THE GARRAD BROTHERS OF BURMAAnne Carter (niece Garrad)

(This article is Extract from A Priest from Mandalay by David T Haokip 2008)Charles Edward Garrad (1876-1958) and William Rolfe Garrad (1881-1951) were brothers, the sons of William and Isabella who farmed at Bures, Suffolk. They were part of alarge, close knit family of twelve children, six boys and six girls, who all lived into old age,Charles being the fourth son, and William the fifth. Their mother died when they were little(Charles was eight and his brother three) and they had a rather strict and sad childhood, being brought up by their blind father and their eldest sister Mary, who was something of an invalid.The farming year with all its country pursuits was the focus of family life, together withregular worship at the parish church, Mr. William Garrad senior being churchwarden for noless than 42 years, and (despite total blindness since the age of sixteen) organist andchoirmaster for 35 of these. He was also a manager of the local church schools, and educationwas considered of great importance.The brothers were sent away to boarding school, and in time both made their way toClare College, Cambridge to study theology. Later they were ordained as Anglican priests,and went as missionaries to Burma with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. TheGarrad family at home followed their careers with interest, and their old, much used and battered copy of Crockford’s Clerical Directory for 1931 has this to say about them.“*GARRAD Charles Edward. (An asterisk denotes a parliamentary elector of the University).Late Scholar of Clare College, Cambridge. Kaye Scholar of Jesus College, Cambridge. CarusPrize 1896. B.A. (1st Class Theological Tripos) 1897, Scholefield Prize and 1st classTheological Tripos part ii, Carus Prize (Bachelors) and Crosse Scholar 1898, M.A. 1901.Leeds Clergy School 1899. Deacon 1899 by Bishop Royston, priest 1900 Liverpool. Curate of St. Jude West Derby, Liverpool, 1899-1902; Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, 1900-06;Vice-Principal Clergy Training School, Cambridge, 1902-06; Examining Chaplain to Bishopof Manchester 1903-06; Member of Winchester Brotherhood, Mandalay, 1906-20; Head1910-20; Translator for British and Foreign Bible Society, Burma, 1921-1925; Furlough1912-13, 1920, and 1925-26; Examining Chaplain to Bishop of Rangoon from 1907; Societyfor the Propagation of the Gospel Chaplain at Moulmein 1926-28; Missionary at Mandalay1928-29; Kalaw, Diocese of Rangoon from 1929. Kalaw, Burma."“GARRAD, William Rolfe.Clare Coll. Cam. B.A. (2

cl. Theological Tripos, pt i) 1906, Carus Greek Testament Prize1906. M.A. 1910. Leeds Clergy Scho. 1906, deacon 1907, priest 1908 Ripon. Curate of St.Matthew Holbeck, 1907-09; S.P.G. Missionary at Mandalay 1910-13 and 1914-22; St.Augustine, Moulmein, 1913-14; Temporary Chaplain to the Forces 1916-19; Furlough 1922-23 and 1928-29; Head of Winchester Brotherhood, Mandalay, Diocese of Rangoon, from1922. Mandalay, Burma.”CHARLES GARRAD’s work in Burma is summed up by Bishop Fyffe in the TheTimes of 30 Dec 1958. He wrote "As already announced in The Times, the Rev. CharlesEdward Garrad, a remarkable missionary scholar, passed to his rest at the age of 82 after suffering a severe paralytic stroke about a fortnight before.He went with a scholarship from Haileybury to Clare College, Cambridge, in 1894,where, after winning apparently every university and other prize available within his line of 1

study, he was placed in the first class in both parts of the theological tripos. He then went toLeeds Clergy Training School and was ordained in 1899 with a title to St. Jude's, Derby.While there he was elected to a fellowship by Clare College and in 1902 returned toCambridge where he was also made vice-principal of what was then the Cambridge ClergyTraining School, now Westcott House.But his heart was in the mission field and he found his opportunity of service in it inthe newly started Winchester Diocesan Missionary Brotherhood at Mandalay, the old capitalof Burma. He arrived there in 1906 and became head of the Brotherhood in 1910. After some years in that capacity, during which he acted as examining chaplain to the Bishop of Rangoon, a need was widely felt amongst missionaries in Burma for a retranslation of theBible into Burmese. The heroic American Baptist missionary Adoniram Judson had produceda translation in the early years of the nineteenth century, which was a marvellousachievement, considering the circumstances in which his work was done, and it lastedunchallenged for a century.But meanwhile knowledge had increased. The Greek New Testament of Westcott andHort and others and the revised version of the Bible in English had appeared. A BurmeseChristian scholar, U Tyure Nyein, produced a good translation of the New Testament frommodern English into Burmese, and the British and Foreign Bible Society (at the suggestion of its representative in Burma, the Rev. W. Sherratt, an honoured Wesleyan minister) broughtthis translation with all its rights to be the basis of the society's proposed version of the wholeBible.Moreover, exactly the right men were available for the work - Garrad, with his greatand almost scrupulous scholarship, had (unfortunately it might be thought) developedincreasing deafness which unfitted him for the usual work of a missionary; the Rev. GeorgeKya Bim, a Burmese Christian priest, who knew no English but was a recognized scholar inBurmese and had been familiar with the refined language of the court in Mandalay in pre-Christian days and so could guarantee that the words and phrases used were not merely"foreigners' Burmese"; and Sherratt who acted as secretary to the little company and added hisknowledge of Burmese to theirs.Other prominent missionaries were, of course, consulted, but these three did the mainwork. They were seconded from their ordinary duties and provided for by the Bible Society.Their work occupied them for about four years. At the end of that time (and time for printingetc.) the Bishop of Rangoon with Sherratt and representatives of other Christiandenominations went as a deputation to the Governor of the province and presented him with aspecially bound copy of the new work.Garrad also produced a translation of the Prayer Book in Burmese which reduced thelong time previously spent on Burmese services without sacrificing their meaning.After 26 years' service ending with a most happy marriage to a lady missionary inBurma he returned to England in 1932 and became vicar of Barrow Gurney, near Bristol,where he remained for 20 years, only kept from taking a prominent part in Church life by hisdeafness.He leaves a wife and three children (each of the children with children of their own)and a holy fragrance, in which all who knew him may share, and which is the natural result of great ability dedicated to the highest purpose.”William Rolfe Garrad’s work is summed up in the Church Times of 2 February 1951:“WILLIAM ROLFE GARRAD, Priest.The death of William Rolfe Garrad at Rangoon on January 24 has ended a ministry of over forty years' faithful service to the Church in Burma. Canon Garrad was a graduate of ClareCollege, Cambridge, taking a Second Class in the Theological Tripos in 1906, and being2