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Graham Wallas, 1858-1932, was born in Sunderland and educated at Shrewsbury School and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he obtained a second class in Literae Humaniores in 1881. After leaving Oxford, he became a schoolmaster, 1881 - 1890, University Extension Lecturer, 1890, Lecturer at the London School of Economics, 1895-1923, London University Professor of Political Science, 1914-1923 and Professor Emeritus, 1923. He combined an interest in education with politics and was a member of the Fabian Society, 1886-1904, the London School Board, 1894-1904, Chairman of the School Management Committee, 1897-1904, a member of the Technical Education Board of the London County Council, 1898-1904, and a member of the Education Committee of the London County Council, 1908-1910. He was also a member of London County Council 1904-1907.

The Washington Version, was a three part television documentary on the Gulf War produced for BBC Television and Discovery Channel by Brian Lapping Associates. The documentary was conceived and arranged for The American Enterprise Institute by Richard Perle. The producers were Mark Anderson, Norma Percy and Grace Kitto. The UK version of the documentary was transmitted by BBC2 on 16, 17 and 18 Jan 1992, the US version was transmitted on 17, 24 and 31 January 1992. The US version of the documentary was titled The Gulf Crisis: Road to War, and Program 2 was titled 'New World Order'.

John Watkins was born in Woking, Surrey, training at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, before joining the Navy in 1941; after the war he studied politics at the London School of Economics where he was greatly influenced by reading Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom. After graduation he studied for an MA at Yale University, before returned to the Government Department at LSE to take up a lectureship in political science, transferring to the Philosophy Department as Reader in 1958. He was promoted to Professor in 1966. Watkins retired in 1989 but continued regular attendance at seminars and was an associate for the LSE Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science. Professor Watkins' publications include Hobbes's System of Ideas(1965), Science and Scepticism (1984)and Human Freedom after Darwin (1999) and numerous articles including 'Ideal types and Historical Explanation' (1953), 'Historical Explanation in the Social Sciences' (1957), 'Negative Utilitarianism' (1963), 'Confirmation, the Paradoxes and Positivism' (1964), 'Decision and Belief' (1967) and 'Imperfect Rationality' (1971).

Born 1956; educated City of Bath Boys' School and Heriot-Watt University; freelance interpreter and translator in four languages, 1979-1980; Vice-President, 1977-1979, and General Secretary, 1979-1981, International Federation of Liberal and Radical Youth; Founder Member, European Community Youth Forum, 1980; Member of Governing Board, European Youth Centre, 1980-1982; Administrator, Paisley College of Technology, 1980-1983; Head of Private Office of the Leader of the Liberal Party (David Steel), 1983-1987; Senior Press officer, TSB Group plc, 1987-1988; Public Affairs manager, 1988-1993, and Senior Public Affairs Manager, 1993-1994, HSBC Holdings plc; Liberal Democrat MEP for Somerset and North Devon, 1994-1999, and South West England, 1999-; Chairman, European Parliament Committee on Justice and Home Affairs, 1999-; Leader, UK Liberal Democratic Party European Parliament, 1999-. Publications: Transport policy in Scotland: time for a rethink (Printout Publications, Edinburgh, 1980); editor of The Liberals in the North-South dialogue (1980).

Beatrice and Sidney Webb pooled their respective talents into writing joint works on economic and social issues. They spent 25 years researching and writing their nine-volume English Local Government from the Reformation to the Municipal Corporations Act (Longmans and Co, 1906-1929, and produced other relevant works on the poor law and social relief. For a biographical history of Sidney and Beatrice Webb, see the description for the Passfield personal papers (Ref: Passfield).

The Webbs pooled their respective talents into writing joint works on economic and social issues. This partnership produced books such as The history of Trade Unionism, 1666-1920 (1894), Industrial democracy (1897), and Problems of Modern Industry (1898). Their work spread into areas such as historical and social research, educational and political reform and journalism, and much of what they produced altered the perceptions of economists and social historians, who had previously ignored the working classes. For a biographical history of Sidney and Beatrice Webb, see the description for the Passfield personal papers (Ref: Passfield).

Norman MacKenzie was a student at LSE, 1939-1943. He became the Assistant Editor of the New Statesman, 1943-1962, and then the Director of the School of Education at the University of Sussex in 1962. MacKenzie edited The letters of Sidney and Beatrice Webb (Cambridge University Press, 1978), and went on to edit (with Jeanne MacKenzie) The diaries of Beatrice Webb (Virago, London, 1982-5). The letters were acquired from a variety of sources, mostly indicated in the collection.

Born 1886; educated Merchant Taylors' School in Crosby and King's College, Cambridge; Professor of Modern History, Liverpool University, 1914-1922; served World War One as a Subaltern in the Royal Army Service Corps, 1915-1917 and on the General Staff of the War Office, 1917-1918; Secretary, Military Section, British Delegation to the Conference of Paris, 1918-1919; Wilson Professor of International Politics, University of Wales, 1922-1932; Ausserordentlich Professor, University of Vienna, 1926; Nobel Lecturer, Oslo, 1926; Reader, University of Calcutta, India, 1927; Professor of History, Harvard University, USA, 1928-1932; Stevenson Professor of International History, London School of Economics and Political Science, 1932-1953; Foreign Research and Press Service, 1939-1941; Director, British School of Information, New York, 1941-1942; Foreign Office, 1943-1946; Member of British Delegation, Dumbarton Oaks and San Francisco Conferences, 1944-1945; Member, Preparatory Commission and General Assembly, United Nations, 1945-1946; Ford Lecturer, Oxford University, 1948; President, 1950-1954, and Foreign Secretary, 1955-1958, British Academy; retired 1953; died 1961. Publications: The European alliance, 1815-1825 (University of Calcutta, 1929); The Congress of Vienna, 1814-1815 (Foreign Office Historical Section, London, 1919); editor of Britain and the independence of Latin America, 1812-1830 (Ibero-American Institute of Great Britain, London, 1938); The art and practice of diplomacy (LSE, London, 1952); British Diplomacy, 1813-1815 (G Bell and Sons, London, 1921); British Foreign Policy since the Second World War; The Congress of Vienna, 1814-15, and the Conference of Paris, 1919 (London, 1923); The foreign policy of Castlereagh, 1815-1822 (G Bell and Sons, London, 1925); The foreign policy of Palmerston, 1830-1841 (G Bell and Sons, London, 1951); The founder of the national home (Weizmann Science Press of Israel, 1955); The League of Nations in theory and practice (Allen and Unwin, London, 1933); The pacification of Europe, 1813-1815 (1922); Palmerston, Metternich and the European system, 1830-1841 (Humphrey Milford, London, 1934); Sanctions: the use of force in an international organisation (London, 1956); Some problems of international organisation (University of Leeds, 1943); What the world owes to President Wilson (League of Nations Union, London, 1930); The strategic air offensive against Germany, 1939-1945 (London, 1961); editor of British diplomatic representatives, 1789-1852 (London, 1934); editor of Some letters of the Duke of Wellington to his brother, William Wellesley-Pole (London, 1948).

