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Born near Morpeth, Northumberland, England, 1782; grew up in Newcastle-upon-Tyne; following a rudimentary education, apprenticed to his father as a last and boot-tree maker; joined the Presbyterian church, 1798; decided to prepare for missionary work; studied at Hoxton Academy (later Highbury College), London, 1803; studied at the Missionary Academy, Gosport, Hampshire, 1804; appointed by the London Missionary Society (LMS) and studied medicine, astronomy and Chinese in London, 1805; ordained and sailed via Philadelphia and New York to Canton, 1807; pioneering Protestant missionary to China, though he saw few conversions himself; married Mary Morton (1791-1821), daughter of an East India Company surgeon, in Macau, 1809; became translator to the East India Company's factory in Canton, securing a legal basis for residence and a means of supporting himself, 1809; completed the translation of the New Testament into Chinese, 1813; it was printed, 1814; viewed with hostility by Chinese officials; baptised the first Protestant Chinese Christian, 1814; served as translator on Lord Amherst's abortive embassy to Peking (Beijing), 1816-1817; returned to Canton, 1817; on the completion of his Anglo-Chinese dictionary, received the degree of Doctor of Divinity, University of Glasgow, 1817; with William Milne (1785-1822) founded the Anglo-Chinese College, Malacca, for training missionaries in the Far East, 1818; with Milne, completed the translation of the Bible, 1819; visited Malacca, 1823; travelled to England, 1823-1824; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1824; helped to established the short-lived Language Institution in London; ordained the first Chinese native pastor, 1825; married Eliza Armstrong (1795-1874), 1825; left England and returned to Canton, 1826; died at Canton, 1834. Publications include: Dictionary of the Chinese Language (1815-1823); Grammar of the Chinese Language (1815); Chinese Bible and numerous Chinese tracts, translations, and works on philology. His son from his first marriage, John Robert Morrison (1814-1843), succeeded his father at the East India Company and became secretary to the Hong Kong government.

Born at Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 1815; educated at Aberdeen grammar school; studied at King's College and University, Aberdeen; MA, 1835; affiliated with the Congregational Church; studied at Highbury theological college, London; appointed London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary to Malacca; ordained at Brompton, London, married Mary Isabella Morison (1816-1852), and set sail, 1839; arrived at Malacca and was appointed Principal of the Anglo-Chinese College, 1840; began translating and annotating the Chinese classics; he was to become a pioneering Sinologist; his wife, also a missionary, pioneered education for Chinese girls; DD, University of New York, 1842; following the treaty of 1842, which opened the ports of China, Legge left Malacca for Singapore, 1843; proceeded via Macau to Hong Kong and attended a conference of LMS missionaries and a general convention of missionaries, 1843; appointed to deliberate on the controversial issue of how to render God' in Chinese, advocating use of the nameShang Di'; head of the Anglo-Chinese Theological Seminary, Hong Kong (which replaced the Anglo-Chinese College in Malacca), 1843-1856; the preparatory school attached to the Seminary opened, 1844; it became co-educational, 1846; Legge helped to develop an independent Chinese congregation in Hong Kong; visited England for health reasons, 1845-1846; returned to Hong Kong and, in addition to his missionary work, pastor to an English congregation, 1848; visited England, 1858; married a widow, Hannah Mary Willetts (d 1881, née Johnstone), and returned to Hong Kong, 1859; ceased to be supported by LMS funds and returned to England, 1867; LLD, University of Aberdeen, 1870; pastor at Union Church, Hong Kong, 1870-1873; visited mission stations at Shanghai, Chefoo (Yantai) and Peking (Beijing) and returned to England via Japan and the USA, 1873; withdrew as a missionary of the LMS, 1873; Fellow of Corpus Christi College Oxford, 1875; first Professor of Chinese, University of Oxford, 1876-1897; honorary MA, University of Oxford; LLD, University of Edinburgh, 1884; died in Oxford, 1897. Publications include: translated and edited The Chinese Classics (5 volumes, Trübner & Co, 1861-1872, and 3 volumes, Clarendon Press, 1879-1894); Inaugural Lecture ... in the University of Oxford (1876); The Religions of China (1880); and numerous Chinese translations, Chinese tracts, and other pamphlets on Chinese subjects.

Edward Stallybrass: born at Royston, England, 1793 or 1794; studied at Homerton College; appointed London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary to Siberia and was ordained at Stepney, 1816; married Sarah Robinson (d 1833); travelled via Cronstadt and St Petersburg to Moscow, 1817-1818; joined there by Cornelius Rahm from Göteburg; granted an audience by the Czar, Alexander I, who showed support for their work; reached Irkutsk with Rahm and made an exploratory tour to Werchney, Oudinsk, Selenginsk and Kiachta, on the south-eastern side of the Baikal, 1818; with his wife, settled at Selengisnk among the Buriat people and founded a mission station, 1819; made a tour into the country of the Chorinsky Buriats, 1822; moved from Selenginsk to Khodon, 1828; with his two sons, left Khodon, 1834; married secondly Charlotte Ellah of Elsinore (1808-1839) in Copenhagen and travelled to London before returning to St Petersburg, 1835; spent time in St Petersburg revising the Mongolian scriptures; returned to Khodon, 1836; completed and published his translation of the Old Testament into Mongolian, 1840; when the work of the LMS in Russia was suppressed by decree of the Orthodox synod Stallybrass returned to England and retired from the LMS, 1841; his revision with William Swan (1791-1866, another LMS missionary at Seleningsk) of the Mongolian version of the New Testament (originally produced by the Russian Bible Society, 1824) was published, 1846; briefly headmaster of the Boys' Misson School, Walthamstow; pastor at Hampden Chapel, Hackney; his third wife was Sarah Bass; pastor at Burnham, Norfolk, 1858-1870; married fourthly Mary Ann Oughton (d 1874), 1861; died at Shooter's Hill, Kent, 1884; buried at Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington. Publications: translation of the Old and New Testaments into Mongolian; Memoir of Mrs Stallybrass, with an introduction by J Fletcher (London, 1836).

Dr Ralph Wardlaw Thompson: born into a London Missionary Society (LMS) family at Bellary, southern India, 1842; son of the Rev William Thompson and Jessie Crawford (daughter of the Rev Dr Ralph Wardlaw); moved to South Africa when his father became the LMS agent there; educated at the South African College, Cape Town; BA, University of the Cape of Good Hope; returned to England, but poor health prevented him from becoming a missionary, 1861; minister of Ewing Place Congregational Church, Glasgow, 1865-1870; minister of Norwood Congregational Church, Liverpool, 1871-1880; elected to the Board of Directors of the LMS, 1874; foreign secretary of the LMS, 1881-1914; visited missions in India, China, South Africa, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, and the South Seas; Chairman of the Congregational Union of England and Wales, 1908; leader at the Edinburgh World Missionary Conference, 1910; first chairman of the Conference of British Missionary Societies; retired, 1914; Doctor of Divinity, Glasgow University and Edinburgh University; died, 1916. For further information see Basil Mathews, Dr Ralph Wardlaw Thompson (1917). Publications include: with Arthur N Johnson, British Foreign Missions 1837-1897 (1899); My Trip on the `John Williams' (1900); Griffith John: the story of 50 Years in China (1906).

Dr Ralph Wardlaw: born at Dalkeith, Mid-Lothian, Scotland, 1779; educated at the grammar school, Glasgow; matriculated at Glasgow University, 1791; entered the theological school; came under evangelical influence; completed his studies, 1800; became a Congregationalist; an independent chapel was erected for him in North Albion Street, Glasgow, 1803; married Jane Smith, 1803; eleven children; professor of systematic theology at the newly-founded Glasgow Theological Academy, 1811; secretary of the Glasgow auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society and actively interested in the London Missionary Society; active in the anti-slavery movement; Doctor of Divinity, Yale College, Connecticut, 1818; a larger chapel was erected for him in West George Street, Glasgow, 1819; maintained his connection with his Glasgow chapel until his death; prominent in Britain and America as an author on theological questions; died at Easterhouse, 1853. Publications: various theological writings.

Dr John Smith Wardlaw: born, 1813; son of Ralph Wardlaw; LMS missionary in India; at Bellary, 1842-1855; at Vizagapatam, 1855-1858; returned to England, 1858; president of Farquhar House, Highgate (an LMS institute for training missionaries), 1863; Doctor of Divinity, Glasgow University, 1870; died, 1872.

Born in Sheffield, England, 1874; son of the Rev Walter Lenwood (1843-1918, formerly Peppercorn) and Charlotte (née Pye-Smith); brother of Dr Norah Bryson (1876-1947, medical missionary to Peking) and of Maida Leith (1881-1939, missionary to Madras); studied at Corpus Christi and Mansfield Colleges, Oxford; MA, University of Oxford; assistant minister at Queen Street, Wolverhampton, 1900-1901; tutor at Mansfield College, 1901-1906; married Gertrude Margaret Wilson (d 1971), 1903; visited London Missionary Society (LMS) mission stations in China and India, 1907-1908; ordained at Mansfield College, 1909; LMS missionary in Benares, 1909-1912; visited England on medical advice, 1912; foreign secretary of the LMS, 1912-1925; with his wife, visited India with a deputation from the LMS, 1913-1914; deputational visit to Australia, the South Seas and Papua, 1915-1916; visited India with an LMS deputation, 1922-1923; Honorary Director of the LMS, 1926; pastor of Greengate Congregational Church, Plaistow, 1926-1934; died in France following a climbing accident, 1934. For further information see Roger Wilson, Frank Lenwood (1936). Publications: Sermon preached ... before leaving for mission work ... at Benares (1909); Pastels from the Pacific (1917); Social Problems and the East: a Point of Honour (1919); Forces of the Spirit (1925); Modern Problems in the South Seas [1925]; W G Lawes: the scholar as pioneer [1926]; R K Evans [1928]; Jesus - Lord or Leader? (1930); Why all this Fuss about `Sweeps'? (1931); Gambling - why not? (1934).

Sundar Singh: born in a Punjab village, 1889; of mixed Sikh and Hindu stock; his early dislike of Christianity resulted in a symbolic burning of the Bible; soon after followed a vision of Jesus Christ and he was baptized, 1905; determined to become a Christian sadhu (holy man); associated briefly with a semi-Franciscan brotherhood and attended an Anglican theological college for a few months, but had no formal church affiliations; travelled and preached in mountain regions from his centre at Kotgarh, c1910-c1916; wrote about the many hardships in the Urdu Christian press, his accounts forming the basis of books about him by Alfred Zahir, 1916, and Rebecca J Parker, 1918; began to travel abroad, 1918; visited Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, and China; travelled to Europe, North America, and Australia, 1920; visited Europe again, 1922; following the publication of B H Streeter and A J Appasamy's The Sadhu (1921), Sundar Singh was identified as a living mystic and several more books were published about him; some people did not accept his accounts of his early adventures and his later years were dogged by controversy and ill health; set off to travel once more, 1929; his fate, and the circumstances of his death, are unknown.

Rebecca Jane Parker: born, 1865; née Perkins; a church member in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire; married Arthur Parker (1858-1935, a London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary in South India) in Calcutta, 1888; adoptive mother to Sundar Singh; working with her husband in the Trivandrum area, she ran a hostel and boarding home for Christian girls and Bible women; established an embroidery industry, employing over 1,000 Christian women; awarded the Kaisar-i-Hind medal by the British government for social service, 1921; retired, 1925; died at Leamington Spa, England, 1946. Publications: Sadhu Sundar Singh, called of God (1918 and subsequent editions); Sundar Singh, At the Master's Feet, translated by the Rev Arthur and Mrs Parker [1922]; Children of the Light in India: biographies of noted Indian Christians [1929]; Father of Twenty-Five Thousand: Arthur Parker, missionary in India [1939]; How They Found Christ: Stories of Indian Christians (1940).

Thomas William Bach: born in Worcester, England, 1868; studied at New College; appointed London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary to Trivandrum, Travancore, southern India, ordained in Worcester, and travelled to India, 1894; married S H Mudie Smith in Madras, 1895; visited England, 1897; resigned on account of his wife's ill-health, 1899; returned to England, 1900.

James Sibree: born in Hull, England, 1836; son of the Rev James Sibree, Congregational minister, and Martha Goode Aston; educated at Hull Collegiate School; articled to a civil engineer; Assistant Surveyor, Local Board of Health, Hull, 1859-1863; appointed London Missionary Society (LMS) architect of four large stone churches in Madagascar, each a memorial to a martyr of persection, and was sent to Antananarivo, 1863-1867; worked on the churches at Ambatonakanga, Ambohipotsy, Andohalo and Manjakaray, and other mission buildings; trained for the Congregational ministry at Spring Hill College, Moseley, Birmingham, 1868-1870; also carried out deputation work for the LMS; ordained in Hull, 1870; married Deborah Hannah (d 1920), daughter of the Rev J Wilberforce Richardson, Congregational minister, in London, 1870; two sons and three daughters; LMS missionary in Madagascar, 1870-1877; led the extension of mission work outside the capital, founding the first country station, at Ambohimanga, and settling there, 1870; chosen one of the LMS delegates to revise the Malagasy Bible and began work on it, 1873; accompanied the LMS deputation to Antsihanaka province, 1874; took an explorative and evangelistic journey to south-eastern Madagascar, 1876; moved to Antananarivo to work at the theological college, 1876; difficulties with the government in Madagascar forced him to withdraw, 1877-1883; undertook LMS deputation work in England, 1877-1879; appointed missionary to South India, superintending the LMS high school as Vizagapatam, 1879; returned to England owing to his wife's ill health, 1880; LMS deputation work in England, 1880-1883; returned to Madagascar as principal of the LMS theological college and with his wife engaged in other missionary activities, 1883-1915; architect of almost 100 mission buildings, including c50 churches; in the years leading up to the French invasion (1895) an outspoken supporter of Malagasy independence; chief English authority on Madagascar; received Sir G Back's Grant for his work on the geography and bibliography of Madagascar, 1892; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; Fellow of the International Society of Philology; Membre de l'Académie Malgache from 1902; honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity, University of St Andrews, 1913; returned to England owing to his wife's ill health, 1915; resigned as a missionary, 1916; continued deputation work for the LMS and Bible Society, 1920s; died following an accident, 1929. Publications include: Madagascar and its People (1870); South-east Madagascar (1876); The Great African Island (1880); A Madagascar Bibliography (1885); Madagascar before the Conquest (1896); The Madagascar Mission (1907); Our English Cathedrals (2 volumes, 1911); A Naturalist in Madagascar (1915); Things Seen in Madagascar (1921); edited Register of Missionaries and Deputations of the LMS (1923); Fifty Years in Madagascar (1923), his autobiography; works in the Malagasy language; articles on Madagascar for several editions of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and Chambers's Encyclopaedia.

