| Administrative History | From the beginning CMS stressed the importance in missionary work of education and by the start of the 20th century was working in over 2000 schools and seminaries (source: CMS Proceedings 1900). In 1900, a scheme for an Educational Auxiliary was adopted, the idea being to rouse interest amongst supporters at home for CMS work in schools and colleges abroad and to raise financial support in much the same way as the Medical Missions Auxiliary worked on behalf of CMS medical work.
An Educational Committee was appointed by the General Committee 9 October 1900 with responsibility both for work at home and overseas. In terms of the overseas side of its work, the Committee was accountable, and reported, to the Committee of Correspondence (and thereby to the General Committee) and worked in close co-operation with the three Group Committees. In conducting the home side of its work, the Committee reported to the Funds and Home Organisation Committee (and thereby to the General Committee).
The Committee's primary function was to serve educational missionary work overseas. The CMS was concerned both with evangelistic teaching of non-Christians and the education of Christians (source: draft Regulations on Education CMS/E/C 1/1). By 1911, there were 2,897 mission colleges and CMS schools within its remit; in addition to missionaries working in education, under the Society's Short Service Scheme, university graduates and 'other suitable qualified persons' worked in educational institutions in the mission field for 1.5 to 5 years assisting the staff and learning about 'missionary problems'; the extent of educational mission work was such that missions appointed local educational committees, conferences and boards which reported to the CMS Local Governing Body and helped to keep the Educational Committee in touch with work in the missions. The Educational Committee also advised and made recommendations on matters referred by other CMS committees (particularly the Group Committees and Committee of Correspondence) including staffing issues, college constitutions, plans and estimates for building work, overseas government educational policies, use of the Society's General Fund for educational work and all matters relevant to the Society's education mission work; it had the authority to make grants from the Educational Fund (subject to confirmation by the General Committee) and was also responsible for 'disseminating knowledge of the work and the problems of Christian education in the non-Christian world, and especially in the Society's missions, of evoking prayer thereof, of seeking sufficient recruits for educational posts, and of appealing for the money necessary for "more adequately staffing and equipping the educational work of the Society, to provide for its extension and to relieve the General Fund of the Society of portions of expenditure on education"' (source: 'CMS Gazette' October 1911).
In February 1909, the first Secretary for Educational Missions was appointed to Headquarters Staff. The Secretary's responsibilities, again encompassing work at home and overseas, were to: 'seek to enlist increased sympathy and support of C. M. S. Educational Missions, especially in the Universities and various Colleges in Great Britain and Ireland'; 'study by correspondence and otherwise Educational problems in the field' and 'assist by expert advice or otherwise the Group Committees in dealing with Educational questions; in addition to acting as Secretary of the Educational Committee' (Educational Committee minutes 16 December 1908).
The Committee expanded under Theodore W. R. Lunt's Secretaryship attracting an eminent membership including Bishop Ryle, Dean of Westminster, and the headmasters of Eton and Rugby schools. When Lunt left in 1914, responsibility for the overseas side of the work passed to the Secretary of the Group 2 (West Asia) Committee although by 1919 it appears that all the Group Committees were again working with the Educational Committee on the problems and needs for their particular regions. In 1920 a departmental Secretary for Education was appointed as a member of the Home Department (later Home 'Division'). The Education Department remained part of the Home Division until 1973 when the Society's committee structure was altered.
Secretary to Educational Committee:
1909-1910 Harry George Grey (Honorary post); 1910-1914 Theodore R. W. Lunt; 1914-1916 Edward Harry Mansfield Waller (acting); 1917-1919 Edmund Francis Edward Wigram; 1921 F. Garfield Williams
Secretary to Group 1 (East Asia) Committee:
1895-1913 Baring Baring-Gould; 1913-1921 Frederick Baylis
Secretary to Group 2 (West Asia) Committee:
1897-1913 George Backhouse Durrant; 1913-1915 Edward Harry Mansfield Waller; 1915-1929 Edmund Francis Edward Wigram
Secretary to Group 3 (Africa) Committee:
1893-1912 Frederick Baylis; 1912-1925 George Thomas Manley
Secretary to the General Committee:
1895-1910 Henry Elliott Fox; 1910-1922 Cyril Charles Bowman Bardsley
Sources: Rosemary Keen, 'Catalogue of the papers of the Educational Auxiliary'; Eugene Stock's 'History of the Church Missionary Society', volume IV; 'CMS Gazette' 2 October 1911 pp 291-292. |