Hausa Band correspondence and papers

IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0150 CMS/ACC293
Held at: Birmingham - University of, Information Services, Special Collections Department
Domain:
Title: Hausa Band correspondence and papers
Date(s) of contents: 1926-1930
Level of description: Sub-fonds
Extent and medium: 3 files and 1 doc.

CONTEXT

Name of creator(s):

Administrative/Biographical history: In 1922, the need for a new missionary strategy in northern Nigeria, and in other Moslem areas, was identified at CMS headquarters but there was no obvious candidate to send there. In 1923, G. T. Manley, CMS Africa Secretary, visited Cambridge University and appealed for men to lead a mission. As a result, a 'Hausa Band' was formed in March 1924 with four members: Guy Bullen and W. H. Oswald who were preparing for ordination at Ridley Hall, Cambridge; Norman Cook who was in medical training and whose father was J. H. Cook, a former medical missionary in Uganda; and Max Warren, a first year student at Jesus College. They offered to CMS as a team, to work in northern Nigeria among Moslems. The Hausa Band was a largely self-supporting group within the CMS and it recruited for further members and raised a special fund for their support. It also published an occasional paper, 'Crusade Report', later known as 'Northern Nigeria' which reported on the progress of the missionaries and of the Ban's special fund for supporting them in northern Nigeria.
Bullen and Oswald arrived in Zaria in November 1926 and Max Warren reached Zaria in December 1927. In 1928, Bullen married Oswald's sister, a medical doctor, who became the fourth member of the Hausa Band to get to Nigeria and she contributed to the development of the medical mission work in Zaria with Dr Norman Cook. Cook, another member of the Hausa Band, started branch dispensaries at Funtua in 1931, at Maska in 1932 and at Chafe in 1933 before his death in that year.
Warren was invalided home in 1929 but once recovered, he played an active role in the administration of the Band, negotiating the financial arrangements with CMS headquarters and in recruiting new members.
Reference: Gordon Hewitt, The Problems of Success: a history of the Church Missionary Society 1910-1942 (SCM Press Ltd, 1971)

Custodial history: Presented by Rev. M. A. C. Warren, 1973

Immediate source of acquisition:

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE

Scope and content/abstract: This collection comprises correspondence with the Church Missionary Society relating to policy, recruitment and financial matters; circular letters; and articles and addresses. This material was accumulated by Max Warren, a member of the Hausa Band

System of arrangement: This collection forms part of the Church Missionary Society Unofficial Papers. It is arranged into one series: Family Papers

ACCESS AND USE

Language: English

Conditions governing access: Open Access to all registered readers

Conditions governing reproduction:

Finding aids: A catalogue of this collection to file and item level is available in electronic format on the University of Birmingham Information Services Online Archive Catalogue. A paper copy of this catalogue is also available for consultation in the Special Collections Department reading room.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material: The Church Missionary Society Unofficial Papers include another collection of papers relating to the Hausa Band (CMS/ACC115). The Special Collections Department also holds the Church Missionary Society Archive, the official archive of the society (GB 0150 CMS), which contains material relating to the activities of the Hausa Band in northern Nigeria

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Date(s) of descriptions: Created 7/02/2002, modified 17/09/2002

INDEX ENTRIES

Subjects

Languages

Mission policy

Personal names

Bullen | Oswald | member Hausa Band

Cook | Norman | member Hausa Band

Oswald | W H | member Hausa Band

Warren | Max | 1904-1977 | historian and General Secretary of the Church Missionary Society 1942-1963

Corporate names

Hausa Band

Places

Africa

Nigeria

West Africa