James Sibree's children included several other missionaries:

James Wilberforce Sibree: born at Ambohimanga, Madagascar, 1871; studied at Cheshunt College; ordained, 1896; appointed LMS missionary to Samoa and married Gertrude Helps (d 1900), 1897; sailed to Samoa, 1898; married Lucy Phoebe Johnson (d 1937) at Apia, 1905; resigned as missionary owing to his wife's ill health, 1921; subsequently pastor at Epping, near Sydney, Australia; died there, 1927.

Mary Amelia Sibree: born at Ambohimanga, Madagascar, 1874; assistant teacher at the Girls' Central School, Antananarivo, from 1892; appointed LMS missionary and became head mistress of the school, 1898; returned to England, 1899; married the Rev Percy Milledge (1874-1907), who was appointed to the Madagascar mission, 1901; took charge of the mission following her husband's death, 1907-1908; re-appointed missionary to Madagascar, 1909; undertook deputation work in England for the LMS, 1915-1919; resigned, 1919; appointed to new work in Madagascar, 1922; at the theological college, Antananarivo, 1925-1926; returned to England for health reasons and died, 1926.

Alice Deborah Sibree: born at Antananrivo, Madagascar, 1876; studied at the London School of Medicine for Women; appointed to the Maternity Hospital, Hong Kong; dedicated and sailed, 1903; returned to England and resigned from the LMS, 1909; subsequently returned to Hong Kong and undertook voluntary medical mission work; married C C Hickling; awarded MBE for services during World War One; decorated as Sister of the Order of St John of Jerusalem; died at Hong Kong, 1928.

Elsie Isabel Sibree: born in Catford Bridge, Kent, England, 1881; educated at Walthamstow Hall; French Government Teachers' Diploma (brevet); accompanied her parents to Madagascar, 1901; became assistant French teacher at the Girls' Central School, 1902; Girls' High School, Ambatonakanga, 1904-1907; head mistress of the Girls' Central School, Antananarivo, 1907; lived in England, 1921-1930; returned to Madagascar and was appointed warden of the theological college, Ambohipotsy, also superintending the district of Ambohiptsy from 1938; engaged in other missionary work alongside her educational work; retired, 1954; died in Sevenoaks, 1969.

James Sibree's niece, Dorothy Sibree, was born in Hull, England, 1882; trained at Cheltenham Women's Training College; appointed to Mirzapur, India, and sailed, 1915; transferred to the Benares mission, 1921; married the Rev W G Murphy of the Gopijang mission, 1923; transferred with her husband to Travancore, 1927; died at Neyyoor, 1927.

Born in Birmingham, England, 1877; studied at Mason University College, Birmingham; BA (University of London external degree); appointed London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary to Madagascar, 1917; detained in England owing to World War One (1914-1918); sailed to Madagascar, 1919; took temporary charge of the Girls' High School at Fianarantsoa, Betsileo; moved to Tananarive and took charge of the Girls' Central School, 1921; retired, 1939; died at Parkstone, 1959.

Born at Harbertonford, Devon, England, 1866; studied at Western College; appointed London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary to the Fly River District, Papua, ordained in Plymouth, and travelled to Papua, 1893; visited the Fly River and Western Stations and returned to Thursday Island; at Port Moresby for a time; appointed to the Elema district and settled at Jokea, 1894; visited the mission stations in the (Torres) Straits and Fly River and returned to Jokea, 1895; to benefit his health, went with the mission ship the SS John Williams IV on its round of visits to the South Sea stations, 1896; returned to Papua and moved to Orokolo, 1897; visited England and married Alice Middleton (d 1941) in Plymouth, 1901; returned with his wife to Papua, 1902; volunteered to move to the Purari Delta, 1904; visited Australia to superintend the construction of a launch, the Purari, 1905; settled at Urika, 1906; visited Australia for health reasons, 1911; went to Sydney for his wife's health, 1917; the couple returned to England, 1919; retired from active service, 1920; an authority on the Elema cultures; died in Streatham, London, 1934. Publications: By Canoe to Cannibal Land (1923); In Primitive New Guinea (1924); Way back in Papua (1926).

Born at Tottenham High Cross, London, England, 1796; son of John Williams by the daughter of James Maidmeet; educated at a school in Lower Edmonton; apprenticed to an ironmonger, 1810; his piety in early youth waned until he became a member of the Tabernacle chapel, City Road, Moorfields, London, 1814; appointed London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary to the South Seas, ordained at Surrey Chapel, married Mary Chauner (d 1852), and started his journey to the South Pacific via Sydney, 1816; arrived at Moorea, 1817; travelled from Moorea to Huahine, 1818; frustrated by existing LMS practices, moved to Raiatea and, encouraged by the island's chief, Tamatoa, helped to start a mission there, 1818; Williams was anxious to reach inhabitants of the other scattered islands, but the LMS directors were critical of his schemes; sailed to Sydney to obtain medical advice for his wife and while there purchased a schooner, the Endeavour, for missionary work, 1821; returned to Raiatea, 1822; travelled to the Hervey Islands and introduced Christianity there, 1823; visited the islands of Rurutu and Rimatara, 1823; plans to reach the more distant islands were thwarted by financial constraints which forced Williams to dispose of the Endeavour; sailed to Raratonga, in the southern Cook Islands, 1827; translated part of the Bible into Rarotongan; while there, built the Messenger of Peace, in which he returned to Raiatea, 1828; visited Rurutu and Rimatara, 1828-1829; set out in the Messenger of Peace to visit the Hervey and Samoan Islands, 1830; proceeded to the Friendly Islands (Tonga) and made arrangements with Wesleyan missionaries there regarding the division of missionary labour; settled eight teachers in Samoa and returned to Raiatea, 1830; sailed for Rarotonga, intending to revise the Rarotongan version of the New Testament, and visited the Hervey Islands, 1831; following a hurricane in Rarotonga, visited Tahiti to obtain supplies, visited Raiatea, and returned to Rarotonga, 1832; visited Samoa, Keppel's Island, and proceeded to Rarotonga via the Friendly Islands, where the Messenger of Peace was repaired, 1832-1833; having completed the revision of the Rarotongan New Testament, spent time in Tahiti, Rarotonga, and Raiatea, 1833; sailed from Tahiti for England, 1834; superintended publication of the Rarotonga New Testament by the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1835; his public addresses and appeal raised mission funds and a vessel for work among the islands, the Camden, was purchased and fitted out; his published account of his work stimulated public interest, 1837; sailed to Rarotonga via Sydney and Samoa, 1838-1839; proceeded to Tahiti, Moorea, Huahina, Raiatea and other islands, travelled from Rarotonga via Aitutaki to Samoa, and founded a mission station at Fasitoouta, Upolu, 1839; visited Rotuma and Tanna in the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) and proceeded to Erromanga, where his party was attacked and two of them, including Williams, killed, 1839; their remains were subsequently partially recovered and taken to Upolu for burial; his wife returned from Samoa to England, 1841-1842; father of Samuel Williams and John Chauner Williams. Publication: Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands (1837 and later editions). Due to his fate Williams became a legend and inspiration for missionaries and a series of seven LMS mission ships were named John Williams.

Born in Birmingham, England, 1839; studied at Airedale College and at Highgate; appointed London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary to Huahine in the South Pacific; was ordained and married Elizabeth Anne Marston (1835-1903), 1865; sailed in the mission ship the John Williams II, arriving at Adelaide and proceeding to Sydney, Australia, then to Aneiteum, where the ship ran aground and returned to Sydney for repairs, 1866; Neville and other passengers remained at Aneiteum; visited the Loyalty Islands and arrived at Niue, 1866; left Niue for Samoa and proceeded to Huahine, 1867; following the failure of his health, left Tahiti for England, 1874; retired from the LMS, having taken the pastorate of the Congregational chapel at Rye, Sussex, 1878; became pastor of the Congregational chapel at Hailsham, 1905; retired from the ministry and died at St Leonards, 1915. His son, William James Viritahitemauvai Saville (1873-1948), was also a LMS missionary to the South Seas, and his daughter, Lillie Emma Valineetua Saville (1869-1911), was an LMS medical missionary to China.

Born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, 1852; trained at Lancashire Congregational College; appointed London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary to Savai'i, Samoa, was ordained in Farnworth, married Elizabeth Emma Sidlow (d 1882), and sailed for the South Pacific, 1880; arrived and began his service at Matautu, Samoa, 1881; sailed to Sydney, 1883; married Honor Jane Gill (1857-1922; daughter of the LMS missionary in the Cook Islands, W W Gill) in Sydney, 1884; sailed frequently on the mission ship the John Williams III to place and visit students in Tokelau, Niue, Tuvalu, Kiribati, and Papua; visited the mission outstations, 1885; served at the Malau seminary on Upolu, which trained pastors and teachers for Samoa and for missionary service within Oceania, from 1887; visited England, 1891-1893; visited the outstations, 1894, 1896; mediated between Samoans and contending colonial powers, 1898-1899; an expert on Samoan law and custom; edited the Christian magazine Sulu (Torch) and guided formation of the council of elders (Au Toeaina) - the Samoan presbytery, nucleus of the future self-government of the Samoan church; when Western Samoa became a German colony (1900), his knowledge qualified him as LMS adviser and negotiator with the governor Wilhelm Solf; visited England, 1901-1902; improved his German and visited missionary societies in Germany to recruit German-speaking staff for Samoa, 1902; persuaded the Samoan orator-chief and deacon of the church, Lauaki Mamoe of Savai'i, of the inadvisability of a revolt against Germany, 1908; with August Hanke, a leader in the Rhenish (Barmen) mission, planned to send Samoan LMS missionaries to the Madang field of German New Guinea, and following the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh went to Barmen to make arrangements, but died of pneumonia at Gütersloh, Germany, 1910.

Singapore was founded and declared a free port in 1819. Following the end of the East India Company's monopoly of Asian commerce, independent merchant houses were quick to seize the opportunity to establish trading posts on the island. Amongst these pioneers was Alexander Guthrie, merchant with Messrs. Harrington & Company. Guthrie made a success of their enterprise and by 1824, the partnership with Harrington had been formally dissolved. Guthrie took on James Scott Clark as a new partner, to form Messrs. Guthrie & Clark.

During its early history various partnerships controlled the business, from its base in Singapore. Following Clark's departure in 1833, Alexander took on his nephew James Guthrie and renamed the firm Messrs. Guthrie & Co. James became a partner in 1837, and headed the Singapore office from 1847, when Alexander returned to London. In 1849 John James Greenshields became a partner. In 1856, James Guthrie returned to London. In 1857 Thomas Scott (responsible for the formation of the Tanjong Pagar Dock Company in 1864) became a partner, and later Senior Partner in 1867. On his return to London in 1873, Scott established a registered office for the firm in London, known as Scott & Company. In 1876, Louis John Robertson Glass was the senior partner in Singapore. On 28 February 1903 Guthrie & Co merged with Scott & Company to become Guthrie & Co. Ltd, with its own London office. Sir John Anderson became the Governing Director of the whole concern, with Robert McNair Scott as the London Director. Anderson went on to launch many of the company's planting and mining interests and shaped its policy for a quarter of a century. By the time Sir John Hay assumed the position of General Manager in 1925, the total range of Guthrie business interests was known as the 'Guthrie Group'. Hay went on to become Managing Director and Chairman, distinguished for his work for the British rubber plantation industry.

By the mid 19th century, Guthrie & Co was a successful merchant house trading British goods (e.g. cotton, wool, manufactured articles) for produce from the Straits (spices, tin, coffee, beeswax, ebony, ivory); India (Punjab wheat, Indian cotton, opium from Calcutta); Java (coffee); Borneo (sago); Malay Peninsula (rattan, pepper); and Siam and Cambodia (sugar, coconut oil, salt, rice, teak). Trading was conducted largely through Chinese merchants, who collected goods from native producers and sold it on to the British merchants for export. In addition the firm managed estates, and acted as agents for numerous banks and insurance companies including the London banking firm of Coutts (from 1830), London Fire Insurance Co (from 1853), and the London & Provincial Marine Insurance Co (from 1861). By 1896 the firm had begun to establish itself in the Malay Peninsula, accepting the agency of 5 coffee estates owned by Thomas Heslop Hill. By 1900 Guthrie agencies included 6 banks, 5 insurance companies, 2 shipping companies and 23 new 'general' agencies. These concerned tin mines, gold mines, tobacco estates, sugar, flour cement, tea and coffee machinery, whiskies, beers, wines and spirits, Jeyes' Fluid and Lipton's Tea.

