Elijah Hoole (1798–1872) was an English orientalist and Wesleyan Methodist missionary.

Life

The son of Holland Hoole, a Manchester shoemaker, he was born there; he entered

Manchester grammar school The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) in Manchester, England, is the largest independent school (UK), independent day school for boys in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1515 as a Grammar school#free tuition, free grammar school next to Manchester C ...

6 April 1809, leaving in 1813 to help in his father's business. After studying privately, he became a probationer for the Wesleyan ministry in 1818, and was chosen a missionary by the Wesleyan Methodist missionary committee in November 1819. Hoole arrived in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

(now

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

) in September 1820, having lost his library and outfit by shipwreck on the way. After short stays there and at

Negapatam Nagapattinam (''nākappaṭṭinam'', previously spelt Nagapatnam or Negapatam) is a town in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Nagapattinam District. The town came to prominence during the period of Medieval ...

, he settled at

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

in April 1821. He was recalled to Madras in March 1822, and was elected a member of the committee for revising the Tamil version of the Bible. In 1828 Hoole was forced by ill-health to leave India, and shortly after his return to Europe was appointed a superintendent of schools in Ireland. He moved to London in 1834, and became assistant-secretary, and from 1836 till his death one of the general secretaries of the

Wesleyan Missionary Society Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

. Hoole died on 17 June 1872 and is buried in a family grave in the dissenters section of the west side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

, in front of the grave of Charles Chubb, the lock and safe manufacturer. Family grave of Elijah Hoole in Highgate Cemetery

Works

During his stay in Southern India, Hoole published a number of translations into Tamil, including portions of the Bible, a book of hymns (Madras, 1825), tracts on Methodism, and a life of

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist who was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies he founded became the dominant form of the independent Meth ...

. He wrote: * ''A Personal Narrative of a Mission to the South of India from 1820–8'', London, 1829, an account of his experiences; an enlarged edition, with the title ''Madras, Mysore, and the South of India'' appeared in London in 1844. * ''The Year-book of Missions'', 1847. * ''Oglethorpe and the Wesleys''. Hoole also contributed articles to the ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'' and ''London Quarterly Review'', and edited two books on missions by Walter Lawry, 1850 and 1851.

Family

Hoole married in 1835 Elizabeth, third daughter of Charles Chubb. His son

Elijah Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My El (deity), God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic language, Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) w ...

(1837-1912) was an architect of Methodist churches and social housing.Biographical dictionary of architects in Canada 1800-1950
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Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoole, Elijah 1798 births 1872 deaths Methodist missionaries in India Wesleyan Methodists English orientalists English translators Clergy from Manchester 19th-century British translators Burials at Highgate Cemetery Missionary linguists