CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY ARCHIVE

Series III: Central Records

Part 15: The Church Missionary Society Record, 1830-1875 held at the Church Mission Society Library

Part 16: CMS Awake! - A Missionary Magazine for General Readers, 1891-1921

             continued as Eastward Ho!, 1922-1940

Part 17: CMS Minutes, 1876-1898 and Indexes to Minutes, 1875-1907

Part 18: CMS Minutes, 1898-1949

Introduction to Part 18

Part 18 continues coverage of the CMS Minutes, covering the period 1898-1949. The Minutes of the various CMS Committees are entered in chronological order in the volumes. For the years included in Part 18, the Committee Minutes covered are: Finance, Funds, Correspondence, General, Clerical Sub-Committee, Special, Patronage, Children’s Home Visiting Sub-Committee and Institution Visitors.

The Minutes are all handwritten but are for the most part in copper-plate handwriting and therefore very easy to read.

The Minutes of the Finance and Funds Committees provide details of bills of exchange, missionaries’ salaries, money paid to sick and disabled missionaries and children of missionaries, allowances for each of the mission areas and amounts spent on tradesmans’ bills, outfits and suppliers, books and paper and sundries with a total of expenditure for each month. Details of CMS income are also listed in the mission estimates and any deficiencies noted. The Funds Committee concentrates on ideas for raising more money for the Society.

The following extract is taken from the Report of the Executive Committee on the Estimates for 1925-26:

….(i) That in view of the fact that the income for the first six months of the current year  was less than that of last year (owing in the main to reduced legacy receipts), whereas a large increase was required, the Committee should not at this date sanction expenditure for 1925-26 of as large an amount as it is now anticipated will be expended in the current year.

(ii) But that an expenditure at the rate of £500,000 per annum only be sanctioned for the first three months of 1925. This would involve a reduction as compared with that for the present year at the rate of about £20,000 per annum….”

The Correspondence Committee Minutes are a fascinating source including the texts of letters from major figures outside the CMS to the Society. They also provide a summary of the reports, letters and other items coming before the committee and record the decisions taken. Included are brief summaries of missionary letters and journals from every mission area covered by CMS and names of correspondents are listed.

The extract below is taken from the Minutes of the Correspondence Committee, 20 November 1906:

“…. Mr Henwood spoke briefly of his five years’ work in the Poona District,  especially enforcing the need and value of village schools as evangelistic agencies. He further gave an interesting account of work amongst certain low caste people in Savergaon, some of whom had already been instructed and baptized..

Mr Weatherhead reported on three kinds of work in which he had been engaged during the last five years. At first he was superintending work on 30 of the Sesse Islands, with 50 teachers and one Native Clergyman and perhaps 30,000 people. He gave a particularly encouraging account of the work done by Native Teachers under the responsible leadership of one of the ablest among them.

Mr Weatherhead explained how sadly depopulated by Sleeping-Sickness the Islands now were, and how that now they have no resident European.

For a short time on leaving the Islands Mr Weatherhead was engaged in the important work of training Native Teachers, in which he had taken special delight, but subsequently he had been assigned to the charge of the King’s School on Budo, of which school he gave many interesting particulars”.

The following is from the Minutes of the Correspondence Committee, May 20th 1913:

“…. Mr Phillips spoke of his work in the Kien-ning Prefecture of the Fukien Province, where after twenty-five years work he was able to report that there are now 670 baptised Christians…. While expressing thankfulness for the work done by women missionaries, he pleaded for at least three more men, including an Educationist who could take the place of the Rev A Sills when he returns home on furlough. Unless educational work is re-inforced it is likely that the Chinese will take it into their own hands….

Miss Chollet described especially her itinerating amongst the women of the Ibo Country. The work is progressing most rapidly on the Onitsha side of the River. In certain centres the women were ready to come to Station Classes for twelve days to learn the Bible, in such large numbers that she could only find time to eat when her native helpers kept the women away for a while. Where there were good Christian women, she found the Church progressive and progressing, but where there were none, she found it was stagnant….”

The General Minutes cover a wide variety of topics including finance and work in the missions. The following extract for a meeting in 1906 gives a taster of the sort of information to be found.

“…. The total for European Agency makes provision for 847 Missionaries in the Missions against 842 provided for in the revised Estimate for 1906, an increase of 5. The gross increase in amount is accounted for by the fact that in the Estimate for 1907 the Missionaries are all included for the whole year, whereas in the revised figures for 1906 there are 166 estimated for a part of the year only. The deduction of the round sum of £8,000 from the total for 1907, approximately representing the effect of prospective revision during the year, leaves the total very close to that of 1906. The sum of £8,000 deducted closely represents the average annual savings on this head during the past five years….”

The Special Committee Minutes record meetings called on an ad hoc basis for one-off issues. Special Committees recorded in this part discuss among other topics, the planning of centenary celebrations, the appointment of a new principal at Islington Training College and the war damage inflicted on Foxbury Training Centre for Women.

The Children’s Home Visiting Sub-Committee Minutes record all important decisions taken regarding the CMS Children’s Home. Reports on age restrictions, maintenance and number of children in the Home are all included.

The Clerical Committee Minutes give a summary of letters received on all manner of CMS business.

The Patronage Committee Minutes provide a list of gentleman patrons.

The Institution Visitors Committee Minutes list letters received from the teachers at the Institution on the progress of the children and their well-being with resolutions taken.

<back