By the beginning of the 20th century, Guthrie & Co. had taken on the agency of a number of new rubber plantation companies with estates in Malaya, Borneo and Sumatra. Amongst these agencies were the Selangor Rubber Co., Linggi Plantations Ltd. (1904), United Sua Betong Rubber Estates Ltd. (1909), United Temiang Rubber Estates Ltd. (1910), and Malacca Rubber Plantations Ltd. (1920). Guthrie & Co. also played a key role in research in this field, with the development of 'Stimulex' in the 1930's (which significantly increased the output of natural latex), and a new form of natural rubber, 'Dynat', in 1961 (with greater standardisation of physical and chemical composition). Modern day distributors of rubber products for the Group include Guthrie Latex Inc. and its sister company in the UK, Guthrie Symington Ltd.

By the 1920's, the flotation of companies concerned with the oil palm industry had become an important sideline to Guthrie & Co.'s extensive rubber planting interests in Malaya. In 1924 they floated Elaeis Plantations Ltd., and subsequently three of the rubber companies in the 'Guthrie Group' (Linggi Plantations Ltd, United Sua Betong Rubber Estates Ltd, and Malacca Rubber Plantations Ltd) acquired adjoining tracts of land and commenced planting oil palms. In 1930, these three companies merged their interests in oil palms by creating Oil Palms of Malaya Ltd. By 1942 the oil palm interests of Guthrie & Co in Malaya amounted to nearly 20,000 acres.

With the outbreak of War in Asia on 8 December 1941, and the surrender of Singapore on 15 February 1942, business ceased. Bombing destroyed the Guthrie Head Office, and many employees were sent to Japanese internment camps. Following the War, together with other member organisations of the Rubber Estate Owners Company who had suffered losses in the East, Guthrie were able to reclaim their estates and offices in Singapore, Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, Ipon and Penang, and resume trading with the eastern public. From 1947, the commercial side of the firm flourished. There was an extension of activity into Africa with the purchase of Cochrane & Milton (agricultural equipment and builders hardware), the opening of an office in Melbourne in 1953, and the purchase of F. W. Green & Co. in 1959 (general traders in Australia). The London Office also branched out to incorporate the food-importing business of B.N. Sexton, Canadian Foods and John Dorell. The company's Head Office was also transferred to London. Guthrie & Co. became a world-wide network of interests including Guthries' of Singapore and Malaysia (later merged with an off-shoot of the House of Jardine Matheson into Guthrie Waugh), Guthries' of Rhodesia, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Nigeria and innumerable subsidiaries.

On 1 January 1961, the 'Guthrie Group' formed a co-operative - Guthrie Estates Agency Ltd. with a subsidiary, Guthrie Agency (Malaya) Ltd. - to manage the affairs of its constituent companies. In 1964, Sir John Hay died, and Sir Eric Griffith Jones took his place, welding together the rubber and palm interests of the group into the Guthrie Corporation, the largest owner of such plantations in the world. Keith Anderson became Chairman of Guthrie & Co. (UK) Ltd. In 1988, the Guthrie Corporation plc was acquired by BBA Group plc.

Further reading: S Cunyngham-Brown, The Traders: A Story of Britain's South-East Asian Commercial Adventure (London, 1971)

The Heinemann African Writers Series was begun in 1962 and is ongoing.

Missionary literature work in Africa was stimulated by the International Missionary Council conference on the Christian mission in Africa, held at Le Zoute in 1926. The Christian Literature Bureau for Africa was founded in 1929, with a full-time secretary and three sectional committees: British, Continental and American. It had close relations with both the International Missionary Council and the Conference of Missionary Societies of Great Britain and Ireland (CBMS). It had its office in Edinburgh House (no 2 Eaton Gate, London, near Sloane Square station), the premises of the CBMS. The Christian Literature Bureau became part of the International Missionary Council as the International Committee on Christian Literature for Africa in 1953. In 1957-1958 its operations were transferred to Africa, although activities which could not then be transferred passed to the CBMS, for instance the periodical Books for Africa (1931-1963), which listed and reviewed publications of potential usefulness in Africa.

The International Missionary Council (IMC) was established in 1921, the result of currents in Christianity apparent as far back as the World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh in 1910. The IMC divided its work between its London office and a New York office, opened in 1924. There was later a Far Eastern office. The IMC linked 14 interdenominational associations of missionary societies, such as the Division of Foreign Missions of the National Council of Churches of Christ, USA, with 16 interdenominational field bodies, such as the National Christian Council of India. The Council served its member bodies through study, consultation and programmes of mutual assistance, addressing issues such as missionary freedom, general and theological education, opium addiction, labour, slavery, racial discrimination, the church in rural and industrial society, home and family life, and literature, and advised local and regional church bodies. Several major international conferences were held, the subjects of which included the message, especially in relation to modern secularism (Jerusalem, 1928); the study of the Christian message in a non-Christian world (Madras, 1938); the relevance of the gospel in a world recovering from war (Whitby, Ontario, 1947); church unity as a condition of effective witness and advance (Willingen, Germany, 1952); and the establishment of a theological education fund (Ghana, 1958). J H Oldham, John R Mott, William Paton and A L Warnhuis were among those instrumental in the Council's work. The IMC became a focus of the emerging ecumenical movement soon after its formation and had a close relationship with the World Council of Churches from 1939, becoming in 1961 the Division of (later Commission on) World Mission and Evangelism of the WCC. The periodical International Review of Missions was produced from 1912. See the biography of the Secretary of the World Missionary Conference of 1910: Keith Clements, Faith on the Frontier: a Life of J H Oldham (1999).

The World Alliance for Promoting International Friendship through the Churches was founded at Constance in 1914 with the help of the Church Peace Union, with which it remained closely associated. It was supported by church leaders in Europe and America and national groups from a number of different countries were federated to it. It was an ecumenical movement working for peace. After World War Two attempts to re-establish the Alliance were unsuccessful and, as the World Council of Churches and International Missionary Council set up the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, the World Alliance for Promoting International Friendship through the Churches was formally dissolved in 1948.

The archive dates from the period after the World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh in 1910. The Conference of British Missionary Societies was founded in 1912 with over 40 member missionary societies of various denominations. The International Missionary Council was founded in 1921 and its members comprised interdenominational associations of missionary societies in various countries and interdenominational field bodies. The two bodies shared premises at Edinburgh House, near Sloane Square, London, until the IMC became part of the World Council of Churches in 1961.

The Japan Evangelistic Band (JEB) was founded in 1903 as a non-denominational fellowship of Japanese and expatriate missionaries dedicated to personal holiness and aggressive evangelism. The JEB's primary field was the Kinki area of South West Japan and the island of Shikoku and, from time to time, missionaries worked among Japanese living on the West Coast of Canada and the USA, and in the UK. In 1999 the organisation adopted the name Japan Christian Link for operations in the UK, though work in Japan continues under the name of JEB.

The JEB was co-founded by the Rev Barclay Fowell Buxton (1860-1946) and Alpheus Paget Wilkes (1871-1934). In 1890 Buxton went to Japan as an independent missionary with the British Church Missionary Society. He invited Wilkes to join him as a lay helper in 1897, and the two worked together at Matsue in Western Japan, before returning to England. The JEB was formally launched at the Keswick Convention in 1903, where Buxton and Wilkes were joined by a small group of friends who shared their concern for evangelism in Japan. Among the group was Thomas Hogben, the founder of the One by One Working Band, a group devoted to personal evangelism, and at first the new mission was known as the One by One Band of Japan. Nine months after Keswick, the name was changed to Japan Evangelistic Band, or 'Kyodan Nihon Dendo Tai' in Japanese. The JEB was incorporated under the Religious Incorporation Law and became a Registered Charity (Number 21834).

Members of the JEB were drawn from a variety of denominations or from none. Wilkes envisioned 'a band of men ... who detaching themselves from the responsibilities and entanglements of ecclesiastical organisation, would give themselves to prayer and ministry of the Word...'. Both Japanese and missionary workers were included in the Band from the start. Expatriate workers came from North America, South Africa and Australia as well as the British Isles. The mission was never numerically large, probably numbering never more than 30 missionaries at one time. Japanese workers were greater in number.

The original aim of the JEB was to 'initiate and sustain evangelistic work among Japanese wherever they are found'. It did not see itself as a missionary society, seeking to plant new churches and withdraw, but rather as an evangelising agency assisting existing missions and churches and organising Christian Conventions for Bible Study and Prayer.

Wilkes led the first missionary party to Japan in October 1903. He served briefly in Yokohama and Tokyo, then moved south west to Kobe, which became the centre of JEB activity. In 1905 two central works were started to provide for the training of an indigenous ministry for the long-term continuation of the work: the Kobe Mission Hall and the JEB Kansai Bible College.

By the 1920s other missions were finding their own experts in evangelism and invitations received by the JEB were not sufficient to fill the time of its workers. Facing this situation, the JEB decided to launch its own forward outreach work. Band workers went out into rural towns and villages where no Christian work had yet been done. Full salvation and missionary literature was printed and circulated. Churches were started in about 100 centres. The JEB intended that these churches would be linked with existing Japanese denominational churches, to avoid the formation of another denomination. However, the JEB-inspired churches conferred together and decided they would prefer to be linked together in their own denomination. In 1938 many of them withdrew from the denominations they had joined and formed a separate denomination called the Nihon Iesu Kirisuto Kyokwai (NIKK) or Japan Church of Christ. Subsequently new churches were invited to link up with this group or remain independent. Most continued to join the NIKK, but there were a few churches in other denominations.

World War Two brought a temporary halt to work, but some of the Japanese members were able to continue a limited evangelistic activity through the war. The Mission Hall in Kobe and the Kansai Bible College were destroyed in a bombing raid in 1945, though both were later rebuilt. JEB missionaries returned to Japan in late 1947 and they began to work on new housing estates that were growing up on the outskirts of cities. Miss Irene Webster Smith started a centre for students in Tokyo. The 1950s saw new outreach into Wakayama Ken, first to the far south in Susami and Kushimoto, then later to Minoshima and Kainan and later to Kozagawa. There was also outreach to Shikoku Island where work commenced in Tokushima Ken at Tachitana then in Hanoura and Naruto, while a separate venture was started in Shido, Kagawa Ken. Work also started in Wajiki. Churches started in Tachitana and Naruto. Another outreach of the 1950s was the work in Northern Hyogo Ken. Later interest in the area moved over the prefectural boundary into Kyoto Fu, where work started in the mountainous districts around Amano Hashidate. In 1952 the JEB absorbed the Japan Rescue Mission, which had worked to save girls likely to be sold to the licensed prostitution system. By 1950 licensed prostitution had been abolished and the work was no longer necessary, so the missionaries were redirected to other JEB activities.

In the UK, JEB members worked among Japanese seamen arriving at the docks in Birkenhead. Conventions were held regularly at Swanwick, Derbyshire, in June, and at Southbourne, in August. From the early days of the JEB there was children's work, whose objective was to win children for the Lord in the home countries and to set them to pray and work for the children of Japan. The Young People's Branch of the JEB was called the Sunrise Band until 1977, when the name was changed to Japan Sunrise Fellowship.

The parent body of the JEB was the British Home Council. Barclay Buxton was the first Chairman, and he was succeeded by his son, Godfrey Buxton. Eric William Gosden became the Chairman in the late 1970s. A General Secretary was responsible for the day-to-day administration of the JEB. Among the subsidiaries reporting to the British Home Council were Regional Committees, the Japan Christian Union, Seamen's Work in Birkenhead, and the Sunrise Band Committee. In 1947 the British Home Council appointed a Publications Committee to 'co-opt, plan, produce and supervise all publications of the JEB and the Sunrise Band'. From September 1955 this committee was known as the Literature Committee. Other sub-committees were formed as needed. In the early years, the British office of the JEB was no 55 Gower Street, London. In May 1962, it purchased as the British headquarters and office no 26 Woodside Park Road, North Finchley, London. This property was sold in 1983, and the JEB bought new headquarters at no 275 London Road, North End, Portsmouth.

The Japan Council directed work in the Japanese field. There were always a majority of Japanese members, usually five against three expatriates.

The year 1999 saw a strategic reorganisation. The renamed Japan Christian Link refocused its work on expatriate Japanese, mainly in Europe. Work in Japan continues to be known as the JEB, and is now under the direction of Japanese workers.

Janet Dann (1899-1986) was a missionary first with the Japan Rescue Mission, then the JEB.

For further information see: Eric W Gosden, Thank You, Lord! The eightieth anniversary of the Japan Evangelistic Band 1903-1983 (1982); Eric W Gosden, The Other Ninety-Nine: the Persisting Challenge of Modern-Day Japan (1982); B Godfrey Buxton, The Reward of Faith in the Life of Barclay Fowell Buxton 1860-1946 (1949).

John Swire & Sons (JS&S) was founded in 1832 when John Swire, a Liverpool merchant since 1816, extended his business to include his young sons John Samuel (born 1825) and William Hudson (born 1830). On his death in 1847, they inherited a small but solvent business.

Over the next twenty years, evidence points to a series of attempts by the firm to expand its trade in America, Australia, and the Far East when China was finally opened to foreigners. The beginning of the firm's real expansion in the East dates from the creation of Butterfield and Swire. Previously, textiles assigned to JS&S for sale in China were handled for them in that country by the Shanghai firm Preston, Bruell & Co. However, JS&S aimed to have their own trading house in the East to attend to this side of the business. In 1866 they formed a partnership with R. S. Butterfield - a Yorkshire textile manufacturer - to create Butterfield & Swire (B&S) with two other firms in England and America. B&S opened its first office in Shanghai in 1867, with William Lang and R. N. Newby to handle the textile shipments and James Scott employed as a bookkeeper. On 1 August 1868, the short-lived partnership came to an end, leaving B&S in the hands of JS&S, whilst the other two firms became the property of R. S. Butterfield. The prospects of B&S were quickly strengthened with the acquisition of the agency for Alfred Holt's Blue Funnel Line. JS&S continued to develop and expand and in 1870, the London Branch (established 1868/9) became the Head Office. Two years later in 1872, the China Navigation Company (CNCo) came into being, and in 1874 the Coast Boats Ownery was created, extending JS&S's involvement in the shipping trade. Both concerns, which amalgamated in 1883, were intended to act as feeders to Holt's ocean going vessels by capturing the growing steam trade along the China coast and Yangtze River.

