| Level | Sub-sub-sub-fonds |
| Finding Number (Click this to view full catalogue structure) | CMS/B/OMS/S |
| Title | 'Sudan mission' later 'Southern Sudan mission' |
| Extent | 3 volumes, 3 boxes |
| Date | 1905-1934 |
| Description | Records compiled by the committees of the CMS Overseas (Foreign) Division, London, up to 1934.
Comprising papers under the Africa (Group 3) Committee of the CMS Overseas Division, London up to 1934. Including incoming correspondence from the mission to CMS, London 1905-1934, outgoing correspondence from the CMS in London to the mission 1905-1934, and office summaries (précis) of the incoming correspondence 1905-1934.
Papers 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Work is underway to address outdated, discriminatory, and offensive language in finding aids used by the Cadbury Research Library, and to improve accessibility of the online catalogue in line with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 1905-1934 (outgoing)
O: Original papers 1905-1934 (incoming)
P: Précis books 1905-1934 (incoming: summaries) |
| Access Conditions | For conservation reasons digital or microfilm copies are made available in place of the originals. |
| 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 'Sudan mission'. Alternatively, the original paper catalogues for the mission series can be consulted in the Cadbury Research Library and CMS (Oxford). The 'Sudan mission' series 1905-1934 are listed in the ‘Africa (Group 3) Missions’ catalogue, volume five: 'Egypt and Sudanese Missions'.
The ‘Catalogue to the Papers of the Overseas Division’, which includes a listing of the 'Southern Sudan' and 'Northern Sudan' 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 'Sudan mission' and 'Southern Sudan mission' papers 1905-1949 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 incoming papers are each individually marked in red ink, and this number, plus the year, comprised the archive reference for each item, for example, G3 S/1906/4. 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 S/O 1906/4. |
| Administrative History | Work in the historic country of Sudan was initially organised as part of the CMS Egypt mission with stations at Omdurman opened in 1899 and at Khartoum in 1900 (both in present-day Sudan). In 1905, funds collected in memory of General Gordon were used to start a new mission in the south and the first station of the 'Sudan mission' was opened in 1906 at Malek in present-day South Sudan. That part of the Diocese of the Upper Nile which was in the area of southern Sudan was administered as part of the 'Sudan mission' while the Uganda part of the Upper Nile Diocese was treated separately and administered as the 'Upper Nile' (or Elgon) mission. Until 1931, work elsewhere (comprising Khartoum and its neighbourhood) continued under the Egypt mission until the 'Northern Sudan mission' was formed in 1931 (CMS/B/OMS/SN).
Main mission stations (listed by start date):
1906 Malek
1913 Yambio
1917 Yei
1920 Juba
1921 Lui and Opari
1922 Maridi
Secretaries with primary responsibility for the Egypt and Sudan missions, CMS London office:
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 1889-1992; General Secretary 1922-1934], CMS London office:
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], CMS London office:
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 | Papers catalogued by Rosemary Keen, CMS 1980. Copied to the online catalogue, 2000. Updates underway, 2024. |
| Copies | Available on microfilm and online.
Microfilm:
'Church Missionary Society Archive', Section IV: Africa Missions, Part 7.
Publisher: Marlborough: Adam Matthew Publications, 1999.
Location in the Cadbury Research Library: microfilm drawer C9.
Digital publication:
'AM Scholar-Church Missionary Society Archive': Africa Missions: Sudan Mission; Southern Sudan 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: 'Southern Sudan mission' series 1935-1959 (CMS/B/AF35-59/G3 S); 'Northern Sudan mission' series (CMS/B/OMS/G3 SN). |