| Level | Sub-sub-sub-fonds |
| Finding Number (Click this to view full catalogue structure) | CMS/B/OMS/E |
| Title | Egypt mission |
| Extent | 10 volumes, 11 boxes |
| Date | 1889-1934 |
| Description | Records compiled by the committees of the CMS Overseas (Foreign) Division, London, to 1934.
Comprising papers under the Africa (Group 3) Committee. Including incoming correspondence from the mission to CMS in London 1890-1934, outgoing correspondence from the CMS in London to the mission 1889-1934, and office summaries (précis) of the incoming correspondence 1890-1934.
Papers under the West Asia (Group 2) and Asia committees 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Work is underway to address outdated, discriminatory, and offensive language in finding aids used by the Cadbury Research Library, and to improve accessibility of the online catalogue in line with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 1889-1934 (outgoing)
O: Original papers 1890-1934 (incoming)
P: Précis books 1890-1934 (incoming: summaries)
There are some papers dating back to 1933 filed with the Egypt mission series for 1935-1959 including CMS/B/OMS/G3 E/O 1934/48-49 [see CMS/B/AS 1935-59/G2 E]. |
| Access Conditions | For conservation 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 Egypt mission. Alternatively, the original paper catalogues for the mission series can be consulted in the Cadbury Research Library and CMS (Oxford). The Egypt mission papers 1889-1934 are listed in the ‘Africa (Group 3) Missions’ catalogue, volume five.
The ‘Catalogue to the Papers of the Overseas Division’, which includes a listing of the Egypt mission series under the West Asia (Group 2) Committee 1935-1953, 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 Egypt 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 incoming papers are each individually marked in red ink. This number, plus the year, constituted the archive reference for each item, for example, G3 E/1919/4. 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, 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 E/O 1919/4. |
| Administrative History | The Egypt mission was established as a separate administrative unit in 1889.
CMS first began working in Egypt in 1826 when it formed part of the Mediterranean mission. Work was given up in 1861 and not started again until 1882 when the British military occupied Egypt and Rev F. A. Klein was stationed at Cairo. From 1882 to 1889 work in Egypt was administered as part of the CMS Palestine mission.
For the first 45 years after the establishment of the Egypt mission in 1889, work in London came under the Africa (Group 3) Committee. In 1935, the Egypt mission was transferred to the CMS West Asia (Group 2) Committee.
Mission stations (listed by start date):
1882 Cairo
1889 Old Cairo
1910 Menouf; Ashmoun; Shubra Zanga
1921 Giza
Secretaries with primary responsibility for the Egypt and Sudan missions to 1934:
1889-1892 Robert Lang
1892-1912 Frederick Baylis
1912-1925 George Thomas Manley
1926-1934 Handley Douglas Hooper
Secretary to the General Committee [Honorary Clerical Secretary 1889-1922; General Secretary 1922-1934]:
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 [secretary to Finance Committee]:
1888-1894 Major General Clennell Collingwood
1895-1907 David Marshall Lang
1908-1909 Robert Machonachie
1910-1921 Herbert Lankaster
1922-1925 John Kinahan [acting]
1925-1937 Louis Steele |
| Custodial History | Deposited in the Library of the University of Birmingham, 1981. |
| Archival Note | Catalogued by by Rosemary A. Keen, 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 14-15, Reels 284-309 (Marlborough: Adam Matthew Publications, 2002).
Reference copies of the microfilms are available in Cadbury Research Library located in microfilm drawers C7 and C8.
Digital publication:
'AM Scholar - Church Missionary Society Archive': Africa Missions: Egypt 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 Division: Mediterranean mission series (CMS/B/OMS/M); Palestine mission series (CMS/B/OMS/P); Egypt mission series 1935-1959 (CMS/B/AS 1935-59/G2 E). |