It was, however, a period of economic difficulties and fierce competition with existing trading and shipping companies in the East, notably Jardine, Matheson & Company and the Chinese sponsored China Merchants Company. The impetus for the establishment of the Taikoo Sugar Refinery in Hong Kong in 1881 and the insurance interests of John Swire and Sons arose directly from this period of hostility with Jardines. In 1876 William was forced to retire from the firm because of poor health, further increasing the financial strain on his brother but also leaving him in sole control of the business. By the late 1870s the partnership consisted of John Swire, his right hand man in London, F. R. Gamwell, and the three Eastern Managers, William Lang, J. H. Scott and Edwin Mackintosh. Initially however, only John Swire put up any capital and until his death in December 1898 the history of the firm is very much that of its Senior Partner.

When James Scott became the Senior Partner on John Swire's death, he put through two schemes previously vetoed by Swire: the Taikoo Dockyard and Engineering Company (1901), and the Tientsin Lighter Company (1904). Scott died in 1912 leaving three partners: his son Colin, and John (Jack) and George Warren Swire, the sons of John Samuel Swire. These three became life Directors of the private limited company, which was formally announced on 1 January 1914. Throughout the Twentieth Century the firm has remained a family concern. J. K. (Jock) Swire and John Swire Scott joined the Board after the First World War and further generations were brought in after the Second World War.

Despite the internal disturbances in China in the inter-war period, JS&S's interests in the East continued to prosper and expand. The Taikoo Chinese Navigation Company (registered in 1930) was an attempt to encourage Chinese participation in Taikoo; the Orient Paint, Colour and Varnish Company was opened in Shanghai (1934) and continual efforts were made to increase Taikoo's markets in Asia and the Pacific area generally. The Directors and Eastern managers found themselves more involved in Chinese politics and local problems than John Samuel Swire would have approved. B&S senior staff played important parts in Hong Kong and Shanghai municipal affairs, while the London Directors, in particular Warren and Jock Swire, were involved with the China Association and other Eastern trade and political interest groups in Britain.

The Second World War appeared at first more likely to affect JS&S in London than its subsidiaries in the East, although Government requisition of shipping in 1940 affected the working of the CNCo. In December 1941, however, the Japanese invasion of China pushed the British firm out of all its interests in the Pacific and China including the Orient Paint, Colour and Varnish Company in Shanghai and the Dockyard and Refinery in Hong Kong. Many of the staff were interned although some escaped from Hong Kong to Australia. For the duration of the war B&S's presence in the East was maintained from Bombay and Calcutta by B&S (India), with an office remaining in operation in Chungking in Free China. In Britain the Directors, particularly J. K. Swire, worked with the Ministry of War Transport and in the National Dock Labour Board to assist the war effort as well as taking an active part in the China Association's plans for the post-war redevelopment of the Far Eastern trade. In the autumn of 1945 the offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai were returned to B&S and the task of rebuilding their interests in the East began.

Further reading: S Marriner & F Hyde, 'The Senior' John Samuel Swire 1825-1898 (Liverpool University Press, 1967); F Hyde, Blue Funnel. A History of Alfred Holt & Co. of Liverpool, 1865-1914 (Liverpool University Press, 1956).

The Lebanon Hospital for the Insane, Asfuriyeh, was founded in 1898 by Dr Theophilus Waldmeir (1832-1915), a Swiss Quaker, to provide care for the mentally afflicted of the Lebanon, Syria and the Middle East.

On 17 April 1896, a public meeting was held at Dr Henry Jessup's house in Beirut, to announce the plan for founding 'the first Home for the insane in Bible Lands'. The campaign was launched, Waldmeier travelled to Europe and the USA to collect funds, and the Beirut Executive Committee was founded. The first meeting of the London General Committee (LGC) was held at the Bethlem Royal Asylum on 11 March 1897 and its Medical Superintendent, Dr Percy Smith, was elected as Chairman. The Asfuriyeh estate was purchased in April 1898, six miles from the centre of Beirut. The Hospital opened on 6 August 1900 with 10 patients. The Hospital's Constitution and Rules were formally drawn up in 1907. Under the Constitution, the Beirut Committee officially became the local executive committee in Beirut of the London General Committee, which retained overall authority over the Hospital.

In 1912 the property became a 'Wakf' , i.e. it was dedicated as a religious foundation under the code of law prevailing in the Lebanon, to be held by the Chairman of the London General Committee (who became the 'Trustee' or 'Mutawalli'). This set down the responsibilities of the 'Trustee' and his agents (in this case the Beirut Executive Committee) for managing the property. It was made a condition that the Hospital should be international and interdenominational.

The Lebanon Hospital for the Insane gradually expanded, and there was reportedly accommodation for 150 people by 1924; 350 by 1935; and 410 by 1936. By 1949, 14,000 patients had been treated since the opening of the Hospital. In 1938 the Hospital was renamed the Lebanon Hospital for Mental and Nervous Disorders.

In addition to clinical work, the Hospital contributed to training in the field of psychiatry. In 1922 it was affiliated with the American University of Beirut and became the Psychiatric Division of the University Hospital. In 1939 it was recognised by the Royal Medical/Psychological Association as a Training Centre for the Mental Nursing Certificate. In 1948, it opened a School of Psychiatric Nursing, the first of its kind in the Middle East, and which was subsequently used by the World Health Organisation for the training of specialised personnel. Treatment at the Hospital followed world-wide medical advances, and included Insulin Coma Therapy, Cardiazol Convulsion Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Electric Convulsion Therapy. Chemotherapy was introduced in 1952.

Between 1941 and 1946, a large part of the Hospital had to be handed over to the British Military Authorities, then in occupation of the Lebanon, to house their 43rd General Hospital. In the post-war climate, the Hospital's financial status never fully recovered, and by 1972 the Hospital was experiencing real financial difficulties. It was decided to sell the existing site and buildings and to re-build the Hospital on a more modern plan. A new site was chosen at Aramoun, near Beirut Airport. Asfuriyeh was sold in April 1973. The building programme was brought to a halt by the Lebanese Civil War (April 1975 - November 1976), and construction did not resume until summer 1977. The need for replacement materials and inflated prices meant that by the end of 1977, the Hospital was on the point of bankruptcy.

Despite appeals for funds, by early 1981 negotiations had commenced between the London General Committee and the Beirut Executive Committee to close the Hospital and to dispose of the property in accordance with the legal terms of the 'Wakf'. The Hospital at Asfuriyeh was officially closed on 10 April 1982. Aramoun continued to operate, although extensively damaged during the Civil War and occupied by the Israeli Army until 17 October 1982.

The LGC eventually resigned control of the Hospital itself to the Beirut Committee. However, in accordance with its continued responsibilities for trust funds established in the Hospital's name and held in the UK, it retained several of its members as London Trustees of the Lebanon Hospital for Nervous and Mental Disorders and established a scheme for the administration of these funds under charitable status. The Trustees continue to operate.

The Hospital's founder, Theophilus Waldmeier, was born in 1832 in Basle, Switzerland. He attended the missionary college of St Crischona, near Basle, and went to Abyssinia as a missionary in 1858. He left in 1868 and went to Syria, settling at Beirut in connection with the British Syrian Mission founded in 1860. In 1873, he started the Friends' Syrian Mission at Brummana, where he was superintendent, and founded Brummana High School. He relinquished his position in 1896 in order to promote his plan of providing a home for the insane. He travelled extensively to appeal for funds. Returning to Beirut in 1898, he purchased the site at Asfuriyeh. He became business superintendent at the Lebanon Hospital and retired in 1915, the year of his death. He published The Autobiography of Theophilus Waldmeier, Missionary, being an account of Ten Years' Life in Abyssinia and Sixteen Years in Syria (1886).

Liberation was founded in 1954 as the Movement for Colonial Freedom (MCF), under the leadership of (Archibald) Fenner Brockway. Its aim was to campaign in Britain for the freedom of colonial subjects from political and economic domination, and to unify the activities of smaller organisations that were concerned with these issues. It was an amalgamation of the British Branch of the Congress Against Imperialism, the Central Africa Committee, the Kenya Committee and the Seretse Khama Defence Committee. The organisation operated from a succession of offices in central London including 318 Regents Park Road, then at 374 Grays Inn Road, and 313-315 Caledonian Road.

Funds were provided through affiliations and membership, cultural events and appeals totalling approximately £2-3,000 per annum. This allowed for a staff of two or three, the publication of a bi-monthly journal, information sheets and campaign material, and the holding of private and public meetings. It had an individual membership of around 1000, and regional, national and international affiliates, which brought the total number involved to about 3 million. Affiliated organisations included trades unions, constituency Labour parties, trades councils, co-operative societies, peace societies and student organisations.

The MCF was largely associated with the left-wing of the Labour Party and other radical groups. It established Area Councils in different parts of Britain. Standing Committees were established for every sphere of the world where colonial and neo-colonialist issues were dominant, including the Mediterranean, the Middle East, South East Asia, East Africa, Rhodesia, South Africa, West Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. The MCF also established a Standing Committee to address racial discrimination in Britain, and a Trade Union Committee to assist trades unions in developing countries. Each Standing Committee was chaired by an MP, and met at the House of Commons. The MCF was sponsored by up to 100 MPs. The Committees were composed of MPs and experts on the different territories, whose role it was to stimulate questions and debates in Parliament, and recommend activities to the Council of the MCF, which was representative of all the nationally affiliated organisations and Area Councils.

MCF helped to bring into being a large number of political pressure groups and charities including the Anti-Apartheid Movement, the Chile Solidarity Campaign Committee, the Committee for Peace in Vietnam, War on Want and the World Development Movement.

MCF was renamed Liberation in 1970 to address the changing perception of colonialism. In the 1960s it began to appear that political independence for colonies had been achieved. However, there appeared an ongoing need to campaign against neo-colonialism in the form of economic dependence of developing countries.

An elected Council in turn elected an Executive Council, which met jointly with the London Area Council. Annual General Meetings were also held. Liberation pursued its aims through various means including the dissemination of information via the general press and various publications, including the journal Liberation; sponsoring the establishment of the publishers New World Books; organising conferences; lobbying governments at home and abroad; hosting delegations from overseas and making reciprocal visits. Funds were raised through annual membership subscriptions and the sale of the journal, as well as appeals for particular projects. In 1984 a grant from the Greater London Council allowed Liberation to participate in the GLC's London Against Racism campaign. Lord Brockway remained President of Liberation until his death in 1988.

The Committee for Peace in Nigeria (CPN) was an all-party, representative committee established as a result of concern raised by the conflict between Biafra and Nigeria, in the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970). The Committee acted as an independent body, but was closely associated with the work of the Movement for Colonial Freedom (MCF). Lord Fenner Brockway chaired both the MCF and the CPN. Members of the CPN included leading figures from all three political parties, representatives from the missionary societies (Anglican, Catholic and Free Church) working in Nigeria, former members of the Colonial Service in Nigeria including two ex-Governors General, business representatives and other notable figures. The CPN also included Africans from both the Federal and the Biafran sides of the conflict.

The Committee was active from 1968, campaigning for the intervention of the British Government and international governments in the Nigerian conflict. Representatives of the CPN met with both sides of the conflict and representatives from the British Commonwealth Office, and in 1968 sent an all-party deputation to the British Prime Minister. A result of the deputation was that the Rt. Hon. James Griffiths MP and Lord Brockway met with Colonel Ojukwu of Biafra (3-12 December 1968) and General Gowon of the Nigerian Federal Government (18-22 December 1968) to put forward their practical proposals for a ceasefire.

The CPN forwarded a set of practical proposals around which a ceasefire should be based. These included the presence of an international peace-keeping force; the cessation of the supply of arms by the British Government to either side in the conflict; that the government should take the initiative in securing the agreement of other countries to stop supplying arms; the demilitarisation of routes for relief supplies and an international relief effort to be planned on a government and UN level, for those areas suffering from starvation.

The Melanesian Mission was founded in 1849 by the then Bishop of New Zealand, George Augustus Selwyn (1809-1878), to evangelise the Melanesian islands of the South West Pacific Ocean (i.e. the Solomon Islands, Santa Cruz and Northern New Hebrides Islands), which formed part of his diocese. In 1850 the Australian Board of Missions was formed and the Australian and New Zealand Colonies formally adopted the Melanesian Mission. In January 1854, Bishop Selwyn used a visit to England to plead the cause of the Mission. He obtained the gift of a mission ship, which was named the 'Southern Cross'. The ship and its successors were to become the visible link between the remote parts of the diocese, carrying the Bishop on his biannual circuits and transporting missionaries, trainees, stores and medical supplies to their destinations.

From its foundation, Selwyn intended the work of the Melanesian Mission to be conducted by native teachers and a native ministry. In his own words, the 'white corks are only to float the black net'. The work was threefold: evangelistic, educational and medical. Trained 'Native Brothers' undertook pioneer evangelistic work. Under vows renewed yearly, they volunteered to visit unexplored areas and win a footing for teachers to follow. European clergy and lay-workers also engaged in the first stages of work in certain areas. Education was the key to evangelisation. In addition to village and district schools there was a system of 'Central Schools' for native children who reached the required standard. These were run by European missionaries and assisted by native teachers. After training and testing, these children were set apart for the teaching of religion in their local communities or on other islands. The Mission also had a college at Siota, Solomon Islands, for training ordination candidates. Medical work in Melanesia truly began in 1888 with the addition of a missionary doctor, Dr. H. P. Welchman. The main medical centre of the Mission was the Hospital of the Epiphany at Fauabu, on the Island of Mala, with a series of smaller hospitals in the districts and village dispensaries run by local women. Care was also provided for lepers and, with the help of the Mother's Union in England, centres were established to give classes on health and hygiene to Melanesian women.

