CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY ARCHIVE
Section VI: Missions to India

Part 2: North India Mission, 1844-1886

This completes the coverage of the Mission Books for 1844-1880 and also includes the Individual Letter Books for 1852-1886.

The Mission Books, 1844-1880 contain hand written copies of the Original Papers sent by the missionaries to the Secretary in London. The papers are numbered in the order they arrived in London. The letters and journals from 1844 to May 1849 are copied out in full and a note of receipt is made for the financial and printed papers. From 1849 onwards the letters only are copied. Annual letters are not copied out but those from 1875 onwards are printed at the back of the volumes. Each volume contains a name index. A wide variety of material is included as can be seen from the information below.

Letters to and from missionaries and Bishops
Rev William Smith to Rev James re his missionary tour through Oude in 1843 with a description of Lucknow and breakfast with the King; Rev J Innes to the Lay Secretary re finances; letters from various missionaries to the Lay Secretary on a variety of subjects; extract of a letter from Archdeacon Dealty to the Bishop of Calcutta re his visit to the district of Kishnagur; letter from Rev J J Weitbrecht to Rev H Venn re the death of Mr Coates, CMS secretary in London; first letter from Rev E C Stewart to Rev Venn on arrival in Agra; Bishop of Calcutta to Rev H Venn; letter from the new missionary Rev W Rebsch telling of his journey by ship and arrival in the mission; from Rev Knuckeberg to Rev Venn asking for his son to be allowed to attend the CMS school in England; Rec C F Cobb to Rev Venn re the Bishop's visit to the mission, Benares 1854; Rev J H Fitzpatrick to Rev Venn regarding his wife's work among the women.

Other letters included are from Rev D Pfander to Rev G G Cuthbert re the Indian Mutiny written at Peshawar, August 1857; Rev J H Fitzpatrick to Rev Venn re the admitting of native Christians to public employment; Rev A Shawbridge concerning the state of the country since the mutiny; letter from Mr W Wright to the Secretary, Agra May 1858 describing how the students at the CMS School reacted during the mutiny; Rev Leupoldt to Rev Venn, September 1858 describing a visit to Cawnpore, the site of a massacre during the mutiny with a statement by Eliza Bradshaw and Elizabeth Letts on the massacre of women, men and children; letter from Rev Leupoldt telling of his daughter's death from smallpox one month after her marriage and his decision to have a sabbatical in Europe after fourteen years in India; Rev William Briggs to Rev Wright of Mooltan in June 1876 re the huge increase in native assistants from one to twelve in just a few years; Rev F J Mayer to Rev Fenn about the arrest of a Colporteur for falsifying the bookshop accounts; Rev A Hern to Rev Fenn re his resignation as secretary of the Calcutta C M Association.

Missionary Journals
Rev C G Pfander's journal, Jan-March 1843; Rev J P Menger's journal for Jan-Sept 1843 describing his tour from Gorrukpore to Juanpoor; Rev P L Sandberg's journal for August-December 1844; Rev J Long and Rev H Smith's journals for 1845-1846; journal of Rev R Clark, January- March 1852; extract from Rev C B Leupoldt's journal, February-March 1855; extracts from Rev C F Cobb's diary, 1858 and a description of his visit to Lucknow in January 1859.

Minutes of Meetings and Conferences
There are regular copies of minutes of the Calcutta Correspondence Committee detailing progress in the missions; minutes of meetings of the missionaries of Agra; minutes of meetings of Bengal missionaries; minute on the proposition of ordaining several European and East Indian catechists and teachers, 1853; minutes of the Benares conference, April 1853; minute regarding the Bengal Training School; minutes of the missionary conference held at Amritsar, January 1855; minutes of the Punjab missionaries regarding the ordination of native converts and the salaries of native pastors; minutes of a special meeting of the Peshawur CM Association, March 1862; minutes of the proceedings of the Punjab CMS Native Church Council.

Missionary Reports
Rev J Hoerule's report on the Orphan Institution at Agra; notes on the Solo Mission by Rev G G Cuthbert, February 1847; report by Mr A Acheson to Rev H Venn, January 1848 on the orphan boys rescued during the great famine with statistics showing their educational proficiency; report on education in the Boys' School, 1855; Rev J Long's Annual Report, 1859; report by Mr A H Wright on the Hindu Girls' School for girls of the lower caste; report by Rev Robert Bruce to General Lake on the famine, Julfa April 1871; report of the work of the two Colporteurs working for Rev Seal at Kidderpore with a list of villages visited, number of books sold and amount of money raised; report of the Persian Famine Fund with a list of the money collected; report of a meeting proposing to amalgamate the different missionary colleges in Calcutta; report of Rev G M Gordon to Rev Welland on two weeks itineration in the Jhelum district, 1874; very detailed report from Rev Bruce to Rev Wright on his itineration with his wife to villages in the mission district; report by Rev A P Neele on the Lucknow Mission School and his travels in the mission including an update on the CMS School for Hindu boys and the difficulties in travelling due to the floods; report of Rev F Abel's work at the CMS school in 1874; report of Rev A P Neele on his travels in the mission; report from Rev G M Gordon to Rev D Barry about his work at Multan; report by Rev J Erhardt to Rev W Gray on his arrival at the Secundra Orphanage, April 1879 describing the huge influx of sick and starving children; the Secretary of the mission's report on Anglo-Vernacular Schools.

Finance
Finance minutes; a note on the expenditure of the Simla mission, October 1846-September 1848; details of missionary travel expenses; a list of the Christian teachers in the mission with details on their salaries and regulations for the salaries of native assistants; Rev J Innes's minute on funds in July 1846 showing expenditure on mission buildings and salaries.

Miscellaneous Items
Circulars; proposal for an institution at Agra to educate natives; a certificate on the health of Mr Wendnagel; address from the missionaries CMS Calcutta to Rev J Long re a publication by a native worker and his indictment on a charge of libel; translation of a letter from four of the dismissed pupils of the Santipau Training School; circular re founding a mission at Mhou and Indore; rules for a Native Church Council, 1876; resolutions passed at the conference of the Bishops in Calcutta, 1877; details on the CMS institutions in the area - staff, educational agencies and CMS buildings.

The Individual Letter Books for 1852-1886 contain private and confidential letters to individual missionaries from the Secretary in London, addressing a wide variety of topics. Rev Christopher Fenn was the last Secretary to be appointed specifically to write these letters and he continued until his retirement in 1894. For the 1860s there is much about the development of the local church into a body independent of European support. Each volume has a name index.