2025 marks the 140th anniversary of the Cambridge Seven sailing for China in February 1885.

This group of seven Christians from Britain caught the imagination of the Church and the nation as they gave up riches, fame and comfortable lives to go and share the good news of Jesus in China through the China Inland Mission (CIM), now OMF International.

Let’s meet them:

C.T Studd

Charles Thomas Studd (1860-1931) was a well-known British cricketer.

In 1882 he had played in the Ashes test match against Australia. He was also from a well-off family and would later give away his inheritance.

Yet through knowing Jesus Christ, Studd found he had something ‘infinitely better than cricket’ and wanted to share the gospel with those with no other chance of hearing it.

Poor health forced Studd to return to England in 1894, but he then felt called to India, where he served 1900-1906 and then Sudan and what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo from 1913 until his death in 1931.

Studd also founded what is now WEC International in 1913.

D.E Hoste

Dixon Edward Hoste (1861-1946) was a British Army officer from a military family.

He became a Christian through the American evangelist D.L Moody and soon became interested in the China Inland Mission’s work.
He was the first of the Cambridge Seven to apply.

Hoste was a man of prayer and in 1902 became the second leader of the CIM after James Hudson Taylor.

Hoste focused on serving the Chinese Church and led the CIM through challenging times. Through prayer and God’s grace he served until 1931, when he stepped down as General Director.

‘Live to be forgotten, so Christ can be remembered.’

W.W Cassels

William Wharton Cassels (1858-1925) was an ordained clergyman in the Church of England.

Cassels had studied at Cambridge and joined the Church of England, but left the ministry there to serve God in China.

His luggage carried the message ‘God first’ and he was keen to share the gospel as far into China as he could.

Cassels worked diligently in western China, supporting local church leaders and creating structures to enable Chinese Christians to reach their own communities.

Hudson Taylor wrote: ‘Mr. Cassels’ department is surpassed by nothing in the Mission for spirituality or success.’

He died in China in 1925 after 40 years of dedicated ministry, starting around 50 churches and seeing over 10,000 people baptised.

Stanley P Smith

Stanley P Smith (1861-1931) was a prominent member of the famous Cambridge University Boat Race team.

He assisted D.L Moody with evangelistic campaigns and was an active evangelist. He was friends with C.T Studd and helped encourage W.W Cassels to consider serving in China.

Smith worked in rural areas with the CIM for around 10 years and was a powerful and effective preacher.

He later left the CIM but continued to serve in China as an independent missionary until his death in 1931.

Cecil Polhill-Turner

Cecil Polhill-Turner (1860-1938) was one of two brothers from this wealthy and influential family who went to China.

Cecil had been educated at Eton – one of the top English schools – and had a promising career in the army lined up for him.

Yet as he realised following Jesus meant being willing to give up everything, he felt increasingly called to China.

Behind all this, a neighbour of the family had been praying faithfully for the Polhill-Turner children.

Cecil worked in China for about 15 years but returned to England, inherited a fortune and donated large amounts to missionary causes. He was later the first president of the Pentecostal Missionary Union.

Arthur Polhill-Turner

Arthur Polhill-Turner (1865-1935) was the youngest of the Cambridge Seven.

He had planned for a career as a lawyer, but after his conversion, switched to study theology with the aim of becoming a vicar in the Church of England.

Among other things, his friendship with another of the Cambridge Seven, Montague Beauchamp, drew him toward serving in China.

He would work there for most of the next 43 years, alongside Cassels and Beauchamp.

He preached the gospel widely and oversaw the construction of a major mission base in China. He did not retire and return to England until 1928, when he was 66 years old.

Montagu Beauchamp

Montagu Beauchamp (1860-1939) was from an aristocratic family and the son of a baronet.

He too felt increasingly called to China, after hearing C.T Studd and Stanley Smith were going. As he read the Bible and prayed, it was made ‘quite clear that not only was I to go, but to induce others to go too.’

In China, he travelled vast distances. With Hudson Taylor he once went ‘about a thousand miles in intense heat, walking through market towns and villages, living in Chinese inns and preaching the gospel to crowds day by day’.

He also worked with Cassels and Arthur Polhill-Turner in Sichuan.

He returned to Britain in 1911, but would die in China on a later overland missionary journey in 1939.

A lasting legacy

The Cambridge Seven had a dramatic impact in Britain before they left for China. A series of well attended gatherings across the UK inspired many others to serve God overseas as well.

At the final meeting in London the night before they sailed to China, 3,000 people came to hear from the seven missionaries and the event was reported in The Times newspaper.

In China they preached the gospel, encouraged disciples and built up the local Church. Their faithful service extended beyond China to other lands as well, telling of Jesus and how he had changed their lives.

Their example encourages and challenges us as followers of Jesus today to follow him wholeheartedly and make his name known across the world in our generation.

Sources and further reading

• John Pollock, The Cambridge Seven (Christian Focus Publications, 1955, 2006).
• C.T Studd, Boston University.
• Patrick Fung, D.E Hoste and Prayer (Mission Round Table article).
• Patrick Fung, Live to be Forgotten: Dixon Edward Hoste, China Inland Mission, and the Indigenous Chinese Church in Early Twentieth-Century China (Langham Publishing, 2024).
• D.E Hoste, Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity.
• W.W Cassels, Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity (in three parts).
• Stanley P Smith, Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity.
• Cecil Polhill-Turner, The Polhill Collection Online ‘About Cecil Polhil’.
• Arthur Polhill-Turner, The Polhill Collection Online, ‘About Arthur Polhill’.
• John M. Usher, Beyond the Cambridge Seven: The Rev. Arthur Twistleton Polhill and the Dazhou Fú Yīn Táng (Mission Round Table article).
• More about Montagu Beauchamp on Wikipedia.