| Description | Records compiled by the committees of the CMS Overseas (Foreign) Division, London.
Comprising papers under the Committee of Correspondence, CMS Overseas (initially 'Foreign') Division, London. Including incoming correspondence from the mission to CMS in London c 1811-1880, outgoing correspondence to the Mediterranean from CMS in London c 1811-1884, and office copies of the incoming correspondence 1820-1880. |
| 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Work is underway to address outdated, discriminatory, and offensive language in finding aids used by the Cadbury Research Library, and to improve accessibility of the online catalogue in line with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. |
| Administrative History | CMS Mediterranean mission was active from 1815-1880. The first base was established in Malta in 1815. Over time work extended to Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Aden (now part of the state of Yemen), and Palestine. For a time, 'Mediterranean mission' also encompassed Ethiopia (at the time 'Abyssinia'). When the Mediterranean mission closed in 1880, CMS work in this geographical area was taken over by the newly established CMS Palestine mission.
Work in Malta continued from 1815-1843.
Work in Egypt began in 1826 at Cairo and ended in 1861. When work in Egypt was revived in 1882 it was no longer part of the CMS Mediterranean mission: it was administered as part of the 'Palestine mission' until 'Egypt mission' was set up as a separate administrative unit in 1889.
In the Greek Islands, the main station was 'Syra' [Syros], started in 1830 and ended in 1875.
In Turkey, work centred on Istanbul (at the time 'Constantinople') 1819-1821, 1858-1877; in the area known as 'Asia Minor', CMS had a base at İzmir (at the time 'Smyrna') 1830-1877.
In Ethiopia, work started in 1830 and continued as part of the Mediterranean mission until 1841. In 1841, administration of the work was transferred to the CMS East Africa mission until work was closed in 1842. |
| Custodial History | Deposited in the Special Collections of the University of Birmingham with the records of the Palestine mission in 1981. |