Reginald Earle Welby, 1832-1915, was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He entered the Treasury in 1856, becoming Assistant Financial Secretary of the Treasury in 1880, Auditor of the Civil List in 1881, and Permanent Secretary of the Treasury, 1885-1894. He was also a commissioner of the 1851 Exhibition, and Chairman of London County Council in 1900.

The British Sociological Association was founded in 1951 as the professional association for sociologists in Britain. It operates a network of subject-based study groups, and gives information on professional standards. Founded in [1987], Work, Employment and Society is a BSA journal published quarterly by Cambridge University Press, which deals with, and encourages the further exploration of, the complex interrelations of all divisions of labour.

The Woodcraft Folk broke away from the Kibbo Kift and founded their own group in 1925. They were mainly composed of the South London Co-operative Groups who withdrew from the Kibbo Kift Kindred in 1924. Although they continued with the same principles of woodcraft training and recapitulation they were a more democratic group with an international outlook. They were closely associated with the Co-operative Movement and a member of the International Falcon Movement and the Socialist Educational International. The group is still in existence.

George Wigg was born in 1900 and after an early career in the Army entered Parliament as Labour MP for Dudley in 1945. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Emanuel Shinwell between 1945 and 1951 and on the election of Harold Wilson's first government in 1964 was appointed Paymaster General with a special interest in defence and security. Wigg retained the post of Paymaster General until 1967 when he was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Wigg of the Borough of Dudley. Throughout his career, Wigg maintained a close interest in defence, security, African and Middle Eastern politics. Lord Wigg had a lifelong interest in horseracing reflected in his involvement in the organisation of the sport. Career Chronology: born 1900; served in the regular army, 1919-1937 and Royal Army Education Corps, 1940-1946; MP for Dudley, 1945-1967; Parliamentary Private Secretary to Emanuel Shinwell, MP as Minister of Fuel and Power, Secretary of State for War and Minister of Defence, 1945-1951; Opposition Whip, 1951-1954; Member of the Racecourse Betting Control Board, 1957-1961; Member of the Totalisator Board, 1961-1964; Paymaster General, 1964-1967; Chairman, Horserace Betting Levy Board, 1967-1972; President, Betting Office Licensees Association, 1973-1983. Throughout his career Wigg maintained a close interest in defence and security issues.

Born 1913; educated at Hertford College, Oxford University; on staff of Chatham House, 1936-1938 and 1946-1949; Assistant Master, Haileybury College, 1938-1941; on staff of Nuffield College Colonial Research, Oxford University, 1941-1946; Journalist, The Observer, 1946-1947; Reader in International Relations, LSE, 1949-1961; Member of Council, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1952-1972; Visiting Professor, University of Chicago, 1956-1957; Professor of History, University of Sussex, 1961-1972; Dean, School of European Studies, 1961-1969; died 1972. Publications: Editor of Diplomatic investigations: essays in the theory of international politics (George Allen and Unwin, London, 1966); British colonial constitutions (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1952); The development of the Legislative Council, 1606-1945 (Faber and Faber, London, 1946); The Gold Coast Legislative Council (Faber and Faber, London, 1947); edited by Hedley Bull Systems of state (Leicester University Press for the LSE, 1977), and Power politics (Leicester University Press for the RIIA, 1978); edited by Gabriele Wight and Brian Porter International theory: the three traditions (Leicester University Press for the RIIA, 1991).

The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom was formed in 1915, when a group of women met in an International Congress at The Hague to protest against World War One and to suggest ways of ending it and preventing future wars. The organisers of the Congress were prominent women in the International Suffrage Alliance who assembled more than a thousand women from both belligerent and neutral countries to work out the principles on which the war could be stopped and a permanent peace constructed. The Congress established an International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace, which four years later became the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. The organisation continues to function as an NGO, working for peace and disarmament, social and economic justice, and the full enjoyment of human rights. Its international headquarters are in Geneva and it has branches in around 50 countries.

Sir Frederic Wise, 1871-1928, was educated at Marlborough College and abroad. He entered banking in 1903 and later founded the stockbroking company of Wise, Speke and Co of Newcastle-on-Tyne. During World War One, he was Chairman of Volunteers and Military Representative for his county, and he also gave his services to National Service, the Food Ministry and the Treasury. In 1919, he was sent to Berlin to report of the financial position of Germany. He was also a financial advisor to Lord Byng's Committee of United Service Fund, a director of the Daily Express and a director of the Sudan Plantation Syndicate Ltd. He was Unionist MP for Ilford from 1920 and knighted in 1924.

The Women's Industrial Council was set up following a conference at Holborn Town Hall in November 1894, and merged with the Women's Trade Union Association, which Clementina Black had helped to form five years earlier. The Women's Industrial Council was incorporated as a non-profit-making organisation in 1910. Its main activities involved making investigations into women's work in order to improve their industrial conditions; monitoring parliamentary reports and legislation; educating industrial workers; work in the fields of unemployment and retraining; the publication of various reports and pamphlets, and the journal 'Women's Industrial News'; and reporting breaches of Factory and Public Health Acts.