Initially the Melanesian Mission was funded with special grants and by private donors. Subsequent sources of funding included an endowment bequeathed by Bishop Patteson; proceeds from Miss Charlotte Yonge's book 'the Daisy Chain'; contributions from England in the form of donations, legacies, subscriptions, special appeal funds and the sale of the mission magazine, the Southern Cross Log; and contributions from New Zealand and Australia.

In 1855, John Coleridge Patteson (1827-1871) joined the Melanesian Mission. He was consecrated as Bishop of the newly formed diocese of Melanesia in 1861. Patteson's efforts were concentrated on the Northern New Hebrides, Banks and Solomon Groups, including Santa Cruz and Swallow Isles. In 1867 he secured the transfer of the training college and headquarters of the mission from New Zealand to St. Barnabas, Norfolk Island. He also reduced to writing several of the Melanesian languages, preparing grammatical studies and translations of parts of the New Testament. In 1869 Patteson began the native ministry with the ordination of George Sarawia. In 1871, Patteson was killed by natives at Nukapu, Santa Cruz Group, probably in response to the recent forced removal of islanders by labour traffickers. His death encouraged the regulation of the labour trade in the South Pacific.

On the death of Patteson, Rev. R. H. Codrington declined the bishopric but continued the Mission with the support of the Bishops of New Zealand and Australia. Subsequent Bishops of Melanesia included the son of the founder, John Richardson Selwyn (1877-1892); Cecil Wilson (1894-1911); Cecil J. Wood (1912-1918); John Manwaring Steward (1919-1928); Frederick Molyneux (1928-1932); Walter Hubert Baddeley (1932-1947); S.G. Caulton (1948-1954); and Bishop A. T. Hill (1954-).

By 1899, the staff of the Mission included the Bishop, Archdeacon, 9 white priests, 2 native priests, 9 native deacons, 420 native teachers, 6 white women workers and 12,000 Christians.

In 1910 the first conference of Mission staff was held in the Islands, and the second in 1916. At this time the decision was made to adopt English as the language to be used in Mission Schools in place of Mota, a change which took effect in 1928. On 6 August 1919, for the first time, a special Synod composed of European and native clergy was called to propose a successor to Bishop Wood from its own members. They elected John Manwaring Steward. In October 1921, at St. Luke's Church, Siota, the first Synod of the Missionary Diocese of Melanesia was constituted. Bishop Steward issued his primary charge, which was printed at the Mission Press, Norfolk Island. His charge laid down that the manner of rule in a diocese is that of a Bishop and his priests together; that native clergy should have the same position in Diocesan Councils as the missionary clergy; that the Synod should not meet less than once in 7 years; and he gave definite regulations as to the powers of the synod and its relations with the Bishop.

In 1920, the Mission headquarters moved to Siota, on the Island of Florida in the Solomons. In 1925 Rev. F. M. Molyneux was consecrated as the first Assistant Bishop, and the Native Brotherhood was founded, led by Ini Kopuria. In 1929, two Sisters from the Community of the Cross were brought to Melanesia to work amongst the women and girls of the Islands. In 1926 the Diocese of Melanesia was extended to include the Mandated Territory, which included North New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and the northern islands of the Solomon Group, and preliminary visits were made to discuss the possibility of opening up new work there. From 1929, New Britain in the Mandated Territory was also opened up and developed, assisted by the work of the Native Brotherhood.

The Japanese invasion in early 1942 involved the Mission in New Britain and the Solomon Island areas. The Mission experienced a great deal of damage to stations and buildings; however, the native church survived and assisted with the care of wounded Allied troops. Bishop Baddeley began the work of reconstruction after the War.

In 1963, Rev. Dudley Tuti and Rev. Leonard Alufurai became the first Melanesian priests to be consecrated as Assistant Bishops of Melanesia by the Archbishop of New Zealand. In January 1973, at the diocesan conference held in Honiara, Solomon Islands, it was agreed to set up an autonomous Province of Melanesia (formerly an Associated Missionary Diocese of the Church of the Province of New Zealand) with its own constitution. On 12 January 1975, with the permission of the General Synod of the Church of the Province of New Zealand, the Church of Melanesia was thus inaugurated as an autonomous province.

In 1999, the 150th anniversary of the Church of Melanesia was celebrated in Honiara, Solomon Islands. The Church's Archbishop, Ellison Pogo, vowed that the Church would continue to uphold the founder's vision for the Melanesian Mission. The Church of Melanesia is now widely involved in many development and social projects. It has a fleet of ships, operates a shipyard and a commercial printing press.

Further reading: D Hilliard, God's Gentlemen. A History of the Melanesian Mission, 1849-1942 (University of Queensland Press, 1978); E S Armstrong, History of the Melanesian Mission (London, 1900); S W Artless, The Story of the Melanesian Mission (Church Army Press, Oxford, revised 1965).

On the Methodist Union of 1932, the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (WMMS), United Methodist Missionary Society (UMMS) and the Primitive Methodist Missionary Society (PMMS) merged to form the Methodist Missionary Society (MMS). The formation of the United Methodist Church in 1907 had already brought together the foreign mission activities of the Methodist New Connexion, the Bible Christians and the United Methodist Free Churches under the UMMS. The MMS retained the general administrative structure of the WMMS, so the records of the WMMS and MMS form a continuous sequence. In the early 1970s, the Methodist Church Overseas Division (MCOD) assumed responsibility for overseas work, though the MMS continued to exist.

Wesleyan missions 'among the heathen' began in 1786, when Thomas Coke, destined for Nova Scotia, was driven off course by a storm and landed at Antigua in the British West Indies. There he developed a successful mission of both slaves and landowners. Within a few years almost every colony in the West Indies had been reached. Under Coke's instigation, a mission to West Africa was undertaken in 1811 and successfully established at Sierra Leone (the first scheme for the establishment of a mission to West Africa, devised by Coke in 1769, had proved a failure). In 1814 Coke founded the third Methodist mission, in Ceylon, just prior to his death.

The Methodist Conference of 1804 established a 'Standing Committee of Finance and Advice' to act as an executive through which the Conference would control its foreign affairs, under the General Superintendence of Coke. However, the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (WMMS) originated with the District Auxiliaries - the first of which was founded in Leeds on 6 October 1813 - formed spontaneously for the support of overseas missionary work, without the sanction of Conference. By 1818, the proposals put forward by the District Auxiliaries were approved by Conference and embodied in a general missionary society. Meanwhile, following Coke's death in 1814, the London Committee of Finance and Advice was renamed the 'Executive Committee', and in 1815 an additional 'Committee of Examination and Finance' was established to conduct the detailed examination of missionary receipts and disbursements. In 1817 the new Committee mooted the formation of a permanent constitution for the missionary department, and in 1818 the Laws and Regulations of the General Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (the joint work of Richard Watson and Jabez Bunting) were accepted by Conference and the WMMS was fully constituted. The new society embraced the Auxiliary Districts and Circuit Missionary Societies that had already been formed.

Despite its name the WMMS was not a self-regulated 'Society', but rather the Methodist Church 'mobilised for foreign missionary service'. The Conference appointed a new Executive Committee, which in the intervals between the annual Conference was given superintendence of the collection and disbursement of funds from subscribing members and the management of foreign missions. The President of Conference acted as Chairman of the Committee, which included 48 members with equal numbers of ministers and laymen. It met monthly. The Committee included three Secretaries, ordained ministers whose job it was to receive correspondence from the field, and to draw up plans for the stationing of missionaries to be submitted to the Committee and ratified by Conference. By 1834 it was usual to have four Secretaries. In emergencies the Committee was empowered to fill vacancies and recall missionaries for disciplinary proceedings. The Conference was the ultimate judge in these matters.

On the foreign mission field, the Conference and Executive Committee exercised control through the District Synod and District Chairman (General Superintendent). Missionaries from each District were required to meet in an annual Synod. Synod Minutes were sent home. By 1903 the functions of the Synod had been limited to the supervision of ministers and Circuits in the District, and 'Local Committees' had been established as the agents of the Executive Committee in the administration of funds. Local Committees comprised the missionaries of the district in addition to local 'gentlemen'. They met annually, received official letters of instruction from home, and returned minutes of the meeting and letters reviewing the year's work. The District Chairman was responsible for the general welfare of the District and the progress of work in all Circuits. When the Local Committee was in session, its powers were paramount. In the intervals between its sessions, the District Chairman exercised these powers.

Missions in Canada were established in the 1780s in Hudson Bay territory, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward's Island and Newfoundland. The Canadian Methodist Missionary Society was established in 1824 and Canada gained its own independent Conference in 1854.

Work in West Africa had begun in 1811 with Coke's mission to Sierra Leone. A second station was opened on the River Gambia in 1821, and on the Gold Coast in 1834. The first missionary to arrive in South Africa was Rev. John McKenny, who established a station at Namaqualand in 1814. In 1820, work began amongst the slave population in the Cape Colony, in 1822 at Bechuanaland, and in 1841 a mission accompanied British troops to Natal. The South African Conference was established in 1882, and assumed care of mission work in South Africa (with the exception of Transvaal, Swaziland and Rhodesia).

Work in Australia began in 1818 when Rev. Samuel Leigh arrived in Sydney to found a mission for convicts in New South Wales. Work began in Tasmania in 1821, Victoria in 1838 and Queensland in 1850. The Australasian Methodist Missionary Society was organised as an auxiliary in 1822, and in 1855 as an independent society under an independent Conference. Missionaries were sent to New Zealand in 1822, a mission was established in the Friendly islands in 1826, and some years later work began in Fiji.

Work began in China in 1853. In 1860 a new station was established at Fat-shan, and in 1862 a mission for North China was established at Han-kau. By 1903 mission work was underway at Wu-chang, Han-yang, Sui-chow, Wu-hsueh and Hu-nan at Chang-sha. The two Districts were Canton and Wu-chang (including Hu-nan).

In 1885 the West Indies Conference was established, but the area had been brought back under the British Conference by 1903. The first mission to be established in India was Madras, in 1817. By 1903 work was underway in eight districts including Madras, Negapatam, Haiderabad, Mysore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Bombay and Burma. Missions in Europe included France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Portugal and the Mediterranean. The French Methodist Conference was established in 1852.

In 1858 the Ladies Committee for the Amelioration of the Condition of Women in Heathen Countries, Female Education, &c, was founded as an auxiliary to the WMMS, although managed independently.

On 20 September 1932, in the Royal Albert Hall, London, the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the United Methodist Church and the Primitive Methodist Church united to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain. As a result, the missionary societies of the three Churches merged to form the MMS. Thus in 1932, the foreign missions of the MMS encompassed all of the regions where the individual societies previously worked. These included the West Indies (comprising the ex-WMMS districts of Bahamas, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Barbados and Trinidad, and British Guyana); Latin Europe (comprising the ex-WMMS districts of France, Italy, Spain and Portugal); West Africa (comprising the ex-WMMS districts of Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Gold Coast, Western Nigeria and French West Africa, the ex-UMMS work both in the Colony and in the Protectorate among the Mendes, and the ex-PMMS districts of Fernando Po and eastern Nigeria); Ceylon (ex-WMMS districts); South India (comprising the ex-WMMS districts of Madras, Trichinopoly, Hyderabad and Mysore); North India (comprising the ex-WMMS districts of Bengal, Lucknow and Benares, and Bombay and Punjab); China (comprising the ex-WMMS districts of South China, Hupeh and Hunan, and ex-UMMS districts of Hopei and Shantung, Yunnan, Ningpo and Wenchow); Kenya (ex-UMMS district); Burma (ex-WMMS district), and Southern and Northern Rhodesia (ex-WMMS work in both Southern and Northern Rhodesia, and ex-PMMS work in Northern Rhodesia only).

All Methodists were deemed to be members of the MMS. Its headquarters were based in London and it was governed by a General Missionary Committee, which acted on the authority of the Methodist Conference. The administration of foreign missions retained the general structure of that used by the WMMS (which formed the largest group in the union of 1932). Foreign districts were administered in much the same way as home districts, with District Synods and a District Chairman (Superintendent) representing the authority of the General Committee, and ultimately the Conference, in the field. The work of women missionaries in the MMS was represented by the 'Women's Work' department.

The General Committee included several General Secretaries, ordained ministers who were responsible for official correspondence with the missionaries. These positions evolved into 'Area Secretaries', each taking responsibility for a different area of overseas work, i.e. Africa, Asia, Caribbean and Europe. The position of Area Secretary is preserved in the overseas work of the present day Methodist Church.

In the administrative restructuring of the early 1970s, all departments of the Methodist Church became known as divisions, with the Methodist Church Overseas Division (MCOD) assuming responsibility for overseas work. In 1996, further large-scale administrative restructuring removed these divisions and the Church became a single connexional team. The World Church Office took on the work of the MCOD. The Area Secretaries are based in this Office, and their role has become one of liaison and partnership formation. Throughout this period, the MMS has continued to exist.

The nature of the relationship between the Methodist Church of Great Britain and churches overseas has also evolved, from a paternal role to one of equal partnership. Many of the former overseas 'districts' have become autonomous Methodist Churches in their own right, with their own Conference, Synod, and President (known by various titles). The World Methodist Council exists to provide a forum to promote co-operation and common purpose amongst Methodist peoples worldwide.

