMP

THE "CAMBRIDGE SEVEN"

An interesting personality has been removed by the death, at Paoning, Szechwan, China, on
Oct. 26th, of the Rev. Sir Montagu Proctor-Beauchamp, Bart., who was Vicar of Monkton
Combe, near Bath, from 1914 to 1918.

The baronet-clergyman succeeded his brother, Sir Horace George Proctor-Beauchamp, who was first reported missing and then presumed killed in action in Gallipoli in 1915. Sir Horace commanded his own regiment, the 1/5th Norfolk Regiment, and he met his death in the gallant assault on the woods above Suvla Bay.

With his uncle was killed Second-Lieut. Montagu Barclay Granville Proctor-Beauchamp, Sir Montagu's eldest son.

According to his biographer in the "Times" Sir Montagu's death removes another of the famous "Cambridge Seven," cricketers, oarsmen, and athletes, who aroused considerable interest, when, in the early eighties, they went as foreign missionaries under what was then a little known missionary association.

Five of them had already died - Bishop Cassels, of West China. Stanley P. Smith, stroke of
the Cambridge Eight in 1882, C. T. Studd, who played for England, and was captain of the
Eton XI. in 1876 and of the Cambridge, University team in 1883, A. T. Polhill, Eton and Cambridge cricketer, who died in November, 1935, and A. T. Polhill's brother, Cecil, formerly of the 2nd Dragoon Guards.

HE ONLY SURVIVOR.

Sir Montagu Proctor-Beauchamp s death now leaves as the only survivor D E. Hoste, who resigned his commission in the Royal Artillery and became the first of the band to offer for missionary service, sailing in 1885 for China, where he became general secretary of the China Inland Mission (1902 to 1935).

Montagu Harry Proctor-Beauchamp, fourth son of the fourth baronet, was born on April 19th, 1860. He was educated at Repton, and at Trinity College. Cambridge, where he was stroke of one of the University Trial Eights and regularly rowed in the First Trinity Eight.

His mother was a sister of the well-known Evangelical. the Second Lord Radstock.

Proctor-Beauchamp came under the influence of the Moody and Sankey revival movement and joined his undergraduate friends in meetings for students in the English and Scottish universities.

Like the others of the Cambridge Seven he was accepted by the China Inland Mission. He
sailed in 1885, and with Hudson Taylor, the founder of the Mission, and C. T. Studd, he went
to Szechwan, in West China, where he opened up the work.

WORE CHINESE DRESS.

Beauchamp wore Chinese dress like the others of the band, and was proud to have as his colleague Pastor Tsi, a Chinese Christian who had a wonderful influence with his people.

The foreign missionary's part consisted mostly in making long evangelistic tours, selling Scriptures, and generally helping the little congregations and suggesting lines of advance.

It was typical of the young missionary that he never hesitated to assist his fellow-workers even to the extent of carrying his chief. Mr. Taylor, over difficult ravines bridges.

With only a few breaks for furlough, and one visit to Australia. remained in China for 25 years.

From 1912 till 1914 he assisted in various spheres in the Diocese of Norwich, and for the next two years was vicar of Monkton Combe.

During the last war he served as a Principal Chaplain to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, being mentioned in dispatches in 1916, and in North Russia in 1919.

In the last mentioned year he became specifically a deputation secretary of his old mission, at the same time serving as a clerical deputation for the Army Scripture Readers' Society from 1921 to 1928. He was C.I.M. deputation, India and West China, 1929 to 1930, and 1935 to 1936. His home in England was The Quarry, Nailsworth, Gloucestershire.

THIRD SON SUCCEEDS.

In 1892 Sir Montagu married Florence, daughter of Mr. Robert Barclay, of Reigate. They had four sons and one daughter.

The third son, Mr. Ivor Cuthbert Proctor-Beauchamp, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P... born in 1900, now
succeeds as eighth baronet,

Like his father, he became a missionary of the China Inland Mission, and married in 1933 Caroline Muriel Densham, a missionary nurse in the same mission. They have a son and a daughter.

The late seventh baronet's eldest sister is the widow of Colonel R. H. C. Drury-Lowe, Genadier Guards; the second, who died in 1921, was the first wife of Mr. (now Sir) Kynaston Studd. Bart., Lord Mayor of London in 1928; the third is the widow of Mr. W. J. Herries Maxwell, of Munches; and the fourth is the widow of the Rev. W. T. B. Hayter, Master of the
Charterhouse from 1927 to 1935, and before that Dean of Gibraltar.