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The National League of Young Liberals (often just called the Young Liberals) was part of the Liberal Party and was founded in 1903. The Union of Liberal Students (ULS) was the English and Welsh student wing of the Liberal Party. In 1988, the Liberal Democrats were formed. In 1993, the Union of Liberal Democrat Students and Young Liberal Democrats merged to form Liberal Democrat Youth and Students (LDYS). In 2002, Scottish Young Liberal Democrats merged with LDYS.LDYS changed its name to Liberal Youth in 2008.

Africa95 was founded in 1992 to initiate and organise a nationwide season of the arts of Africa to be held in the UK in the last quarter of 1995. The wide-ranging events included the visual and performing arts, cinema, literature, music and public debate, and programmes on BBC television and radio. Africa95, a registered company with charitable status, was formed in 1993. It was granted patronage by HM the Queen, President Nelson Mandela of South Africa, and President Leopold Sedar Senghor of Sengal. The centrepiece of the season was the Royal Academy of Arts exhibition, 'Africa: the Art of a Continent'.

The policy and decision-making body was an Executive Committee chaired by Sir Michael Caine. The offices, with around 10 permanent staff, were at Richard House, 30-32 Mortimer Street, London. Over 20 co-ordinators and consultants were engaged in the project. Funding was provided from over 150 sources, with major grants being made by the European Development Fund, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the British Council, and the Baring Foundation. Company sponsors included British Airways and Blue Circle Industries.

Following the 1995 season of African arts, Africa95 continued in a minor way, with offices at Windsor House, 83 Kingsway, London.

During the Second World War, British and Irish Churches founded an organisation called Christian Reconstruction in Europe, which was a united effort to raise funds to aid in the rebuilding of Europe when the War ended. They raised one million pounds through collections, and began their work of refugee relief and resettlement. In 1948, this work became part of the British Council of Churches, and was known as the Inter-Church Aid and Refugee Service. Refugee relief continued to be a major issue for both national and international organisations, and at the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches in 1954 it was acknowledged that the work of the Inter-Church Aid and Refugee Service was of lasting value. Over the next decade the focus of their work was to shift towards world-wide development issues.

In 1957, Janet Lacey, Director of the Inter-Church Aid and Refugee Service, decided to hold a 'Christian Aid Week' to encourage wider public awareness and support. £26,000 was raised throughout Britain, and Christian Aid Week was to become an annual event. In 1964, the agency changed its name to Christian Aid, to identify with this success.

Between 1960 and 1964, the 'Freedom from Hunger Campaign' focused aid on increasing food production in the poorest regions of Africa, Asia, the Pacific, the Middle East and the Caribbean. By 1970, the organisation was funding over 100 development projects in 40 countries. It had also established the World Development Movement to address the issues of poverty. Major projects in the 1970's included response to drought in India and famine in East Pakistan and the Sudan. In the 1980's, projects included the provision of emergency food and medical supplies to Ethiopia. In the 1990's, projects included emergency appeals for the crises in Rwanda, Montserrat, Sierra Leone and the former Yugoslavia; highlighting the problems of the child sex industry in South-East Asia and child labour in Pakistan; and campaigning for fair trade and an end to Third World debt. Today, Christian Aid funds 700 local organisations in over 70 countries.

Christian Aid has no representatives overseas or projects of its own. It works entirely through local structures, mainly churches or voluntary organisations, and relies on regional screening of projects by experts. It also co-operates closely with the world-wide network of Christian churches and Councils centred on the World Council of Churches in Geneva. Christian Aid believes that this approach encourages the idea of partnership and development in its own right. Although originally established for relief work, Christian Aid believes that whatever aid comes from outside, long-term development can only come from within a society.

Christian Aid is a registered charity. Constitutionally, it is a division of the British Council of Churches (BCC), which itself is composed of delegates appointed by member churches and Christian bodies. Christian Aid's mandate is to act as the overseas agency of these member churches and to provide concerted action in the areas of relief and development. It is directly accountable to the Assembly of the BCC, which also appoints Christian Aid's Director and Board.

The Board appoints Regional Committees, each responsible for making grants to programmes and projects in the main regions: Africa; Asia and the Pacific; Latin America and the Caribbean; and the Middle East. There is also a committee that makes grants to projects in Europe and to global programmes operating in more than one of the main regions.

Christian Aid is an ecumenical organisation. Although the Roman Catholic Church is not a member of the British Council of Churches, there is a close association between Christian Aid and the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development (CAFOD).

Fund-raising is largely through local congregations and groups whose denominations are represented on the British Council of Churches, and also from the general public. In the event of emergencies, where relief cannot be sought from local churches Christian Aid is able to make money available through the International Red Cross, United Nations agencies and other sources. In major emergencies, the five main overseas aid agencies (Christian Aid, the British Red Cross, CAFOD, Oxfam and Save the Children Fund) are able to make a television appeal to the nation as the United Kingdom Disasters Emergency Committee. Both the BBC and ITV give their services free. In these combined appeals, each agency receives one fifth of the total amount of money raised and sends money and supplies through its own channels to the disaster area.

The Conference of Missionary Societies in Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Conference of British Missionary Societies (CBMS), was founded in 1912 with a membership of more than 40 Protestant missionary societies. It grew out of the Continuation Committee established as a result of the World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh in 1910, which aimed to encourage the foundation of national co-operative councils for mission. For many years the CBMS shared premises (acquired in 1918), Edinburgh House (in Belgravia, near Sloane Square, London), with the Continuation Committee, which became known as the International Missionary Council in 1921. The CBMS was not itself a missionary society, but its archive documents how home missionary organisations co-operated with contacts abroad, show the public face of missionary activity, and also offer evidence on contemporary social and political, as well as religious, events. It held an annual conference, and a standing committee (later council) met quarterly. There were also specialized committees. In 1977 the CBMS became a division of the British Council of Churches and it is now known as the Churches' Commission on Mission. For further information see J T Hardyman and R K Orchard, Two Minutes from Sloane Square: a Brief History of the Conference of Missionary Societies in Great Britain and Ireland 1912-1977 (CBMS, London, 1977).

