Letters, journals and other papers of Frances Dennis

IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0150 CMS/ACC4
Held at: Birmingham - University of, Information Services, Special Collections Department
Domain:
Title: Letters, journals and other papers of Frances Dennis
Date(s) of contents: 1897-1950
Level of description: Sub-fonds
Extent and medium: 8 files, 1 vol. (in 2 boxes)

CONTEXT

Name of creator(s):

Administrative/Biographical history: Frances Mary Dennis (b 1874) was accepted as a CMS missionary in 1897. She served in Southern Nigeria and was stationed at Onitsha, Ugboke and Owerri. She had two brothers and a sister who were also CMS missionaries, Thomas, Edward and Ellen. Her fiance, Rev Charles Geoffrey Hensley, also a CMS missionary, died in 1901. Frances resigned from missionary service in 1909 on her marriage to Rev. Stephen Hensley, a clergyman.
Reference: Register of missionaries (clerical, lay & female) and native clergy from 1804 to 1904
(Church Missionary Society, 1905)

Custodial history: Presented to the CMS by Mrs. F. M. Hensley, Sep 1959; transferred on permanent loan to the Special Collections Department by the CMS in the 1980s

Immediate source of acquisition:

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE

Scope and content/abstract: This collection includes a series of letters and journal letters written by Frances Dennis, mostly addressed to 'My dear Friends', which relate to her service as a CMS missionary at Onitsha, Ugboke and Owerri in Southern Nigeria, 1902-1907. They also include, for example, reports of various journeys in the hinterland of Asaba and Benin and a journey from Ibadan to Idumiye in 1907. Other material includes a typescript of her autobiographical experiences as a missionary, entitled 'Niger Dawn', notes of Ibo folk tales and proverbs which she collected, some photographs and letters she received.

System of arrangement: This collection forms part of the Church Missionary Society Unofficial Papers. It is arranged into a single 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 Special Collections Department holds the Church Missionary Society Archive, the official archive of the society (GB 0150 CMS) which includes papers relating to Frances Dennis's service as a missionary. It also holds papers of her brother, Archdeacon Thomas Dennis, see CMS/ACC89

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Date(s) of descriptions: Created 15/08/2001, modified 16/09/2002

INDEX ENTRIES

Subjects

Memoirs

Photographs

Personal names

Dennis | Frances | b 1874 | missionary

Corporate names

Church Missionary Society

Places

Africa

Nigeria

Onitsha

Owerri

Ugboke

West Africa