Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House: Universities' Mission to Central Africa

Universities' Mission to Central Africa

IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0162 UMCA
Held at: Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House
Domain: archival
Title: Universities' Mission to Central Africa
Date(s) of contents: 1828-1982
Level of description: Sub-fonds
Extent and medium: 30 metres

CONTEXT

Name of creator(s): Oxford and Cambridge Mission to Central Africa, 1858-1860 (Anglican)
Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin and Durham Mission to Central Africa, 1860-1865
Universities’ Mission to Central Africa, 1865-1964
United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 1965-

Administrative/Biographical history: David Livingstone's return from Africa in 1857 led to the formation of Universities' Mission to Central Africa (UMCA). Following a challenge issued during his lectures in Cambridge and Oxford, the universities prepared to send a mission to central Africa led by a bishop. Charles Mackenzie was consecrated in 1860 and the next year sailed up the Zambezi and Shire rivers with a small group to start work. Malaria soon took its toll so Mackenzie's successor, Bishop William Tozer, abandoned the area around Lake Nyasa and moved his base to the island of Zanzibar in 1864. Establishing the Mission's work and opposing the East African slave trade were the initial priorities. UMCA's return to Lake Nyasa came later, this time overland via mission stations established on mainland Africa (now Tanzania) during the late 1870s and early 1880s. Two missionaries, Charles Janson and William Percival Johnson, finally reached the Lake in 1884. For the next 25 years UMCA's work developed in Zanzibar, Tanganyika, Nyasaland (now Malawi) and the north of Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique), but spread no further geographically until 1910 when the Mission began work in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). UMCA aimed to establish the church in Central Africa and both men and women were involved from its earliest days in contributing to making this a reality. Evangelistic, pastoral and educational work were all carried out by both Africans and Europeans. Medical work soon became an important addition and one of UMCA's major contributions in this sphere was its participation in the fight against leprosy. In 1957 UMCA celebrated its centenary in the context of decolinisation, newly autonomous churches and a decline of interest in mission among church members in Britain and Ireland. However, new concepts of mission were evolving which emphasised equal partnership amongst members of the world church. In the early 1960s UMCA and SPG began to consider their connection leading to a merger in 1965. Refer also to:
Henry Rowley, The History of the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa, from its commencement under Bishop Mackenzie to its withdrawal from the Zambesi (London: Saunders, Otley and Co, 1866).
AEM Anderson-Morshead, The History of the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa, Volume 1, 1859-1909 (London: UMCA, 6th edition revised, 1956).
AG Blood, The History of the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa, Volume 2, 1907-1932 (London: UMCA, 1957).
AG Blood, The History of the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa, Volume 3, 1933-1957 (London: UMCA, 1962).
Supplement to the History of the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa, 1957-1965 (London: USPG, 1965).
Daniel O’Connor and others, Three Centuries of Mission: The United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 1701-2000 (Continuum, London, 2000).

Custodial history: Universities’ Mission to Central Africa, 1858-1964
United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 1965-1986
Rhodes House Library/Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House, 1986 -

Immediate source of acquisition: Deposited at Rhodes House Library under the terms of an agreement dated 18 December 1985 between the University of Oxford and the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE

Scope and content/abstract:

• Correspondence, personal papers, printed material, maps, reports, photographs, etc., ca.1828-1970 • 'Subject files' (mainly correspondence relating to home organisation and African dioceses), ca.1860-1981 • Miscellaneous papers, ca.1859-1975 • Financial Papers (mainly correspondence regarding finance and relating to home organisation and African dioceses), 1920's-1960's • Legacies and associated legal papers, 1854-1948 • Papers of the Broomhall Estate, Sheffield (correspondence, plans and a few photographs regarding the administration, development and sale of the estate), 1874, 1961-1977 • 'Home Records' - material relating to home organisation (including constitutions, register of shares, register of members, correspondence, committee minutes, medical reports, personnel records, financial records etc.), ca.1859-1982

System of arrangement: *

ACCESS AND USE

Language: English.

Conditions governing access: Bodleian Readers Ticket required. 30 year closure period. Access to closed records may be given in exceptional circumstances, at the discretion of USPG.

Conditions governing reproduction: No reproduction or publication without permission. Copyright held by USPG, but contact the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House in the first instance.

Finding aids: MS Collections in Rhodes House Library, Oxford, Accessions 1978-1994 (Bodleian Library, Oxford, 1996, no. 619).
Handlist available in the library reading room.
Personal name/subject and geographic card indexes to the photograph collection.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material: United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House (GB 0162 SPG).
United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, Partnership House, London.
Papers of the Revd Horace Waller, UMCA missionary 1962-1884 at the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House (GB 0162 MSS.Afr.s.16).
Several UMCA missionaries have contributed a ‘Memorandum on service’, sometimes accompanied by papers, held at the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House (at various references including GB 0162 MSS. Afr. s. 1054; MSS. Afr. s. 1755; and MSS. Afr. s. 1872).
The Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House holds the personal papers of the Rt Revd Trevor Huddleston, UMCA missionary and Bishop of Masasi from 1960-1968, which are currently being catalogued.
The Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House also holds microfilm copies of logbooks for Northern Rhodesia UMCA Mission Station at Livingstone, 1910-1946; Chipili, 1912-1928; Fort Jameson, 1910-1955; and Mapanza, 1911-1923 (GB 0162 Micr. Afr. 392) and Andrew Hamilton Pike’s letter concerning the raid on the Mission at Masasi, East Africa, in 1882 (GB 0162 Micr. Afr. 545).
The National Archives of Tanzania in Dar-es-Salaam holds microfilm copies of UMCA Mission Station logbooks dating from the 1890s for some stations in northeastern Tanzania.
The East Africana Collection in the Dar-es-Salaam University Library, Tanzania contains 171 UMCA Mission Station logbooks from the Diocese of Masasi, 1910s to 1950s.
The Zanzibar Archives holds the Rt Revd William Tozer’s journal and letters.