The Co-ordinating Council for Area Studies Associations (CCASA) was founded in 1980 to lobby for area studies in the face of government cuts in higher education. It represents the interests of scholars and researchers working specifically on regional cultures and languages. Members include the African Studies Association of the UK; Association of South East Asian Studies in the UK; British Association for American Studies; British Association for Canadian Studies; British Association for Chinese Studies; British Association for Japanese Studies; British Association for South Asian Studies; British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies; British Society for Middle Eastern Studies; Society for Caribbean Studies; Society for Latin American Studies; Standing Conference of Directors of Institutions and Centres of Latin American Studies; Standing Committee on University Studies of Africa, and the School of Oriental and African Studies. The CCASA looks at issues such as government strategy for funding allocation in the social sciences, represented through bodies such as the Economic and Social Research Council. It was in part as a result of the pressure from CCASA that more money was provided for Oriental and African languages following a report published in 1988. More specifically in recent years, the CCASA has approached the government with requests for the modification of policy towards the British Library, and for the increase in financial support for students on study tours in Japan.

Christian Concern for Southern Africa (CCSA) was founded in 1972 as an interdenominational Christian body concerned with raising awareness of the political situation in South Africa and to co-ordinate the response of British Churches. It was based initially at 41 Holland Park, London, then at the premises of the Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR) near Regent's Park, then at 2 Eaton Gate, London, the headquarters of the British Council of Churches, and finally in Camberwell Road, South London.

Its policy and decision making council was the Executive Committee made up of representatives from various religious and social organisations. In 1981 the Rev. R. Elliott Kendall was appointed first as Secretary and then as Executive Secretary until his retirement, just before his death in 1992.

CCSA had links with all the main British Christian churches, relying predominantly on them for financial support although charitable organisations also gave assistance. CCSA's main work concentrated on gathering information about British companies with interests in South Africa. This information was then used both to supply to other affiliated organisations and to pressurise the companies themselves into taking a more ethical stance on their treatment of black and coloured employees in South Africa. In particular, the involvement of oil companies was targeted leading to the establishment of the Oil Working Group in 1979. CCSA's other activities included the publishing of educational literature; the collection of literature from similar groups; correspondence with political groups and a mass lobby of Parliament; organising conferences and establishing and maintaining links with South African groups.

The activities of the CCSA ceased in 1993 when the political situation in South Africa was believed to be improving significantly.

The Chinese Government Purchasing Commission was constituted by the China Indemnity (Application) Act of 1931, which implemented the terms of the Exchange of Notes between the Chinese and British Government, dated September 19th and 22nd 1930, concerning the disposal of the British share of the China Indemnity of 1901.

The original China Indemnity totalling $333 million was set by the Boxer Protocol of 1901, aimed at compensating eleven nations (including Britain, USA, France, Japan, Russia, Holland and Belgium) for losses incurred during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. However, China's role as an ally in the Great War led the British Government to issue a declaration in December 1922 which stated that the balance of the share of the Indemnity would be thenceforth devoted to 'purposes mutually beneficial to China and the United Kingdom'. A report published by the Anglo-Chinese Advisory Committee in 1926 set out recommendations for the best use of deposited Indemnity Funds and all future instalments. The Exchange of Notes with the Chinese Government in 1930 confirmed that the bulk of Indemnity Funds would be used for the creation of an endowment to be devoted to educational purposes. It was proposed that the provision of this endowment would lie in the investment of the greater part of the Funds in rehabilitating and building railways and in other productive enterprises in China. For the control, apportionment and administration of the endowment, a Board of Trustees would be appointed in China, which would include a certain number of British members.

The Chinese Government further proposed that Funds on deposit be transferred to a 'Purchasing Commission in London to consist of a chairman, who shall be China's diplomatic representative in London, a representative of the Chinese Ministry of Railways, and four other members appointed by the Chinese Government after consultation with the Board of Trustees from a panel of persons commended to those Trustees by His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs as being persons of standing with wide experience in business matters, for the purpose of purchasing bridges, locomotives, rolling stock, rails and other materials from United Kingdom manufacturers for the use of the Chinese Government Railways and other productive undertakings in China'.

The Board of Trustees for the Administration of the Indemnity Funds Remitted by the British Government was inaugurated on 8th April 1931, and based in Nanking [Nanjing], China. The Chinese Government Purchasing Commission held its first meeting on 29th April 1931. The first members of the Purchasing Commission included the Chairman, Sao-Ke Alfred Sze (Envoy Extraordinary & Minister Plenipotentiary), Dr C C Wang (Ministry of Railways), Sir Arthur Balfour, Sir Basil Blackett (Treasurer), Mr W T Charter, Sir Ralph Wedgewood and Mr T S Wynn (Secretary). The premises were at 21 Tothill Street, London.

The primary function of the Chinese Government Purchasing Commission was to enter into, supervise and secure the carrying out of contracts for the supply and delivery in China of such plant, machinery and other materials to be manufactured in the UK as required and ordered by the Chinese Government. One half of all instalments of the Indemnity Funds were to be transferred to the Purchasing Commission to be used in discharging its obligations, and one half to the account of the Board of Trustees for application to mutually beneficial objects. Until 1940, the Purchasing Commission was also involved in the work of arranging facilities for the practical training of Chinese students and junior engineers with British firms.

The Chinese Government Purchasing Commission was directly responsible to the Board of Trustees in China, which determined its Constitution and approved the nomination of its members. The term of office for a member of the Purchasing Commission was three years, subject to reappointment. Four members were required to constitute a quorum. It purchased materials under instruction from the Board, which communicated orders from the various Chinese Ministries. Only those orders that were transmitted through the Board were deemed valid. The Purchasing Commission was required to report to the Board on receipts, expenditure and purchases, and submit an annual report with a statement of accounts and audited balance sheet. It was permitted to provide itself with offices, staff, expert consultants and accountants with the consent of the Board.

