Robert Clark

Robert Clark (1825–1900), and his colleague Thomas Henry Fitzpatrick, were the first English Church Mission Society (CMS) missionaries in the Punjab. Clark was the first missionary to the Afghans, and was the first agent of the Church to enter the city of Leh.

He was the founder of the CMS mission station in Amritsar, the CMS Afghan mission station in Peshawar, and the Kashmir mission – especially Medical missionary work to open a dispensary in Srinagar and Kashmir.

Career Punjab (1851–1854) As there were no dictionaries and grammars existing in Punjab when Clark arrived, everything had been made from the beginning to assist in missionary and administrative activities. Accordingly, a school was opened up for Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims. He founded the first CMS mission station in Amritsar in 1852, and the first preaching of the Gospel was undertaken in the Amritsar bazaar on 20 October 1852.

Peshawar (1854–1864) In 1854 he founded the CMS Afghan mission, the first European mission to the Afghans, in Peshawar—the doorway to Kabul and Central Asia. To achieve this, he crossed the Indus River, explored Kashmir and Ladakh, and penetrated some way into the Himalayas and western Tibet. At Peshawar, he worked with Karl Gottlieb Pfander, a Basel Mission missionary in Central Asia. He was sent back to England before the outbreak of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the Sepoy Mutiny. especially in the valley of Kashmir.

Elizabeth's success as a doctor in Kashmir provided a "key" to Clark to unlock the minds of natives; subsequently he initiated the movement that resulted in the wide establishment of "Medical missions" throughout India. According to Clark: Medical Missions are amongst the most important means of evangelising India; and the attention of all Societies should be more distinctly drawn that has hitherto been the case to the opportunities which they afford.