| Description | Family and CMS correspondence and papers of Douglas Arthur Lowndes Hooper, both his first wife, Edith and second wife, Elizabeth, his son, Handley Douglas Hooper, his wife Margaret Cicely and their son, Cyril. The material includes papers of Handley Douglas Hooper as CMS Africa Secretary 1926-1949, such as, correspondence, reports and official papers and a collection of printed papers and also papers relating to his clerical roles as a curate, 1914-1915 and as rector at Holton, Norfolk. Other material comprises family correspondence, diaries, photographs, drawings and papers relating to missionary training. |
| Administrative History | Douglas Arthur Lowndes Hooper (1862-1918) CMS Missionary East Africa Mission 1885-1917 was born in Clapham and educated at Harrow School and Cambridge University. He was accepted by the CMS as a missionary to East Africa in 1885 and was located to Uyui, Eastern Equatorial Africa. He was ordained by Bishop Tucker in 1890. In the same year he married, fellow CMS missionary Edith Baldey who died at Jilore only three years later. He married his second wife, medical missionary, Elizabeth Mary Wells, in 1895. Douglas Hooper died in January 1918 at Highbury.
Handley Douglas Hooper (1891-1966) was born in East Africa, the son of a serving CMS missionary. After education in England he was ordained and in 1915 accepted by CMS as a missionary in Kahuhia, British East Africa. Between 1917 and 1918, he served with the African Carrier Corps. In 1926 he returned to England and was appointed Secretary to CMS Africa Committee, a post he held until his retirement in 1949. In his official capacity he undertook visits to East and Central Africa and Sudan missions. In 1956 he was appointed Canon Emeritus of the Diocese of Mombasa. He was married in 1915 to Margaret Cicely Winterbotham. They had three children, Cyril, John and Margaret.
Reference: Register of missionaries (clerical, lay & female) and native clergy from 1804 to 1904 (Church Missionary Society, 1905); CMS Register of missionaries Men 1915-1918 (manuscript, unpublished) |
| Custodial History | CMS received the collection January 1997 (source: CMS catalogue). CMS retained the photographs when they transferred the rest of the collection to the University of Birmingham, Special Collections. The photographs were transferred to University of Birmingham, Special Collections: Cadbury Research Library by CMS, 30 April 2025. |