During its relatively brief history, the Purchasing Commission arranged purchases on behalf of the Ministry of Railways, Hangchow Kiangshan Railway, Tientsin Pukow Railway, Ministry of Communications, National Construction Commission, Ministry of Industries, National Resources Commission, Huai River Commission, Kwantung River Conservancy Commission and the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company. Contracts included the provision of locomotives, rolling stock and track for the Canton Hankow Railway, and the Nanking Pukow Train Ferry; coasting steamers for the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company (built on the Clyde and the Tyne); radio and telegraphy equipment for the Ministry of Communications; plant for the construction of power stations such as the Tsishuyen Power Station and Kunming Electricity Works for the National Construction Commission, and factories such as the National Central Machine Works for the Ministry of Industries.

The work of the Purchasing Commission suffered seriously from the effects of the Second World War. By 1938-1939 hostilities with the Japanese were causing shipping difficulties in Chinese ports. Raw and manufactured materials were subject to regulations for the control of exports, and the handling of export licences created extra work. Prices were unstable, with insurance premiums and freight rates considerably higher due to the need to cover against War Risk. There was a consequent decrease in purchases. From December 1938 the remittance of Indemnity Funds was suspended, and by 1941 the purchase of materials with these Funds had almost ceased. During the War and in the following years, the main efforts of the Purchasing Commission were given to services rendered through the China Purchasing Agency Ltd. In addition the Purchasing Commission attempted to complete deliveries pursuant to orders in place prior to 1949.

By 1949 the Chinese Communist Party had seized power from the Chinese Nationalist government. The Peoples' Republic of China was established at Peking [later Beijing] on 1st October, with Mao Zedong as Chairman of the Central Peoples' Government. The change in government undoubtedly had an effect on the position of the Board of Trustees, and by 1951 it seems that communication from the Board had ceased. The position of the Purchasing Commission became increasingly uncertain. The late Chinese Ambassador had relinquished his position as Chairman on the termination of his diplomatic mission, and the representative of the Chinese Ministry of Railways had retired on the grounds of ill-health, with no replacement. The remaining four British members continued to administer the affairs of the Purchasing Commission and safeguard the balance of funds, $300,000. However, the sudden death of Sir Arthur Rundell Guinness in March 1951 meant that only three members remained - less than was required for a quorum. Furthermore, the expiration of their terms of office was due to expire on 22nd September 1951. Various approaches were made to the Foreign Office and Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Peking requesting the appointment of an additional member, or a reduction in the size of quorum. No word was received from China, and the Purchasing Commission was officially wound up in September 1951.

The China Purchasing Agency Ltd was formed in 1939 to effect purchases with funds that did not come under the arrangements for the disposal of the British share of the China Indemnity. It shared staff and offices with the Chinese Government Purchasing Commission.

A proposal for the formation of a 'China Association' was first made at an inaugural dinner held for 'gentlemen with some connection to the Far East', at the Thatched House Club in London, on 4 March 1889. The China Association was formally constituted at a meeting held on 11 April 1889, and chaired initially by Sir Alfred Dent. The first Annual Dinner of the China Association was held in March 1890.

The China Association was a mercantile body, whose traditional role was to represent the interests of those concerned with trade to China, Hong Kong and Japan. Membership included representatives of the large China Houses such as Swire & Sons; Jardine, Matheson & Co; Paton & Baldwins; and Shell Petroleum, in addition to Members of Parliament and retired colonial and military officials returned from service in the Far East. The Association pursued a policy of collaboration with the Foreign Office. Personal representations for certain causes were made to the government, whilst adverse publicity and attempts to stir up public opinion were repudiated.

The General Committee (also known as the London Committee) served as the Board of Directors, dealing with policy matters. By the 1930s, the Committee employed two full-time secretaries who performed a variety of services including correspondence with the Foreign Office over commercial grievances in China; quarterly political summaries of Chinese domestic and international affairs for members; translations of the Chinese press; contact with the Chinese Embassy; and preparation for the Annual Dinner to which leading political figures were invited. The Presidency of the Association was initially an honorary post, with real leadership vested in the Chairman of the General Committee. The first Chairman was George Bowen, with Sir Alfred Dent as President (soon to be replaced by William Keswick). The Executive Committee, consisting of the nuclear leadership of the General Committee, was of administrative importance. Richard Simpson Gundry was named as the first Honorary Secretary. Elections for officers were held annually. The Association was funded through entrance fees, membership subscriptions and by donation, with funds managed by the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

Within the first year, the China Association enrolled 111 members. By 1895, this stood at over 400 and its General Committee was seen as the recognised representative of British commercial interests in China. Between 1892 and 1893, invitations were sent out to British residents in Hong Kong, China and Japan to form branch associations. The Shanghai Committee was constituted in December 1892, followed by Yokohama in the same year and Hong Kong in June 1893. In 1898, the China Association founded its Incorporated School of Practical Chinese. In 1917, this was merged with the School of Oriental Studies, where the Mandarin dialect was taught in the Far Eastern Department. The Japan Commercial Council of the China Association in London (Japan Association) was founded in 1948, and the Hong Kong Association in 1961/2.

By 1900, the strategy adopted vis-à-vis the Government had led to a division within the leadership of the Association. Against the background of growing fear of commercial competition from Russia, France and Japan, certain members of the General Committee and Shanghai Committee felt that the Association's influence with the Foreign Office was exaggerated, and that the Government was failing to effectively represent British mercantile interests in China. It was felt that public pressure was needed to push the Government into action, and Sir Edward Ackroyd suggested that the Association change its strategy and reorganise into a 'League'. This proposal was voted down, with the effect that the insurgents formed the China League, with R. A. Yerburgh as Chairman and G. Jamieson as Secretary. In 1903-4, the Shanghai Committee called for the amalgamation of China Association with the China League. A Special General Meeting was called, but again the proposal was voted down by a narrow margin.

The work of the China Association involved taking on the commercial grievances of British traders in China, and representing their interests to the British Government and the authorities in China. In this work, the Association often acted in conjunction with the London Chamber of Commerce, local Chambers and the Federation of British Industries. The history of the Association thus reflects the reaction of the British trading community to political events in China in the late 19th and 20th Centuries, and the pursuit of reform to allow for increased British trade opportunities in China's interior. Requests for intervention in the first decade of its existence included backing for transit passes in China's southern provinces; pressure for opening the West River for steam navigation and foreign trade; representation of concern over peace terms following the Sino-Japanese War, and their implications for British trade, and the threat of commercial competition arising from the lease of Port Arthur to Russia.