Further reading: Methodist Missionary Society, Our Missions Overseas - Past and Present. The First Annual Report of the Methodist Missionary Society, 1932 (1932); G Findlay & W W Holdsworth, The History of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (5 vols., 1921).

The union in 1932 of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, Primitive Methodist Church and United Methodist Church to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain brought together the women's work of all three former missionary societies. These comprised the Women's Department of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, the Women's Missionary Federation of the Primitive Methodist Missionary Society and the United Methodist Women's Missionary Auxiliary, which were amalgamated to form a department of the Methodist Missionary Society (MMS) known as 'Women's Work of the MMS' (WW). The department acted under the direction of the General Committee of the MMS. A Women's Work Sectional Committee was also appointed, including nominated representatives from the District Women's Councils. This Committee was responsible for the selection and training of women missionaries, consideration and direction of policy, raising and administration of funds, and all correspondence with missionaries. The General Secretaries undertook supervision of work in the field and at home. The Women's Work Committee met monthly and made recommendations to the General Committee of the MMS. On a District level, there was a Women's Missionary Council for each District, which included members of the Circuit Women's Work Committee. Each District Council had an executive committee, and each nominated a representative to the Women's Work Committee at the London Headquarters. There were also committees associated with each local church.

The influence of women in the MMS was gradually extended to bring their role more closely into line with male counterparts. By 1970, officers of the Women's Work Department had joined the main committee of the MMS, and their work was amalgamated into the General Fund. Women's Work as a separate entity had ceased to exist, although the home support groups continued to provide backing for women missionaries.

The organised work of women in the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (WMMS) began with the formation of the Ladies' Committee for the Amelioration of the Condition of Women in Heathen Countries, Female Education, &c, in December 1858, as an auxiliary to the main Society. The Ladies' Committee aimed at the systematic promotion of women's work on the mission field by securing the efficiency of Girls' Schools already established and increasing their number. Arrangements were made for the selection and preparation of women suitable for employment overseas, including teacher training at institutions such as the Normal College at Westminster. These women were to be assisted with funds raised through the Committee.

The Ladies' 'Committee' was managed independently of the WMMS. It selected its own agents, raised and administered its own funds, and had full responsibility for its organisation. The Committee worked alongside the WMMS, reporting resolutions of its meetings to the WMMS Executive Committee. In the field, ladies were placed under the direction of the District Synod and District and Circuit Chairman. The Foreign Secretary of the Ladies' Committee corresponded through these authorities, paid salaries and received reports.

In the early decades of its work, the Ladies' Committee focused on education. It provided grants and trained workers for Girls' Boarding Schools, Day Schools and industrial training institutions, and supported local Bible Women and Zenana workers. Orphanages were also established, largely in Southern India. The first missionary to be sent abroad by the Ladies' Committee was Susannah Gooding Beal, who was appointed as Headmistress of a Girls' School in Belize, British Honduras, in 1859. By 1868, there were ten agents in the field, in Bangalore, Honduras, South Africa, Canton and Italy. In 1874, the name was altered to the Ladies' Auxiliary for Female Education. From 1876-1912, Mrs Wiseman became Foreign Secretary, and under her guidance the Auxiliary developed and grew. In 1882, Local District Auxiliaries were formed in Bolton, Bristol, Leeds and Manchester, and the provinces took on increased responsibility for the collection of funds.

In the 1880s, the name was changed to the 'Ladies' Auxiliary of the WMMS', to reflect the expansion into medical work. The first medical agent of the Auxiliary was Agnes Palmer, who was posted to Madras in 1884. The first fully qualified medical practitioner sent out by the Auxiliary was Dr. Ethel Rowley, who was sent to Hankow, China, in 1895 (following her marriage, she was obliged to become an honorary worker). Work was undertaken in leper asylums, rescue-homes, and refuges for widows. In 1893 the name was again changed - to the 'Women's Auxiliary of the WMMS'.

Some of the female workers were drawn from the Wesley Deaconesses Order. The first of these ladies was sent out in 1904. By 1912 there were 94 English workers in the field, 12 others enlisted locally and 303 native Bible Women and Zenana workers in their employ. The Auxiliary supported a large number of schools and institutions, and their income had increased from less than £500 to more than £2,000 annually. In 1926 the Women's Auxiliary became a department of the WMMS. By 1928 their work included Districts in Italy, Spain, Ceylon, Burma, India, China, Africa, Bahamas and Jamaica.

The Girl's League was founded in 1908, under the umbrella of the Women's Work Department of the MMS. By 1928 the League had a membership of 8,700, with 450 branches in the British Isles.

The Primitive Methodist Church did not formally constitute a Missionary Society, though its Missionary Reports used the term from 1843. Overseas work was directed by the General Missionary Committee of the Primitive Methodist Conference. The main Primitive Methodist fields were West Africa (Fernando Po and Nigeria) and Southern Africa (South Africa and Northern Rhodesia). These fields were transferred to the Methodist Missionary Society upon Methodist Union in 1932. Earlier work in the British colonies of North America and Australasia became autonomous by the end of the 19th century.

Primitive Methodism was the largest of the Wesleyan offshoots. Founded by Hugh Bourne (1772-1852) and William Clowes (1780-1851), both Wesleyan Local Preachers, the movement had no essential doctrinal arguments with the Wesleyan Methodism. Whereas the Wesleyans concentrated all power in the hands of the Ministers, the Primitive Methodists placed great emphasis on the role of lay people. Laymen were highly influential at connexional level and were occasionally elected President of the Conference. From 1872 the Vice-Presidency was open to ministers or laymen and after 1883 was almost always held by a layman. Women were permitted to be ministers. The Primitive Methodists represented a desire to be free to experiment in worship. They were sometimes known by the nickname 'Ranters', on account of their habit of singing in the streets.

The Primitive Methodist movement grew out of Camp Meetings, all day, open-air prayer and preaching meetings which had been introduced in to England from America. One of the first, and the most famous, of these was held on Mow Cop, on the border of Staffordshire and Cheshire, in May 1807. Camp Meetings spread throughout the Midlands and the North of England. The Wesleyan Conference of 1807 considered this style of meeting to be 'improper' and 'likely to be productive of considerable mischief'. Hugh Bourne was expelled from the Methodist Society in 1808, and William Clowes in 1810. Bourne issued a ticket of membership for the new denomination in 1811, and the following year the first preaching plan was printed. In February 1812 the movement took the name of the Society of the Primitive Methodists, which is thought to represent their desire to revive Wesley's original (primitive) doctrine and practices. The first Primitive Methodist Conference was held at Hull in 1820 and the Deed Poll giving the Connexion official status was signed at the 1829 Conference.

Initially, the Primitive Methodist Church was a Home and Colonial missionary organisation. By 1843 there were 53 Primitive Methodist stations in the British Isles. Each home circuit carried out its missionary operations separately until 1825, when the Conference appointed the General Missionary Committee to provide centralised guidance. This Committee collected and distributed funds for missions, through a Primitive Methodist Mission Fund, and it was responsible for the appointment and supervision of missionaries.

At the beginning of the 1840s the Primitive Methodist Connexion re-organised. With the retirement of Bourne and Clowes in 1843, new figures emerged, notably John Flesher and John Petty. There were changes in the administration of the Conference, and impetus for overseas missionary enterprise. In 1841 the Conference asked John Flesher to draw up a code of Regulations Affecting Foreign Missionaries. These regulations were adopted by the General Missionary Committee and were printed by the Conference in 1843. From the same year Annual Missionary Reports were issued under the name of the Primitive Methodist Missionary Society (PMMS).

The first overseas missions were to the British Colonies. In 1829 Primitive Methodist missionaries sailed to the United States, and they entered Canada the following year. Work began in Australia and New Zealand in 1844. Missions in North America and Australia were absorbed by Methodist Churches in those countries and by 1900, the overseas missionary work was focused on Africa. In January 1870 the first missionaries sailed for Africa and settled on the Island of Fernando Po (now Bioko, Equatorial Guinea), off the coast of West Africa. Nine months later a mission began in South Africa. From these 2 pioneer missions sprang two larger ones: Northern Rhodesia (now the Zambia) in 1893 and Nigeria, by far the largest mission, in 1894. PMMS Reports referred to the African work as 'Foreign Missions' (as opposed to the 'Colonial Missions' in British North America and Australasia).

As overseas missionary work developed, a number of missionary departments arose within the Primitive Methodist Church. In 1897, a Woman's Missionary Federation was organised as an auxiliary to the General Missionary Committee. By 1908 the Women's Missionary Federation had been established, with District auxiliaries attached to it. A Laymen's Missionary League was established in 1910, for the 'education of the Primitive Methodist laity to an adequate sense of the great missionary opportunities at home and abroad'. The League was modelled on existing lay organisations in the United States and Canada. Around this time, the Young People's Missionary Department was also founded. This aimed at bringing awareness of missions to thousands of young scholars.

The General Missionary Committee continued until 1932. When the Methodist Union took place, the overseas missionary work of the Primitive Methodists merged with that of the Wesleyan and United Methodists under the Methodist Missionary Society (MMS). Nigeria was the most significant ex-Primitive Methodist field to be added to the MMS.

Born at Otley, Yorkshire, of devout Methodist parents, 1864; educated at Otley Collegiate School; entered the Primitive Methodist ministry, 1887; minister at Barrowford, 1887-1888; Halifax, 1888-1889; sent by the Primitive Methodist Missionary Committee on a pioneering mission to northern Rhodesia, 1889-1902; his time in Africa affected his health and he returned to England, 1902; minister at Halifax, 1902-1903; Brighouse, 1903-1908; Nottingham, 1908-1911; Gainsborough, 1911-1916; Leeds, 1916-1919; Financial Secretary to the Missionary Department, 1919-1924; Kingston, 1924-1925; Secretary of the Chapel Aid Association, 1925-1936; supernumerary, 1936; married firstly Elizabeth Anne (née Smith) and secondly Harriet (née Wright); died, 1937. Publication: The Rev Henry Buckenham, pioneer missionary (Joseph Johnson, London [1920]).

Born at Aliwal North, Cape Colony, 7th September 1876; son of the Rev John Smith (1840-1915) and his second wife Fanny Jeary (married 1874), Primitive Methodist missionaries; studied at Elmfield College, York; accepted for the ministry, 1897; Primitive Methodist missionary in Basutoland [Lesotho], South Africa, 1898-1902; married Julia Anne (née Fitch), 3rd October 1899; joined the mission to the Baila-Batonga in northern Rhodesia [Zambia], 1902; at Nanzela, 1902-1908; at Mexborough, 1908-1909; pioneered the mission at Kasenga, 1909-1915; reduced the Ila language to written form, made a grammar and dictionary, and translated most of the New Testament; returned to England, 1915; military chaplain in France, 1915-1916; seconded to the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1916-1939; initially its secretary in Rome, Italy; later at the Society's headquarters giving editorial supervision to Scripture translations in many languages; editorial superintendent, 1933-1939; a prominent anthropologist and pioneer of the study of indigenous African religious beliefs; founder member of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures (later the International African Institute), 1926; President of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 1933-1935; retired from the church, 1939; taught in north America, at the Kennedy School of Missions, Hartford Seminary, and at Fisk University, 1939-1944; editor of Africa, journal of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures, 1945-1948; honorary Doctor of Divinity from University of Winnipeg, c1937; honorary Doctor of Divinity, University of Toronto, 1942; died at Deal, Kent, 1957. Publications: works on the Ila language and people, anthropological works, works relating to inter-racial relations, and research on missionary history and biography, including: Handbook of the Ila Language (1907); with A M Dale, The Ila-speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia (1920); Robert Moffat (1925); The Golden Stool (1926); The Secret of the African (1929); Aggrey of Africa (1929); African Belief and Christian Faith (1936); The Mabilles of Basutoland (1939); The Life and Times of Daniel Lindley (1947); edited African Ideas of God (1950); biography of Roger Price, Great Lion of Bechuanaland (1957).

Born in Rockferry, Birkenhead, England, 1883; trained at Didsbury theological college; ordained as a Wesleyan Methodist minister; served the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society at Chipembi, northern Rhodesia (later Zambia), 1910-1915; chaplain to the armed forces, 1915-1917; returned as missionary to northern Rhodesia, 1917; instrumental in the development of Chipembi mission station and its circuit, although his treks in the Luano Valley did not result in permanent missionary endeavour there owing to shortages of money and manpower; served the Selukewe, Salisbury, Broken Hill, Lusaka, Nambala and Kafue circuits; reduced the language of the Bene-Mukuni to writing, translating part of the Bible and producing a vernacular hymnbook; began the first girls' secondary school in northern Rhodesia at Chipembi, 1928; supernumerary from 1951; subsequently served at Chingola; MBE; married, firstly, Louie (née Barrett) and, secondly, Dorothy Mabel Christian (née Hicks); died, 1963. Publications: articles and books on missionary subjects.

Born in York, England, 1840; trained at the theological college, Richmond; ordained as a Wesleyan Methodist minister; posted to the Central China mission field, based in Wuchang, Hupeh (Hubei) province; sailed to China, 1864; visited Japan for health reasons, but returned to missionary work in China; his single status made him more mobile than most Protestant missionaries; with a few other missionaries, including the Baptist Timothy Richard, engaged in famine relief work in Shansi (Shanxi) province, 1878-c1880; the experience expanded Hill's ministry in terms of social vision and ecumenism; instrumental in the conversion of Hsi Sheng-mo (Xi Shengmo, d 1896), who was to become an important independent pastor, 1879; visited England, 1881-1882; influential in recruiting other missionaries to China; established a hospital and homes for the aged, the blind, and orphans; helped to found the Central China Religious Tract Society; his evangelistic work extended outside the boundaries of existing Methodist circuits in China, resulting in the formation of the Central China Lay Mission, of which he became superintendent; chairman of the Central China Lay Mission, 1885; elected a member of the Legal Conference, 1888; played a central role in the Shanghai missionary conference as English president, 1891; appointed deputy to the British consul in the investigation into a riot at Wusueh, 1891; attended the Ecumenical Conference in Washington, 1891; visited England, 1891-1893; died of typhus fever at Hankow, 1896. Publication: Mission Work in Central China: a letter to Methodist young men (1882).

