Cambridge Committee for Christian Work in Delhi

IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 1835 CMD
Held at: Henry Martyn Centre
Domain: archival
Title: Cambridge Committee for Christian Work in Delhi
Date(s) of contents: 1944-2000
Level of description: Fonds
Extent and medium: 23 folders of paper and one minute book

CONTEXT

Name of creator(s): Cambridge Committee for Christian Work in Delhi

Administrative/Biographical history: For more than a century, Cambridge graduates have gone to India, in particular to Delhi as missionaries, teachers and doctors. The Delhi Mission was begun by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 1852 but the link was formalised by Thomas Valpy and Bishop Brooke Foss Westcott (Bishop of Durham (1890-1901) and Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge (1870-1890)), by the creation of a committee in Cambridge in 1876. The first six men sent under the auspices of the committee arrived in Delhi between 1877 and 1879. They lived together in the Delhi Brotherhood, a monastic community of unmarried men. The Brotherhood is now an actived member of the Church of North India. Their work in evangelism was supplemented by their work in education, centred on St. Stephen's College, founded in 1881 and now the site of Delhi Polytechnic. Most years a chaplain from one of the Cambridge colleges was sent out to the college, usually at Christmas to maintain personal links. The mission also became involved in local social development projects and St. Stephen's Hospital. A women's religious order known as St. Stephen's Community was founded later. The official title of the committee became the Cambridge Mission to Delhi (CMD) in 1884. In 1967 the CMD was amalgamated into the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel but at the same time, the Cambridge Committee for Christian Work in Delhi (CCCWD) was created to take over the running of the Delhi link. This committee also manages the Teape Fund, created with money left in the will of William Teape in 1942. This was to be used to fund a lectureship in memory of his teacher, Bishop Westcott. The subject of the lectures was to be the relationship between Hindu Scripture and the Christian Gospel and were to be delivered alternately at St. Stephen's College and at Cambridge. The lectures began in 1955 and have continued since. A more recent, bequest, that of Christopher Robinson, to foster links with India, is also administered by CCCWD. The latter also has a close relationship with the committee of the Friends of Delhi Diocese by bringing together past workers, friends and supporters in England.

Custodial history: The minutes and associated papers of the CCCWD have been stored for a number of years in the Henry Martyn Centre as the Centre director is, by tradition, a member of the committee.

Immediate source of acquisition:

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE

Scope and content/abstract: Minute books, accounts, correspondence and associated papers of the committee from 1944 to the present as well as of the Teape Sub-Committee, the Delhi Brotherhood, St Stephen's College, St. Stephen's Hospital and the newsletters and other papers of the Freinds of Delhi and Rajastan Dioceses.

System of arrangement: Folders 1 to 6 cover CCCWD. Folders 7 to 10 the Teape Committee. Folders 11 to 13 the Delhi Brotherhood. Folders 14 to 15 St. Stephen's College. Folder 16 St Stephen's Hospital and Folder 17 the Friends of Delhi and Rajastan Dioceses.

ACCESS AND USE

Language: English.

Conditions governing access: Refer to the repository.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Finding aids: There is a hand-list available.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material: The Falkner Papers are also held at the Henry Martyn Centre.

Copies: Can be arranged by the repository

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note: Compiled using:
the collection itself
John Harrison The Cambridge Mission to Delhi
Biographical dictionary of Christian missions, ed. by Gerald H. Anderson (New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1998).

Date(s) of descriptions: April 2002

INDEX ENTRIES

Subjects

Church of North India

Hinduism

Islam

Missionary Education

Missionary hospitals

Missions

Religion

Schools

Personal names

Teape | William Marshall | 1862-1944 | parish priest in the Diocese of Durham and India scholar

Westcott | Brooke Foss, 1825-1901 | Bishop of Durham 1890-1901

Corporate names

Cambridge Brotherhood

Cambridge Committee for Christian Work in Delhi

Cambridge Mission to Delhi

Diocese of North India

Friends of Delhi Diocese

Henry Martyn School of Islamic Studies

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel

St Stephen's College, Delhi

St Stephen's Hospital, Delhi

United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel

Places

Cambridge

India

South Asia