In the aftermath of World War Two, with the Communist advance across China and the Nationalist blockade of important cities such as Shanghai, the China Association worked to alert the British Government to the increasingly difficult circumstances under which British firms operated. Between 1950 and 1952, many British firms had left China, and the Association acted to ensure that official action was taken to protect British assets and concerns and to meet demands for compensation. In 1954, the Sino-British Trade Committee was formed, including representatives of the China Association, the Federation of British Industries, the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, the London Chamber of Commerce and the National Union of Manufacturers, to facilitate British-Chinese trade. There was a marked shift in Chinese government policy as a Chinese Charge D'Affairs was sent to Britain, and the China Association established contact with the new office. In 1957, the Association was involved in persuading the Government to bring the strict Chinese trade regulations into line with those applied to other Communist countries. In 1972, full diplomatic relations were restored between Britain and China.

The China Association continues its work today. More recent concerns include the handing of Hong Kong back to China in 1997. The Association assists in the maintenance and development of good relations between China and Britain, through continued sponsorship of the Sino-British Trade Council, and co-operation with other Chinese bodies in London including the Chinese Embassy, China Society and the Great Britain China Centre. The Association holds quarterly luncheons to which important representatives and speakers are invited.

The above history has been based largely on accounts of the China Association in the following works: N. A. Pelcovits, Old China Hands and the Foreign Office (New York, 1948); R. Birdman, Britain and the People's Republic of China 1949-1974 (London 1976).

The China Inland Mission (CIM) was officially set up in 1865 under the direction of the Rev James Hudson Taylor and William Thomas Berger. Refusing to appeal for funds but relying on unsolicited contributions, the goal of the China Inland Mission was the interdenominational evangelization of China's inland provinces. Missionaries were to have no guaranteed salary and were expected to become closely involved in the Chinese way of life. The first missionary party, including Taylor, left for China on the Lammermuir in May 1866. They reached Shanghai in September, and the first Mission base was established at Hangchow, Chekiang. Between 1866 and 1888, work was concentrated on the coastal provinces. In 1868 the headquarters moved to Yangchow, which was better situated for beginning work in the interior.

From its foundation, William Berger acted as Home Director while Taylor, as General Director, was in charge of the Mission's work in the field. Berger's retirement in 1872 led to administrative changes with the formation of the London Council to deal with home affairs. The role of the London Council was to process applications and send new recruits to China, promote the work of the Mission at home and receive financial contributions. The China Department was headed by the General Director, who was advised by the General Council composed of senior missionaries including the Superintendents of provincial districts.

The campaign to find volunteers was led by Taylor. He organised the departure of the popular 'Cambridge Seven' in 1886 and that of 'the Hundred' in 1888. In 1889, he was asked to address the Shanghai Missionary Conference, during which he made an appeal for 1,000 volunteers to join Chinese missions over the next five years. New recruits undertook a definite course of study and examination to become a missionary. Six months initial training covered Chinese language, geography, government, etiquette, religion and the communication of the Gospel. Trainees were then posted to an inland station where they were supervised by a senior missionary. After two years, successful candidates became junior missionaries, and after five years took responsibility for a station. Experienced missionaries were appointed over a number of districts within a province.

The China Inland Mission underwent considerable growth and development in the years leading up to 1934, which saw the peak of its activity. In 1866, there were 24 workers at 4 mission stations. By its Jubilee year in 1915, there were 1,063 workers at 227 stations and by 1934, 1,368 workers at 364 stations throughout China. The CIM also reached parts of Manchuria, Mongolia, Tibet and Upper Burma. In 1873 the headquarters of the Mission moved to Shanghai. In 1881 a school was established at Chefoo for the children of missionaries. From its inception, women played a crucial role in the CIM. From 1878, amidst much public criticism, Taylor permitted single women to work in the mission field. By 1882, the CIM listed 56 wives of missionaries and 95 single women engaged in the ministry. The success of the CIM also led to the establishment of Home Councils outside China. By 1950, there were Home Councils in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Eire, Australia (1890), New Zealand (1894), South Africa (1943), Canada and the United States (North American Council established 1888), and Switzerland (1950). Several smaller missionary societies from Scandinavia and Germany also became connected with the CIM as associate missions.

The CIM began its work just as China was becoming more open to foreigners, but missionaries still had to overcome considerable hostility. The CIM was particularly badly hit by the massacres of the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. The losses suffered during the Boxer Rebellion affected Taylor's health and he resigned officially in favour of D E Hoste in 1903. He died in 1905.

In the years following 1934, war and revolution led to a decline in the number of CIM missionaries in China. During the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), missionaries remained at their station where they could, caring for refugees and organising welfare camps. Many were sent to the internment camps in Shanghai and Yangchow. In 1942 the headquarters were evacuated from Shanghai to escape the Japanese army, and temporarily re-located to Chungking. Staff moved back to Shanghai in 1945. At that time the civil war between the Nationalist and Communist forces intensified. Following the Communist victory in 1949 there was mounting suspicion against foreign missionaries, who were labelled as "imperialist spies". In 1950 the General Director decided that further work in China was impossible and ordered all CIM missionaries to leave. In 1951 a temporary headquarters was established at Hong Kong to oversee the withdrawal. The last CIM missionaries left China in 1953.

The Mission directors met in Australia (Kalorama) to discuss the future of the CIM. Teams were appointed to survey the extent of the need of Chinese nationals outside China, particularly in South East Asia and Japan. At a conference held in Bournemouth, England, in November 1951, it was decided that the Mission should continue its work and missionaries were sent to new fields in Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan (and later to Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong). New headquarters were established in Singapore and the name was changed to the China Inland Mission Overseas Missionary Fellowship. At a meeting of the Mission' Overseas Council held in October 1964, the name became the Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF). This acknowledged the additional need for work amongst non-Chinese nationals in the new fields of work. The structure of the Mission was altered so that non-western Christians could become full members and set up home councils in their own countries. Home Councils were subsequently established in Japan (1965), Malaysia (1965), Singapore (1965), Hong Kong (1966), the Philippines (1966), Germany (1967) and the Netherlands (1967). The General Director remained the head of the Mission, with the Overseas Director responsible for missionary activities in Asia, and Home Directors responsible for OMF activities in their own countries. Work retained a strong emphasis on evangelism, with support for literature programmes, medical services, linguistic work, student work and outreach. The OMF continues its work today.

