Malan, Henri Abraham César

Composer

b Geneva, Switzerland 1787, d 1864. He was converted in 1817, studied theology in his home city and was ordained in the Swiss Reformed Ch. But the current ecclesiastical regime in Geneva forbade the teaching of what for him were some of the core doctrines of Reformed (Calvinist) theology. Ignoring this prohibition he was suspended from officiating, and although he never formally resigned or lost his church membership, he ministered to less formal congregations at home and then in the Chapelle de Temoinage. From 1830 onwards he was also engaged in evangelism elsewhere in Switzerland, as well as in Germany, France, the Netherlands, England and Scotland. Near the start of a long friendship with the author Charlotte Elliott (qv) he proved a key influence on her life and writing. Nos.189, 850.