| Level | Sub-sub-sub-fonds |
| Finding Number (Click this to view full catalogue structure) | CMS/B/OMS/A4 |
| Title | South Africa mission |
| Extent | 2 volumes, 8 files |
| Date | 1836-1843 |
| Description | Records compiled by the committees of the CMS Overseas (Foreign) Division, London.
Comprising papers under the Committee of Correspondence. Including incoming correspondence from the mission to CMS, London 1836-1843, outgoing correspondence from the CMS in London to the mission 1836-1841, and office copies of the incoming correspondence 1836-1843. |
| Notes | When the catalogue was created names of mission stations were standardised but there was no attempt to give present-day place names where these differ from place names in the records. The bulk of names in the sub-number references are the spellings used in the documents.
Work is underway to address outdated, discriminatory, and offensive language in finding aids used by the Cadbury Research Library, and to improve accessibility of the CMS online catalogue in line with current standards including adding present-day place names standardised according to 'The Times Atlas of the World', comprehensive edition, 2023. Copies of the original catalogues have been retained as a record. |
| Arrangement | The papers are arranged as:
L: Letter-books 1836-1841 (outgoing)
M: Mission books 1836-1843 (incoming: copies)
O: Original papers 1836-1843 (incoming) |
| Access Conditions | For preservation reasons, microfilm or digital copies are made available in place of the original documents. |
| Finding Aids | Click on the Finding Number to display the full online catalogue of the Overseas Division mission series up to 1934, including the lower level entries for South Africa mission series 1836-1843. Alternatively, the original paper catalogues for the mission series can be seen in the Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections and CMS (Oxford). The South Africa mission papers 1836-1843 are listed in the 'Africa (Group 3) Missions' catalogue, volume three.
Guides to the Adam Matthew microfilm and digitally published copies of the South Africa mission papers are available online and in CMS (Oxford), Cadbury Research Library, and other subscribing institutions. |
| Access Status | Open, but subject to some access restrictions |
| Physical Description | The archive reference numbers were marked in pencil on the back of each individual item of incoming correspondence, for example, O 3/10. As the papers have been bound into one volume the full reference number (for example, C A4/O 3/10) may not always be present. Pencilled numbers on the front of the papers are the 1952 archive catalogue numbers and are not to be used. Any numbers in ink are those added by the clerks at CMS headquarters, London, in the 19th century. When the records were transferred to the University of Birmingham and the online copy of the catalogue was created the archive finding numbers for the records of the Overseas Division were extended: the letters CMS/B/OMS were added at the beginning of the filing numbers (denoting records of the Church Mission Society Archive: Overseas Division: Overseas Mission Series). For example, CMS/B/OMS/C A4/O 3/10. |
| Administrative History | In 1837, CMS work in South Africa was begun as a mission in what was referred to as 'Zulu country' (now KwaZulu Natal). Work was terminated in 1838 when Dutch settlers (Voortrekkers) were killed under Dingane ka Senzangakhona (1795-1840), King of the Zulu people 1828-1840.
A mission to Mosita, north of 'Grahamstown' (now Makhanda), was subsequently begun on the understanding that work there by the Protestant Missionary Society of Paris was to be given up. However, when the Paris society sent new missionaries out CMS decided to withdraw entirely from South Africa.
CMS Secretaries (London) with primary responsibility for South and East Africa missions:
1836-1846 Dandeson Coates
1847-1865 Henry Venn
1868-1873 Edward Hutchinson
1873-1880 Henry Wright
1880-1881 Edward Hutchinson
1881-1892 Robert Lang
1892-1912 Frederick Baylis
1912-1925 George Thomas Manley
1926-1934 Handley Douglas Hooper
CMS Secretary to the General Committee, London:
1825-1846 Dandeson Coates
1846-1872 Henry Venn
1872-1880 Henry Wright
1880-1895 Frederick Edward Wigram
1895-1910 Henry Elliott Fox
1910-1922 Cyril Charles Bowman Bardsley
1923-1925 Herbert Lankaster
1926-1941 William Wilson Cash
Lay Secretary (Financial Secretary), London:
1820-1846 Dandeson Coates
1846-1863 Major Hector Straith
1859-1866 Colonel Michael Dawes
1867-1881 Edward Hutchinson
1869-1875 Major General Edward Lake
1882-1887 General George Hutchinson
1888-1894 Major General Clennell Collingwood
1895-1907 David Marshall Lang
1908-1909 Robert Maconachie
1910-1921 Herbert Lankaster
1922-1925 John Kinahan (acting)
1925-1937 Louis Steele |
| Archival Note | Papers catalogued by H. S. Cobb, CMS 1952. Hard copy handlist revised and expanded by Rosemary Keen, CMS 1961 and 1980. Copied to the University of Birmingham online archive catalogue, 2000. Updates underway, 2024. |
| Copies | Available on microfilm and online.
Microfilm:
'Church Missionary Society Archive', Section IV: Africa Missions, Part 16.
Publisher: Marlborough: Adam Matthew Publications, 2004.
Location in the Cadbury Research Library: microfilm drawer B2.
Digital publication:
'AM Scholar: Church Missionary Society Archive': Africa Missions: South Africa Mission.
Publisher: Adam Matthew Digital.
Access: by institutional subscription: free to members of the University of Birmingham and visitors to the Cadbury Research Library and other subscribing institutions. |