Further reading: A J Broomhall, Hudson Taylor and China's Open Century (7 volumes, London, 1981-1989); G Guinness, The Story of the China Inland Mission (London, 1893); L Lyall, A Passion for the Impossible (London, 1965).

The Chefoo School was established by the China Inland Mission - under James Hudson Taylor - at Chefoo (Yantai), northern China, in 1880. Its aim was to provide an education for the children of missionaries and the business and diplomatic communities. The school began as an adjunct to a sanatorium for sick missionaries, but soon grew larger than the hospital itself. In 1881, Mr W L Elliston began to teach the first three pupils (Fred, Ross and Edwin Judd). Between 1881 and 1886, the number of pupils grew to over 100, resident in three departments - the Boys', Girls' and Preparatory School. In 1886 the Boys and Girls schools were separated. By 1894 the children of China Inland Mission workers alone numbered over 200 children. In 1895 a Preparatory School for children aged 5-10 was opened in premises owned by the Mission at Tong-Hsin, three miles away. In 1896 a new Boy's School was built at Chefoo, and enlargements made to the Girls' School, which was opened in 1898. By early 1900, the Preparatory school had moved closer to the main school once more. From 1909-1915, another Preparatory school operated in Kuling, Central China.

The name of the school was originally the 'Protestant Collegiate School'. By 1908, 'China Inland Mission School' was generally used. By 1947, 'Chefoo School' had been adopted, referring to the style of education rather than the place.

Chefoo School was a Christian boarding school, run in accordance with the China Inland Mission's regime. Members of staff were required to be full members of the Mission. The curriculum came to be based on the British system, heavily weighted in favour of classical courses designed to prepare students for entrance to British universities including Oxford and Cambridge. There was also an emphasis on religious education. The Principal took prayers daily, and there were two Sunday services. There were four terms in the school year beginning in February, April, August and October. The school was also strong in sports such as football and rowing. A school magazine entitled The Chefusian began in 1928, and continued until 1942. Earlier attempts at a school magazine included Lux Tenebris in 1887, and The Magnet in the 1920s.

Head Masters at Chefoo included W L Elliston (1881-1886), H L Norris (1886-1889), Frank McCarthy (1895-1930), Pat Bruce (1930-1945), and Stanley Houghton (1947-1950). Under Pat Bruce, there were various innovations at Chefoo including the introduction of co-education in 1934; the construction of a new teaching and preparatory bloc in the same year; the creation of the Chefoo Orchestra in 1930; the teaching of Chinese Studies; and the beginning of a Girl Guides company. In 1936, Chefoo School adopted the Chinese dolphin as its crest (designed by Theodore Hirst).

In 1937 Japan invaded China. Although the Japanese entered Chefoo in that year, British and American citizens were considered as 'neutrals'. The School routine thus continued as normal. This was to change in December 1941, with the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbour. Bruce was soon taken into custody and the Japanese Army took control of the school property. In November 1942, staff and remaining students were interned at the Temple Hill Japanese Internment Camp. In summer 1943, they were moved to Weihsien Internment Camp, where they remained until the end of the War in 1945. During the War, parts of Chefoo School were temporarily opened at Kiating (1941-1944), Kalimpong, India (1944-1946) and Shanghai (1946-1947).

Following the War and the occupation of North China by Communist forces, the School never returned to Chefoo. It was temporarily located at the China Inland Mission Headquarters in Shanghai. In 1947, the Mission purchased the Kuling American School and students and staff gradually returned. By the first summer, there were 126 students. By May 1949, Communist forces had occupied Kuling. The School continued under their observation until 1951. In 1951 the China Inland Mission decided to withdraw completely from China. Between February and April 1951, staff and students of Chefoo School withdrew to Hong Kong where missionary parents awaited their children. Chefoo School in China ceased to exist.

Following its withdrawal, the School was relocated in South East Asia. Chefoo Schools were established in Malaysia (1952-), Japan (1951-1998), the Philippines (1956-1981), Taiwan (1954-1961) and Thailand (1952-1954). Chefoo School Malaysia still operates under the Overseas Missionary Fellowship.

The Chefoo Schools Association was founded in 1908 to operate as an association for all former scholars and past and present members of staff of the Chefoo Schools. The magazine entitled Chefoo (organ of the Chefoo Schools Association) was also produced for the first time in 1908, and still continues today. The Association now has North American, Australian and New Zealand branches. The President of the Association (in 1998) is James H Taylor III.

Further reading: G Martin, Chefoo School, 1881-1951 (Merlin Books Ltd, Devon, 1990).

James Hudson Taylor was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, on 21 May 1832. His family were enthusiastic Methodists, but Taylor became sceptical at an early age. However, at the age of 17 he was converted again to evangelical Christianity and decided to give his life to missionary work in China. Medical missionaries were urgently needed at that time and he underwent a form of medical apprenticeship in Hull and London under the guidance of the Chinese Evangelization Society, before leaving for south-east China as their representative in 1853, where he remained initially until 1860.

Taylor was based initially at Shanghai. On his move to Ningpo around 1857, he met Maria and Burella Dyer, daughters of the late Samuel Dyer (missionary with the London Missionary Society, 1827-1843). Both girls were teaching at the girl's school in Ningpo, conducted by Mary Ann Aldersey. Maria Jane Dyer (1837-1870) and Taylor were married in 1858, despite Aldersley's opposition. Maria became an invaluable assistant to Taylor. When young women recruits arrived with the Mission she was able to train them in the Chinese vernacular language, Chinese culture and missionary work. The couple had eight children - Grace Dyer (1859-1867); Hubert Hudson (b 1861); Frederick Howard (b 1862, who with his wife Geraldine became the first Mission historians); Samuel Dyer (1864-1870); Jane Dyer (born and died 1865); Maria (b 1867); Charles Edward (Tien pao, b 1868) and Noel (born and died 1870). Maria died shortly after giving birth to their last child in 1870. The four surviving children all became missionaries with the China Inland Mission.

