Keasberry
Benjamin Peach Keasberry was born in Hyderabad in British India in 1811. He studied theology at the New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Jersey, USA where he leanrt New Testament Greek. At seminary he also met and married his wife Charlotte Parker. They came back to the East and reached Macao on 20th February 1839. Keasberry and his wife were denied entry into China and went on another ship and disembarked at Singapore. He became involved with the Malay work in the London Missionary Society (LMS) mission chapel with Rev Youngblood. Benjamin and Charlotte Keasberry joined the London Missionary Society (LMS) in September 1839. He soon learnt Malay and started Malay language services at the chapel.
Keasberry was a pioneer in the art of printing as well as in Malay education. Keasberry saw the potential of working amongst the Malays in Singapore. In 1843 Keasberry acquired a piece of land in Kampong Bencoolen (now Prinsep Street) and set up the Malay Mission Chapel, which is now called Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church (PSPC). In his attempt to evangelise the Malays, Keasberry wrote, published and translated many works into Malay. As the number of Malay Christians grew he realised the need for a suitable translation of the Scriptures into High Malay, which could command the prestige and respect of people from a non‐Christian background. Keasberry died suddenly on 6th September 1875, during a prayer meeting for missions, after 36 years of mission on Singapore. He was buried at Bukit Timah Cemetery, later known as Kampong Java Park.
Keasberry and the Bible Society
Bible Society work began in Singapore in 1837 with a British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) auxiliary branch. Keasberry was elected the first President of Singapore’s BFBS auxiliary branch. He revised the Malay book of Psalms in 1847. In 1857 Miss Sophia Cooke formed the Ladies’ Bible and Tract Society. Keasberry started the Tract Society on a programme of Bible translation and tract distribution with Miss Cooke. Some items were published in Arabic script and others in Roman script. In 1870 the Tract Society became part of the Bible Society work.
Old Testament
In 1862 Keasberry and John Stronach started translating the Old Testament into High Malay. Genesis was published in 1862 in Roman script For the Ladies’ Bible and Tract Society; Exodus and Proverbs were published in 1872 in Arabic script; and Psalms in 1873 in Arabic script. When Keasberry died in 1875 he had translated the Old Testament as far as 2 Kings plus Psalms and Proverbs.
Digital Edition
The 1862 Keasberry Genesis was digitised with the help of MissionAssist in 2017, to mark the 180th anniversary of the Singapore Bible Society.
