Record

LevelSub-fonds
Finding Number (Click this to view full catalogue structure)CMS/ACC1003
TitleAccession 1003: Photographs of Eleanor Harrison
Extent1 file
Date[?1890s]-[1920s]
Thumbnail (Click this image to open a larger image)

CMS ACC1001-1500\CMS ACC1003_T.jpg

DescriptionPhotographs and photopostcards depicting Eleanor Harrison alone and with others. The images appear to have been taken in England with the exception of a photograph of Miss Harrison standing with an unidentified Asian woman and two children which is presumed to have been taken in China where she served as a missionary with the Church Missionary Society 1896-1927 and 1929-1930.
NotesThe image shown is of Eleanor Harrison (seated) next to her friend 'Lizzie' Perkins (CMS/ACC1003 F1/4).
ArrangementThis collection forms part of the Church Missionary Society Unofficial Papers. It is arranged into a single series: Family Papers
Access ConditionsAccess to all registered researchers
Finding AidsA catalogue of this collection forming part of the wider CMS/ACC unofficial papers catalogue is available on the online archive catalogue. Click on the Finding Number to display the summary contents list of the catalogue and to view the full catalogue.
Access StatusOpen
Administrative HistoryEleanor ('Nellie') Jane Harrison (1872-1930) of Cookley, Kidderminster was an assistant in a library before studying at the Church Missionary Society training home 'Highbury' in 1894 and being accepted as a missionary in July 1895. She set sail for the Fukien Mission in China for the first time in January 1896. Having initially been stationed at Kosangche, she went to Tangtau on the island of Hai-tan to open a new mission station in 1902; from 1909 she was based at Kienning and from February 1916 at Chungan. After 30 years service she tendered her resignation due to family circumstances in December 1926 but returned to the Fukien Mission after rejoining CMS in 1929. She and fellow missionary, Edith Nettleton, were captured by bandits 26 June 1930; they were held to ransom before being shot and killed in October 1930. Sources: Annotated copy of the CMS 'Register of missionaries (clerical, lay & female) and native clergy from 1804 to 1904' (available on microfilm) and records of the General Secretary's Department (CMS/G/C 1/91-93; CMS/G/Y/CH4/3).
Custodial HistoryThe photographs were amongst family papers inherited by the donor. The donor's Great Uncle, Tom Perkins, was a contemporary of Eleanor Harrison and his diaries record the friendship between the Perkins and Harrison families of Cookley, Worcestershire including, on 6 November 1892, the news that, 'Nellie told me that she is going out as missionary' [sic]. One of the photopostcards is addressed to C. M. Perkins and it is likely that the photographs were given to the Perkins family by Eleanor or a member of her family. Source: notes supplied by Diana Parnell (wife of the donor) with the photographs.
Archival NoteCatalogued by I. Frlan. Cataloguing completed May 2013. Prepared in accordance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000 and Church Missionary Society cataloguing guidelines.
Related MaterialCadbury Research Library holds the Church Missionary Society Archive, the official archive of the society (GB 0150 CMS), which includes papers relating to Eleanor Harrison's service as a CMS missionary. It also holds two personal collections of papers relating to her in the CMS Accessions: GB 0150 CMS/ACC19 comprises the manuscript journal letters of Eleanor Harrison relating to her service as a CMS missionary with the Fukien Mission in China in three volumes, 1896-1913, together with printed circular letters, 1916-1922 and an account of finding her remains, with photograph of the search party, in 1937; GB 0150 CMS/ACC445 is a detailed biography of Miss Eleanor Harrison compiled by H. J. Griffin

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