T L Pennell

Among the wild tribes of the Afghan frontier; a record of sixteen years' close intercourse with natives of the Indian marches T L Pennell

Theodore Leighton Pennell (1867-1912), was a Christian missionary and doctor who lived among the tribes of Afghanistan. He founded a missionary hospital in Bannu in the North-West Frontier of British India, now Pakistan. For his work he received the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal for Public Service in India. He published a work on his life under the title Among the wild tribes of the Afghan frontier in 1908 Born in England in 1867, Theodore Pennell was educated at Eastbourne College and qualified as a doctor (MB, MRCS, LRCP) in 1890, completing his MD and FRCS in 1891. He offered his services to the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in 1890. His father had died during his childhood, so he developed a very close relationship with his mother. When CMS sent Pennell to India, his mother decided to go too, and they both began learning Urdu. They reached Karachi in 1892 and went to Dera Ismail Khan, where Pennell began medical work. He often traveled round the villages, wearing Pathan dress and living with the people. He made his first visit to Tank in 1893 and established relationships with the Masud and Wazir tribes. In October 1893 he moved to Bannu to present the gospel to travelers to and from Afghanistan. He was fluent in Urdu and Pushtu by then. He combined medical work with public preaching in Pushtu and selling Christian literature, in Bannu and the surrounding villages, accompanied by the first Christian in Bannu, Jahan Khan. The mullahs strongly opposed his work, warning people not to accept his medicine. The mullahs tried to drive people away by telling them that the medicines contained alcohol and pig's blood, and would turn them forcibly into Christians. They also said that if the people were fated to die, then it would be better to die as believers.