Born in Camelford, Cornwall, 1864; his father, Samuel Pollard, and his mother were preachers with the Bible Christian Church (from 1907 part of the United Methodist Church); converted, c1875; initially prepared for a career in the civil service, but a London conference influenced him to become a missionary, 1885; appointed Bible Christian missionary, 1886; sailed for China, 1887; attended Ganking Language School, 1887; posted to Yunnan province, 1888; went to Chaotung (Zhaotong), where a new station was opened, 1891; married Emmie (née Hainge), 1891; assigned to the provincial capital (now Kunming); engaged in evangelistic work; worked with the Flowery Miao (A-Hmao, a minority tribe), among whom started in Anshun, Kweichow (Guizhou) province, a religious movement which spread to Chaotung, from c1905; Pollard became its most prominent missionary leader; established a centre for thousands of new believers at Shihmenkan; travelled extensively, planting churches, training leaders, and soliciting justice for Miao Christians from officials and landlords; developed a new script which he used to translate the New Testament into the Miao language; died from typhoid fever while in service as a missionary, 1915. Publications: Tight Corners in China (second edition [1913]); with Henry Smith and F J Dymond, The Story of the Miao (1919); In Unknown China: observations, adventures and experiences of a pioneer missionary (1921); Eyes of the Earth: the diary of Samuel Pollard, ed R Elliott Kendall (1954).

Sent by the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society to the Wuchang district, China, 1915; studied languages in Hankow; served initially at the Hodge Memorial Hospital, Hankow; matron at the Anlu Men's Hospital from c1917; played a pioneering role in training indigenous nursing staff; active in founding the Nurses Association of China, becoming its President, 1924; appointed Principal of the School of Nursing at the new Union Hospital in Hankow, c1927; appointed Director of Nursing Service for the National Flood Relief Commission by the Chinese government, she was active in addressing the effects of serious floods on the refugee camps, 1931; on furlough, 1940; interned in Shanghai, 1942-1945; retired, 1951; settled in Southall, London; deaconess; unmarried; died, 1989.

Born, 1821; entered the service of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society in Hatton Garden, London; cared for Spanish sailors visiting the port of London and learnt Spanish; requested the Missionary Committee to send him to Spain; lay agent at Barcelona, employed in educational and evangelistic work; missionary to the Balearic Isles, 1879-1888; returned to England owing to ill health; served at City Road, London, 1888; Brighton, 1890; died, 1899.

Born in Manchester, England, 1798; educated at Manchester grammar school, 1809-1813; assisted in his father's shoemaking business; following private study, became a probationer for the Wesleyan ministry, 1818; appointed by the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (WMMS), 1819; lost his possessions in a shipwreck on the way to Madras, India; arrived, 1820; a pioneer missionary in the area, serving at Bangalore, Negapatam, Madras, and Seringapatam; elected a member of the committee for revising the Tamil version of the Bible, 1822; his Tamil translations included a hymnbook, 1825; left India owing to ill-health, 1828; returned to England, 1829; employed at Missionary House, London, 1829-1830; superintendent of schools in Ireland, 1830-1834; returned to London, 1834; Assistant Secretary of the WMMS, 1834-1836; married Elizabeth (d 1880), daughter of the lockmaker Charles Chubb, 1835; WMMS General Secretary, 1836-1872; Honorary Secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews and of the Home for Asiatics, London; Doctor of Divinity; died, 1872. Publications include: Personal Narrative of a Mission to the South of India, from 1820 to 1828 (1829); Madras, Mysore, and the South of India: or, a personal narrative of a mission to those countries from 1820 to 1828 (2nd edition, 1844); Dureisani-Tamil-Puttagam: the Lady's Tamil Book; containing the Morning and Evening Services, and other portions of the Book of Common Prayer, in ... Tamil ... with an Anglo-Tamil grammar and vocabulary (1859); introduced E J Robinson's Tamil Wisdom: traditions concerning Hindu sages, and selections from their writings (1873); contributed articles to the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society and London Quarterly Review.

Born at Baistow, Skircoat, near Halifax, Yorkshire, England, 1794; converted in early life and began to evangelise; ordained, 1815; Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society missionary to Ceylon, 1815-1820; missionary to southern Africa, 1820-1826; his health failed and he returned to England; minister at Penzance, Cornwall, England, 1826-1827; Ashby-de-la-Zouche, 1827-1830; Hereford, 1830-1833; Douglas, Isle of Man, 1833-1836; Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1836-1839; Carlisle, 1839-1841; Newark, 1841-1844; Bramley, 1844-1846; Doncaster, 1846-1848; Warrington, 1848-1851; Grimsby, 1851-1854; Midsomer Norton, 1854-1857; Retford, 1857-1859; Darlington, 1859; became a supernumerary and settled at Lytham, continuing preaching and pastoral work, 1863; married firstly Louisa (1801-1832) and secondly Sarah (c1804-1865); died, 1867. Publications: The Pious and Princely Village Shoemaker; or, a Short account of Mr Joseph Watkins (J Mason, London, 1852); The Missionary Martyr of Namaqualand: Memorials of the Rev William Threlfall (J Mason, London, 1857); A Narrative of the First Introduction of Christianity amongst the Barolong Tribe of Bechuanas, South Africa: with a brief summary of the subsequent history of the Wesleyan mission to the same people (Wesleyan Mission House, London, 1865).

Samuel Palmer: Wesleyan Methodist minister in Weymouth, England, 1826-1827; Melton Mowbray, 1827-1828; Oakham, 1828-1829; married Sarah Ann (née Dunman) in Dewlish, Dorset, 1829; ordained in Islington chapel, London, 1829; Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society missionary in Salem, South Africa, 1829-1832; in Morley, South Africa, from 1832; died when suddenly taken ill while leading people away from fighting towards his mission station at Buntingville, 1846.

Following her husband's death, Mrs Palmer founded a girls' school at Butterworth, South Africa, in 1849-1850, where local girls could learn to read the Scriptures and were catechised and taught other elementary subjects. Owing to wars in the region which hindered travel, she did not return to England until 1853.

Born in Pickering, Yorkshire, England, 1813; a printer, bookbinder, and bookseller; while ill, a mystical experience drew him to missionary work, 1831; completed his studies at the Wesleyan Theological Institution, Hoxton, 1837; married Mary Fowler (1814-1882) and, with his wife and his friend John Hunt, sailed to Fiji for the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, 1838; worked at Rewa and Lakeba; returned to England to oversee publication of the Fijian Bible, 1856; returned to Fiji, 1857; returned to England, 1866; served as a missionary in South Africa, 1872-1880; minister at City Road, London, 1881; Croydon, 1882; went to Fiji for the mission jubilee, 1885; toured Australia and America on behalf of the mission; retired to England; minister at Finsbury Park, 1887; continued to revise the Fijian Bible; died at Hastings, 1892. Publications: Copy of a Letter addressed to the Rev Dr Hannah ... on the death of the Rev John Hunt [1849]; 'Mission History', in Thomas Williams, Wesleyan Missionary: Fiji and the Fijians, vol 2, ed George Stringer Rowe (1858); edited: John Hunt's Entire Sanctification (1853); John Hunt's translation of the New Testament into Fijian, Ai Vola ni Veiyalayalati Vou ni noda turaga kei na nodai vakabula ko Jisu Kraisiti (1853); David Hazlewood's A Feejeean and English dictionary (2nd edition [1872]).

Born, 1812; educated in a parish school; farm labourer from c1822; became a Methodist, c1828; studied in his spare time and became a preacher at Swinderby and Potter Hanworth, Lincolnshire; went to study at the Wesleyan Theological Institution, Hoxton, 1835; was ordained and married Hannah Summers (b 1812), 1838; Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society missionary to Fiji, 1838-1848; worked in Rewa, Somosomo, Lakemba, and Viwa (Vewa), travelling to visit various mission stations on the Fijian islands; worked on the translation of the Bible, completing the New Testament and beginning the Old Testament; knowledgeable about Fijian culture; his evangelistic work was successful and he was instrumental in the conversion of the warrior Varani, 1845; died of dysentery, 1848; buried at Viwa; survived by his wife and children, including their eldest daughter, Eliza-Ann, and their second daughter, Hannah, who married Lewis Richings. Publications: Memoir of the Rev W Cross ... missionary to the Friendly and Feejee Islands; with a short notice of the early history of the Missions (1846); Entire Sanctification (1853); the Fijian New Testament, published as Ai Vola ni Veiyalayalati Vou ni noda turaga kei na nodai vakabula ko Jisu Kraisiti (1853), was largely his work, and the whole Bible was published as Ai Vola Tabu, a ya e tu kina na Veiyalayalati Makawa, kei na Veiyalayalati Vou (1858-1864).

Born at Worcester, England, 1796; blacksmith at Hagley, Worcestershire; became a Methodist and soon began to preach; married Sarah Hartshorn (d 1867); accepted by the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (WMMS), 1824; pioneering missionary to Tonga (the Friendly Islands) in the South Seas; arrived in Tonga, 1826; preached at Hihifo, Tongatapu, 1826-1828; moved to the island of Ha'apai, 1829; baptized the chief Taufa'ahua Tupou, 1831; a Tonga-wide revival movement began, 1835; Thomas enthroned Tupou, with English rites, as first king of all Tonga, 1845; although the WMMS withdrew from Samoa (1839) by agreement with the London Missionary Society, Thomas advocated re-entry and supported Tupou's policy of sending Tongan Wesleyan missionaries to Fiji and Samoa; persuaded the Australasian Wesleyan conference (which took over the Pacific from the British Wesleyans in 1855) to reverse the LMS decision regarding Samoa; following a visit to England his influence with Tupou waned, 1850s; retired to England and became supernumerary minister at Stourbridge (Worcestershire), 1860; died, 1881. Publication: translated Hymns, Catechisms, Prayers, &c for the use of the Wesleyan Societies in the Friendly Islands (1861).

The connection of John and Sarah Thomas with Methodism in Glasgow, and the provenance of the items relating to it, is unclear.

Born at Twyford, Hampshire, England, son of an English mother and a freed African slave, Thomas Freeman, 1809; joined the Methodists; moved to Ipswich and became a preacher; head gardener on a Suffolk estate, but lost his position owing to his Methodist activism; accepted by the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, 1837; sailed to the Gold Coast, west Africa, 1837-1838; missionary on the Cape Coast (where an indigenous Methodist church had been tenuously supported by a succession of English missionaries), 1838-1857; visited Kusami, the Ashanti capital; married, for the second time, Lucinda Cowan (d 1841) at Bedminster, Somerset, 1840; visited England to appeal for funds and recruits, 1841; the publication of his journals made him a celebrity; his pioneering work in founding many mission stations and chapels in the area underpinned later Methodist success in Ghana, western Nigeria, and Benin; married for the third time, 1854; financial controversy and other difficulties caused him to retire from missionary work, 1857; civil commandant of Accra, 1857-1860; remained in the Gold Coast, farming, writing, and preaching; returned as a missionary, to Anamabu, west Africa, 1873-1879; Accra, 1879-1886; retired and settled at Accra, 1886; died, 1890. Publication: Journal of Various Visits to the Kingdoms of Ashanti, Aku and Dahomi ... with an historical introduction by the Rev J Beecham (2nd edition, 1844); Missionary Enterprise No Fiction (1871), a semi-autobiographical novel [by Thomas Birch Freeman].

Born in Bulkington, near Coventry, 1846; his parents were devout Calvinists, but he became connected with the Wesleyan Methodist Warwick Lane Church, Coventry; became a candidate for ordination, 1870; trained at Richmond, 1870-1873; married Elizabeth; Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society missionary to Jamaica, 1873-1886; returned to England for his wife's health, 1886; minister at Salisbury, 1886-1889; Torrington, 1889-1892; Cadishead, 1892-1895; Padiham, 1895-1898; Northallerton, 1898-1899; Bradwell, 1899-1902; Withernsea, 1902-1904; supernumerary at Longsight, Manchester, 1904-1905; supernumerary missionary to France, 1905-1907; supernumerary minister at Brunswick, Sheffield, 1907-1915; City Road, Manchester, 1915-1916; minister at Earlsdon, Coventry, 1916; died, 1927.

In 1907 the Methodist New Connexion (formed in 1797), the Bible Christians Methodists (formed in 1815) and the United Methodist Free Churches (formed in 1857 by the union of the Wesleyan Association and the Wesleyan Reformers) united to form the United Methodist Church. The foreign mission activities of all three - the Methodist New Connexion Missionary Society, the Bible Christian Home and Foreign Missionary Society and the United Methodist Free Churches' Foreign Missions - were combined to form the United Methodist Missionary Society (UMMS), under the control of one committee.

