Record

LevelSub-fonds
Finding Number (Click this to view full catalogue structure)CMS/ACC4
TitleAccession 4: Papers of Frances Dennis
Extent2 boxes
Date1897-1950
DescriptionLetters and journal letters written by Frances Dennis relating to her service as a CMS missionary at Onitsha, Ugboke and Owerri in Southern Nigeria, 1902-1907, and including reports of journeys in the hinterland of Asaba and Benin and a journey from Ibadan to Idumiye in 1907. Also including a typescript account of her experiences as a missionary, notes on Ibo folk tales and proverbs, photographs, correspondence from staff of the CMS UK office, periodicals and further miscellaneous papers.

The letters from Dennis are mostly circular letters addressed to 'My dear Friends'.
ArrangementThis collection forms part of the Church Mission Society Unofficial Papers. It is arranged into a single series: Family Papers.
Access ConditionsAccess to all registered readers
LanguageEnglish
Finding AidsA catalogue of this collection (forming part of the wider CMS 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. A paper copy of this catalogue is also available for consultation at Special Collections.
Access StatusOpen
Administrative HistoryFrances Mary Dennis (b 1874) was accepted as a CMS missionary in 1897. She served in Southern Nigeria and was stationed at Onitsha, Ugboke and Owerri. She had two brothers and a sister who were also CMS missionaries, Thomas, Edward and Ellen. Her fiance, Rev Charles Geoffrey Hensley, also a CMS missionary, died in 1901. Frances resigned from missionary service in 1909 when she married Rev Stephen Hensley.

Source: Register of missionaries (clerical, lay & female) and native clergy from 1804 to 1904 (Church Missionary Society, 1905).
Custodial HistoryPresented to the CMS by Mrs F. M. Hensley, Sep 1959. Transferred on permanent loan to the Special Collections Department by the CMS in the 1980s.
CopiesThe letters and journals of Frances Dennis have been microfilmed and micropublished with other primary sources under the title 'Women's Language and Experience, 1500-1940. Women's Diaries and Related Sources', Adam Matthew Publications, 1996. See the file level entry in the catalogue (CMS/ACC4 F1).
Related MaterialCadbury Research Library holds the Church Mission Society Archive (GB 0150 CMS) which includes papers relating to Frances Dennis's service as a missionary. It also holds papers of her brother, Archdeacon Thomas Dennis, see CMS/ACC89.

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