Copies: Annual reports at the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, Partnership House, London
Central Africa, 1883-1964 at the Mission Studies Library, Partnership House, London
African Tidings, 1885-1964 at the Mission Studies Library, Partnership House, London

UMCA documents, 1861-1929; UMCA’s annual reports, 1860-1900 and Central Africa, 1883-1964 published on microfilm by Microform Academic Publishers, Wakefield, England

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: This description is based on the work of archivists at the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House and at Partnership House in London.

Date(s) of descriptions: 14 August 2002. 1 April 2003. Edited for Mundus, September 2004

INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects: Ancient religions; Anglican missionary societies; Anglicanism; Anglicans; Artisan missionaries; Christianity; Christians; Churches; Clergy; Cultural interaction; Educational missionaries; Educational missionary work; Evangelistic missionaries; Evangelistic missionary work; Home mission administration; Indigenous clergy; Indigenous lay workers; Islam; Lay missionaries; Medical missionaries; Medical missionary work; Mission administration; Mission educational institutions; Mission hospitals; Mission policy; Mission schools; Mission ships; Missionaries; Missionary societies; Missionary training; Missionary training institutions; Missionary work; Ordained missionaries; Religions; Religious activities; Religious buildings; Religious communities; Religious groups; Religious institutions; Religious organizations; Vocational schools; Women missionaries; Women’s missionary work
Personal names: Baker | William Scott | 1902-1990 | UMCA missionary and Bishop of Zanzibar; Birley | Thomas Howard | 1865-1949 | UMCA missionary and Bishop of Zanzibar; Douglas | Gerald Wybergh | ?-1934 | UMCA missionary and Bishop of Nyasaland; Fisher | Thomas Cathrew | ?-1929 | UMCA missionary and Bishop of Nyasaland; Hine | John Edward | 1857-1934 | UMCA missionary, Bishop of Likoma, 1896-1901, Bishop of Zanzibar, 1901-1908, Bishop of Northern Rhodesia, 1910-1914; Hornby | Wilfred Bird | 1851-1935 | UMCA missionary and Bishop of Nyasaland; Huddleston | Ernest Urban TREVOR | 1913-1998 | UMCA missionary, Bishop of Masasi, 1960-1968, Bishop of Stepney, 1968-1978, Bishop of Mauritius and Archbishop of the Indian Ocean, 1978-1983 and campaigner against Apartheid; Johnson | William Percival | 1854-1928 | UMCA missionary and Archdeacon of Nyasa; Livingstone | David | 1813-1873 | missionary and explorer; Lucas | William VINCENT | 1883-1945 | UMCA missionary and Bishop of Masasi; Mackenzie | Charles Frederick | 1825-1862 | UMCA missionary and Bishop of the Mission to the tribes dwelling in the neighbourhood of Lake Nyasa and the River Shiré; Maples | Chauncy | 1852-1895 | UMCA missionary and Bishop of Nyasaland; May | Alston James Weller | 1869-1940 | UMCA missionary and Bishop of Northern Rhodesia; Richardson | William Moore | 1845-1915 | UMCA missionary and Bishop of Zanzibar; Smythies | Charles Alan | 1844-1894 | UMCA missionary, Bishop of the Mission to the tribes dwelling in the neighbourhood of Lake Nyasa and the River Shiré, 1883-1892 and Bishop of Zanzibar, 1892-1894; Steere | Edward | 1828-1882 | UMCA missionary and Bishop of the Mission to the tribes dwelling in the neighbourhood of Lake Nyasa and the River Shiré; Stradling | Leslie Edward | 1908-1998 | UMCA missionary, Bishop of Masasi, 1945-1952, Bishop of South West Tanganyika, 1952-1960 and Bishop of Johannesburg, 1960-1974; Taylor | Robert Selby | 1909-198? | UMCA missionary, Bishop of Northern Rhodesia, 1941-1951, Bishop of Pretoria, 1951-1959, Bishop of Grahamstown, 1959-1964 and Archbishop of Cape Town, 1964-1974; Thorne | Frank Oswald | 1892-1981 | UMCA missionary and Bishop of Nyasaland; Tozer | William George | 1829-1899 | UMCA missionary and Bishop of the Mission to the tribes dwelling in the neighbourhood of Lake Nyasa and the River Shiré; Trower | Gerald | ?-1928 | UMCA missionary and Bishop of Likoma; Waller | Horace | 1833-1896 | UMCA missionary; Way | Wilfred Lewis MARK | 1905-1982 | UMCA missionary and Bishop of Masasi; Weston | Frank | 1871-1924 | UMCA missionary and Bishop of Zanzibar; Wilkinson | Francis Oliver | Green- | 1913-1970 | UMCA missionary, Bishop of Northern Rhodesia/Zambia, 1951-1970 and Archbishop of Central Africa, 1962-1970
Corporate names: Community of St Mary; Community of the Resurrection of our Lord; Community of the Sacred Passion; Mothers’ Union; Oxford and Cambridge Mission to Central Africa; Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin and Durham Mission to Central Africa; Society of the Sacred Mission; Universities’ Mission to Central Africa
Places: Africa; East Africa; Malawi; Mozambique; Nyasa, Lake; Southern Africa; Tanzania UR; Zambia; Zanzibar Island | Tanzania