The Methodist New Connexion (MNC) began its missionary endeavours in 1824, and established a mission in Belfast, Ireland, in 1826. The conference of 1836 resolved upon a mission to Canada, and in 1837 the Rev. John Addyman became the first MNC minister to be sent out on colonial work. In 1859, Revs. John Innocent and William N. Hall became the first agents of the MNC to be sent to China. They arrived in 1860, worked at Shanghai and eventually settled at Tientsin. By 1907 the mission in China had three circuits, in Tientsin, Shantung Province and in the neighbourhood of Kai-ping, north of Tientsin. In 1862, Rev. J. Maughan began a mission in Adelaide, Australia. A mission was also started in Melbourne. Three years later the Rev. C. Linley began work in New Zealand. In 1874 the Canadian Mission united with the Wesleyan churches, and in 1887 the Australian Mission took a similar course. In 1905 the MNC churches in Ireland united with the Wesleyan churches to form the Methodist Church in Ireland. The MNC Missionary Society was managed by a Committee, which consisted of a President, Treasurer and Secretary, with 16 ministers and 16 laymen appointed annually by the Conference.

The Bible Christian Connexion formed its Missionary Society in 1821. In 1831 it sent two missionaries to North America, Rev. John Glass being stationed in 'Western Canada' and Rev. Francis Metherall in Prince Edward Island. The work was successful, and at the time of the union of Methodist churches in Canada, membership of the mission stood at 7,000. In 1845 two missionaries were posted to commence a mission in the United States (Ohio and Wisconsin). In 1850, Rev. James Way and James Rowe were sent to begin work in Adelaide, South Australia, and in 1855 Rowe opened a mission in Victoria. A New Zealand mission commenced in 1877. In 1885 the Society sent two missionaries to Yunnan, China, under the auspices of the China Inland Mission. This included Samuel Pollard, who became the most famed missionary leader amongst the Flowery Miao, a minority nationality. The Women's Missionary league of the Bible Christian Missionary Society was organised as an auxiliary to the Society in 1892, with special reference to the work in China. The work of the Society was affected by the creation of an independent Canadian Conference in 1854, and likewise in South Australia in 1876 and Victoria in 1886. In Canada in 1884, the Bible Christians followed the example of the MNC in Canada and united with the other Methodist churches. In 1895 they united with the Wesleyans in Queensland, and in 1896 the same thing happened in New Zealand. In 1900 the Bible Christians were involved in another 'Methodist Union' in the South Australian Mission, and in 1902 this was repeated in Victoria.

The Missionary Society of the United Methodist Free Churches was formed in 1857, by a union of the Wesleyan Association with certain churches of the Wesleyan Reformers. At the time of the union in 1857, the Wesleyan Association had several missions in Jamaica and the Australian colonies, which were continued by the new body. Following the amalgamation of the two churches a special Foreign Mission Fund was started, and as a first step Rev. Joseph New was sent to Sierra Leone. In 1860 a Foreign Missionary Committee was formed to develop the overseas work. Additional men were sent to strengthen the work in Jamaica and Sierra Leone, and entirely new missions were undertaken in East Africa, Tasmania and Australia. In 1864, Rev. W. R. Fuller was sent to China to begin work in the city of Ningpo. In 1865 the Jamaica Mission undertook work at Bocas del Toro, on the Isthmus of Panama, in order to minister to the Jamaicans who had settled there in search of employment. In 1878 the work in China was extended to Wenchow. In 1892 the UMFC Missions in Australia and Tasmania formed two independent 'Assemblies'. In 1896 the UMFC joined with the Bible Christians and Wesleyans in New Zealand to form the Methodist Church of New Zealand, and in 1902 the same three Churches entered upon a similar union in Australia. In 1912 there was a union in Jamaica, between the UMFC and the Wesleyan churches. This extended to Bocas del Toro.

Women's work in the United Methodist Church was represented by the United Methodist Women's Missionary Auxiliary. This organisation incorporated the Ladies' Missionary Auxiliaries of the United Methodist Free Churches. These auxiliaries are first mentioned in the UMFC Annual Report for 1898, which reports that 'the last Annual Assembly laid special emphasis on better organisation in our Sunday Schools, and the creating of ladies' missionary auxiliary societies as a means to this end'. The Annual Report of 1900 devotes a section to these Ladies' Missionary Auxiliaries, reporting the spread of the movement within the denomination and the formation of district branches.

In 1932 the United Methodist Church joined the Wesleyan Methodists and the Primitive Methodists Church to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain. The Uniting Conference was held on 20 September 1932. The work of the UMMS merged with that of the Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists to form the Methodist Missionary Society (MMS).

Further reading: A S Hopkins, Trail Blazers and Road Makers: a History of the East African Mission of the United Methodist Church (1928).

Born 13 August 1888, Eve was the third daughter of the Reverend John Edwards. After completing her studies at Redbrook College, Camborne, Islington College and a preparatory course at the St Colm's Missionary College, Edinburgh, she travelled to China where she enrolled at the Peking Language School to study Chinese. Two years later in 1915, she was appointed Principal of the Women's Normal College in Mukden - a training College for Chinese teachers. Continuing her studies during this time she attained the diploma in Chinese (Mandarin and Classical) from the Peking Language School in 1918.

Returning to England at the end of the First World War, she accepted a lectureship at the School Of Oriental and African Studies in 1921. Combining work and study, she obtained a BA Hons in Chinese (1924) and MA in Chinese (with distinction) (1925) from the University of London. In 1931 the University conferred on her the degree Doctor of Literature for her work on T'ang fiction. She was also appointed Reader in Chinese, a position she held until 1939 when she became Professor of Chinese. From 1937-1939 she was Acting Head of the Far East Department, then Head and Chair of Chinese until 1953. In 1951 she was also appointed Acting Head of the Percival David Foundation, a post she held until her retirement from the School in 1955. For many years she served on the council of the China Society (1925-1944). After the close of the war she visited the Far East, South East Asia and Pacific in order to follow up those in the armed services who had received training from the School. She died in 1957.

She published a number of works including Chinese prose and literature of the T'ang period (2 vols, London 1937-38), Confucius (1940), and two anthologies Dragon Book (1938) and Bamboo, Lotus and Palm (1948). She contributed articles to the Bulletin, and Asia Major, a British journal of Far Eastern Studies, as well as serving on its Editorial Board from 1941 - 1955. She also contributed reviews to the Bulletin and the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. She translated M. Granet's Festivals and Songs of Ancient China (London, 1932) into English, and jointly published A Chinese vocabulary of Malacca Malay words and phrases (BSOS, vi, 3, 1931) and A Chinese vocabulary of Cham words and phrases (BSOS, x,1,1939) with Prof. C O Blagden.

The occupation of Malaya by the Japanese during the Second World War gave the British government the opportunity, in 1945, to attempt the creation of a Malayan Union by merging the Malay States, Penang and Malacca into a single British colony. The plan was felt to be beneficial in solving both Malayan problems of rehabilitation and in furthering British colonial policy in the Pacific. It was envisaged that the Union would prepare the region for eventual self-government.

In mid-1943 a Malayan Planning Unit (MPU) was established under General Ralph Hone, supervised by the Colonial Office, to plan civil administration under the military government established in all re-occupied areas and for the future Union. A major problem faced by the MPU was the need to renegotiate the treaties with the Malay rulers in order to create the Union and give the British power to set up a constitution. It was also concerned to protect the interests of non-Malays within the peninsula.

In 1945 the MPU was moved to SEAC HQ and plans for the constitution of the Malayan Union and citizenship were drafted. Sir Harold MacMichael was chosen to prepare a mission to negotiate the new treaties with the Malay rulers and in particular to use the British government's advantage shortly after the liberation of Malay territories to achieve the required concessions. This policy was shaken by the unexpected surrender of the Japanese, which left the British without the advantage of military conquest.

Further problems beset the plan, as the Malayan Peoples Anti-Japanese Army emerged as a serious contender for power. The lack of communications and personnel hampered the British official presence. Malay politics slowly began to re-assert itself with the impact of the Malayan Communist Party and the Malay Nationalist Party. MacMichael headed out to Kuala Lumpur with H T Bourdillon and A T Newboult and by December 1945 all the rulers had signed treaties.

In January 1946 a White Paper on the Malayan Union was published. It was attacked for depriving the Sultans of their sovereignty and the Malays of their privileges and for the high-handed tactics previously employed by MacMichael. Although only one piece of legislation was required to repeal the previous settlements and bring about the Union, a number of MPs bitterly opposed the idea. Malay antipathy to the proposal had been underestimated and a number of groups came to the fore representing the Malay people, who felt that their rulers had betrayed them with the treaties. In March 1946, at the Pan-Malayan Malay Congress, it was proposed to set up the United Malays National Organisation in order to fight the Union.

The Union came into effect on 1 April 1946, although its inauguration was marred by the last minute withdrawal of the Sultans from the ceremony. Sir Edward Gent, the new Governor, was charged with the task of calming Malay fears but after one month in post was recommending concessions. Following advice from visiting MPs the Secretary of State finally concurred. This led to the question of whether the treaties should be renegotiated prior to the drafting of a new constitution, or whether they should remain as its foundation. It was finally agreed that they should be shelved and in the autumn of 1946 a number of constitutional proposals were agreed by the Constitutional Working Committee of Twelve.

The new proposals aimed at a compromise between safeguarding the special position of Malays and the sovereignty of the Sultans, whilst retaining a strong central government. The proposals were issued to all Malayan communities for consultation, but there were strong disagreements and groups such as the All Malaya Council for Joint Action chose to boycott the consultative process. In July 1947 the Revised Constitutional Proposals were published, the new Federal agreement was signed by the Sultans in January 1948, and the new constitution came into effect on 1 February 1948.

Founded in 1920, the Royal Institute of International Affairs (also known as Chatham House) is an independent research and membership organisation working to promote the understanding of key international issues. The Institute promotes debate and research through meetings, conferences and publications. The Chatham House Rule, which is used around the world to allow for free speech and confidentiality at meetings, originated with the Royal Institute. The Institute is funded through grants, donations, membership subscriptions and revenue from the Institute's trading subsidiary, Chatham House Enterprises Ltd. The Institute has a presence in the United States of America, where the Chatham House Foundation works to promote Anglo-American relations.

Henry Dundas was born 28 April 1742. He was educated at Edinburgh High School and Edinburgh University and was admitted as a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 1763. His family connections and skills as a public orator ensured him a thriving business as a barrister and at the age of twenty-four he was appointed Solicitor General for Scotland. From October 1774-1790 Henry Dundas served as a member of the House of Commons and in 1775 he was appointed Lord Advocate, a post he held until 1783.

Henry Dundas' links with India began in April 1781 when he was appointed chairman of a secret committee on the war in the Carnatic and British possessions in India. The following year Dundas was appointed Minister Treasurer of the Navy, entered the Privy Council and took the office of the Keeper of the Scotch Signet. Although Dundas lost his job as Minister Treasurer of the Navy in 1783 he was made a member of the Board of Control for India in 1784 and became its President from 1793-1802. During this period he held a number of other political appointments most notably from 1791-1794 as Home Secretary, during which he defended the East India Company as Secretary of War in 1794 and as Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland in 1800. He was created Viscount Melville in 1802 and was First Lord of the Admiralty from May 1804-1805. It was following this appointment that he was accused of using monies for purposes other than the Navy. In June 1805 he was called upon to defend himself in the House of Commons and there was some debate over whether he should stand trial or face impeachment. The impeachment before the House of Lords took place in April 1806 and eventually Dundas was acquitted of all charges. He never again held public office and died on 28 May 1811.

Robert Saunders Dundas (1771-1851) was the only son of Henry Dundas. He too was educated at Edinburgh High School and entered Parliament in 1797 as MP for Hastings. He then acted as private secretary to his father until 1801. In 1807 he was appointed to the Privy Council and in April of that year, following in his father's footsteps, he became the President of the Board of Control. From 1812-1827 he was first Lord of the Admiralty, and again from 1828-1830. Like his father Robert Dundas also held a number of important appointments in Scotland, including Governor of the Bank of Scotland. From 1814 he was Chancellor of the University of St. Andrews and in 1821 became a Knight of the Thistle. He died on 10 June 1851.

Roy Clive Abraham was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1890, but was educated in England and Germany. His first degree was in oriental languages (Arabic and Persian) though he also studied Ethiopic at that time. During World War I, he served in the British Army in Arabia, where he learned Hindustani, and then became a member of the Nigerian Administrative Service from 1924-1944, the last six years of which he spent in language research. His first independent research was on Bolenci, and later he assisted George Bargery on the publication of a Hausa dictionary. He was a lecturer in Amharic at the School of Oriental and African Studies, 1948-1951.

His published works include The Grammar of Tiv, The Principles of Hausa, The Principles of Idoma, The Principles of Somali and a Dictionary of Modern Yoruba. He also worked on Igbo, but his death in 1963 precluded the publication of his grammar and dictionary in that language.

Harry Hamilton Johnston was born on 12 June 1858, in Kennington, London. He was educated at Stockwell Grammar School, Kings College London and from 1876-1880 he was a student of the Royal Academy of Arts. He travelled to North Africa, 1879-1880. He explored Portugese West Africa and the Congo River, 1882-1883. In 1884 he commanded a Scientific Expedition of the Royal Society to Mt. Kilimanjaro.

He served in the Consular Service in Africa from 1885-1901. He was H.M. Vice-Consul in the Cameroons, 1885; Acting-Consul in the Niger Coast Protectorate, 1887; Consul for the Province of Mozambique, 1888. In 1889, his expedition to Lakes Nyasa and Tanganyika led to the foundation of the British Central Africa Protectorate. He became Commissioner and Consul-General of the British Central Africa Protectorate in 1891; Consul-General for the Regency of Tunis, 1897-1899; and Special Commissioner, Commander-in-Chief and Consul-General for the Uganda Protectorate, 1899-1901.

He was married to the Hon. Winifred Irby, O.B.E. He was awarded the K.C.B. in 1896, and the G.C.M.G in 1901. He died on 31 July 1927.

Harry Hamilton Johnston published numerous works including A Comparative Study of the Bantu and Semi-Bantu Languages (Oxford University Press, 1919).