| Level | Sub-sub-sub-fonds |
| Finding Number (Click this to view full catalogue structure) | CMS/B/OMS/A5 |
| Title | East Africa (Kenya) mission |
| Extent | 30 volumes, 27 files, 24 boxes |
| Date | 1841-1934 |
| Description | Records compiled by the committees of the CMS Overseas (Foreign) Division, London, up to 1934.
Comprising papers under the Committee of Correspondence 1841-1880, and under the Africa (initially 'Group 3') Committee 1880-1934. Including incoming correspondence from the mission to the CMS in London 1841-1934, outgoing correspondence from the CMS in London to the mission 1842-1934, office copies of the incoming correspondence 1842-1880, and office summaries (précis) of the incoming correspondence 1881-1934.
Kenya mission series under the Africa Committee for the years 1935-1959 are catalogued separately. Details are given below under ‘Finding Aids’. |
| 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Work is underway to address outdated, discriminatory, and offensive language in finding aids used by the Cadbury Research Library, and to improve accessibility of the CMS online catalogue in line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 | Papers under the Committee of Correspondence are arranged as:
I: Individual letter-books 1863-1888 (outgoing)
L: Letter-books 1842-1883 (outgoing)
M: Mission books 1842-1880 (incoming: copies)
O: Original papers 1841-1880 (incoming)
Papers under the Africa (initially Group 3) Committee are arranged as:
L: Letter-books 1883-1934 (outgoing)
O: Original papers 1880-1934 (incoming)
P: Précis books 1881-1934 (incoming: summaries)
Letter-book volumes started under the Committee of Correspondence continued to be used for the first years under the Group Committee.
Letter-book volumes started under the Committee of Correspondence continued to be used after the day-to-day administration of the mission passed from the Committee of Correspondence to the Group Committee. Researchers interested in outgoing correspondence dating from the 1880s will need to use the letter-books held under finding numbers CMS/B/OMS/C A5 I1 and C A5 L2 as well as CMS/B/OMS/G3 A5 L3-5. |
| 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 the Kenya (East Africa) mission series. Alternatively, the original paper catalogues for the overseas mission series can be seen in the Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections and CMS (Oxford). The Kenya (East Africa) papers 1841-1934 are listed in the 'Africa (Group 3) Missions' catalogue, volume three.
The 'Catalogue to the Papers of the Overseas Division' which includes the catalogue of the Kenya mission series 1935-1959 is not available online. A paper copy of the catalogue is available to view in the Cadbury Research Library and CMS, Oxford. Copies can also be supplied on request (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk).
Guides to the Adam Matthew microfilm and digitally published copies of the 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 for the pre-1880 incoming papers have been marked in pencil on the back of each individual item, for example, C A5 O10/3. The post-1880 incoming papers are each individually marked in red ink, and this number, plus the year, comprised the archive reference for each item eg G3 A5/1904/25. 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). In addition, for the papers under the Africa (Group 3) Committee, a letter denoting the type of record (O for Original papers or L for Letter-book, etc) was added after the mission reference, for example, CMS/B/OMS/G3 A5/O 1904/25. |
| Administrative History | Established in 1844, CMS Kenya mission was known as East Africa mission 1844-1885, Eastern Equatorial Africa mission 1886-1904, and British East Africa mission 1904-1920.
Work was begun at Mombasa in 1844, at Rabai in 1846, and at 'Frere Town' in the the mid-1870s. Frere Town, near Mombasa, was set up by CMS as an industrial settlement for people who had formerly been enlsaved; it was named for Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere (1815-1844), a British colonial administrator.
Principle centres of work (listed by start date):
1844 Mombasa
1846 Rabai
1870s Frere Town
1900 Mbale
1904 Kaloleni
1905 Wusi
1906 Nairobi
1900 Kabete
1903 Weithaga
1906 Maseno
1912 Butere
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
CMS 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 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, Parts 16-18.
Publisher: Marlborough: Adam Matthew Publications, 2004.
Location in the Cadbury Research Library: microfilm drawers B2 and C4-C6.
Digital publication:
'AM Scholar - Church Missionary Society Archive': Africa Missions: Kenya 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. |
| Related Material | Records of the CMS Overseas (initially 'Foreign') Division: Nyanza mission series (CMS/B/OMS/A6); Uganda mission series (CMS/B/OMS/A7); 'Tanganyika' mission series (CMS/B/OMS/A8); Kenya mission series 1935-1959 (CMS/B/AF35-59/G3 A5). |