In 1860, Taylor left the Chinese Evangelization Society and returned to England. He had an increasing concern for Chinese living in provinces untouched by missionary work. He expressed his growing vision in China's Spiritual Need and Claims, 1865. That same year, with limited financial resources, he founded the China Inland Mission, together with William Thomas Berger. The first party of missionaries left for China on the Lammermuir in 1866. Taylor became General Director of the Mission, based in the mission field. He also spent a great deal of time travelling to other countries to make China's needs known and to recruit new missionaries.

In 1871, he married Jenny Faulding (1843-1904), one of the original China Inland Mission party aboard the Lammermuir in 1866. She wholly supported Taylor in his work. In 1878, when he was obliged for administrative reasons to remain in England, she returned to China alone to lead other women in relief work in the severe Shanxi famine of 1877-1878. She was the first woman to travel deep into the interior, and her success strengthened Taylor's case for appointing women in pioneering roles. They had two surviving children, Ernest (b 1875) and Amy (b 1876). She continued to travel with her husband into their old age. She died of cancer in Switzerland, a year before Taylor's own death.

Taylor was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1864. He played a prominent part at the General Missionary Conferences in Shanghai in 1877 and 1890. He retired from administration of the China Inland Mission in 1901, officially resigning in favour of D E Hoste in 1903. He died in Changsha, Hunan, in 1905 and was buried in Chen-chiang, Kiangsu.

Further reading: H Taylor & M G Taylor, Hudson Taylor in Early Years (1912), and Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission: The growth of a Work of God (1919); M Broomhall, Hudson Taylor: The Man Who Believed in God (1929); J Pollock, Hudson Taylor and Maria (1962); A J Broomhall, Hudson Taylor and China's Open Century (7 volumes, 1981-1989).

Born, 1862; second son of the founder of the China Inland Mission, James Hudson Taylor; MD, London, 1888; member of the Royal College of Physicians, 1889; Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh; initiated the Student Foreign Missionary Union; toured the USA and Canada with his father, 1888; served the China Inland Mission in Henan from 1890; peripatetic medical missionary; married M Geraldine Guinness, 1894; travelled frequently with his father; died, 1946. Publications: Pastor Hsi: One of China's Christians (1905); Hudson Taylor in early years: the growth of a soul (1911); Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission: the Growth of a Work of God (1918); The Triumph of John and Betty Stam (1935); Biography of James Hudson Taylor (1965).

Born in Chefoo (Yantai), China, 1911; son of Benjamin Charles Broomhall and his wife Marion, of the Baptist Missionary Society, and grandson of the general secretary of the China Inland Mission, Benjamin Broomhall, who married Amelia, sister of its founder James Hudson Taylor; educated at the Chefoo School and at Monkton Combe, Bath, England; received his medical training at the London Hospital; joined the China Inland Mission (CIM) and sailed for China, 1938; married Theodora Janet Churchill, 1942; the couple began pioneering work among the Nosu tribe of south-west China, but were soon forced by the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) to flee to India; after the war they returned to the Nosu for four further years of medical and evangelical work; following several months of house arrest, they were expelled from China by the Communists with their four daughters, 1951; Broomhall's investigations as to whether the CIM could undertake medical work in Thailand led to three hospitals being founded there; also a pioneering missionary among the Mangyan people of the island of Mindoro in the Philippines for 11 years; re-visited Nosuland, 1988; historian of the China Inland Mission; died, 1994. Publications: Strong Tower (1947); Strong Man's Prey (1953); Fields for Reaping (1953); Time for Action (1965); Hudson Taylor and China's Open Century (7 volumes, 1981-1989).

Born, c1870; worked as a printer and bookbinder, living in Canterbury; served the China Inland Mission (CIM), leaving for China aged 21, 1891; arrived, 1892; studied the language at Anking, in Anhwei; sent to Ningpo in Chekiang province; married the daughter of a missionary, Minnie Meadows, 1897; stationed at Shaohsing, c1897-1911; moved to Hangchow, 1911; Principal of the Bible Training Institute, which prepared Chinese students for Christian service; subsequently CIM Superintendent of the Chekiang field; left Chekiang and served the CIM administration in various capacities from 1922; appointed CIM Assistant China Director, 1931; travelled from the CIM headquarters in Shanghai to distant provinces including Kansu, Kweichow and Yunnan; died, 1940.

The Rev Eric Liberty and his wife Edith served the China Inland Mission from the 1920s, in China, the Philippines and Taiwan, retiring to England in 1970 following a motorbike accident. Eric Liberty died in 1971 and his wife is thought to have died in 1978. Eric Liberty's publications: Sons of China won to Christ (1943); Chinese Students at the Cross-Roads (1948).

Born in Fleetwood, England, 1884; employed by the railways; converted to Wesleyan Methodism, 1903; became a Sunday school teacher and local preacher; applied to join the China Inland Mission, 1908; pioneering missionary to central Asia; sailed to Shanghai, China, 1910; moved upriver to Anking (Anqing) language school; proceeded to Ningkwo (Ningguo) in Anhwei (Anhui) province, 1911; influenced by Roland Allen's Missionary Methods: St Paul's or Ours? (1912) and volunteered to join George Hunter (1861-1946) among the Islamic peoples of Urumchi (Urumqi), Chinese Turkestan (later Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region) and arrived, 1914; with Hunter, itinerated in Outer Mongolia among Mongol tribes and Chinese traders and border settlers, 1914-1926; pursued intensive medical studies on furlough, 1927; subsequently concentrated on medical work and on translations, grammars, and dictionaries of Mongolian languages; to Kashgar, 1928; became involved in hostilities in China and was accused of political intrigue; died of typhus during the siege of Urumchi, 1933. Publication: letters published as The Making of a Pioneer: Percy Mather of Central Asia, ed Alice Mildred Cable and Francesca Law French (1935).

Born, 1889; served the China Inland Mission, 1910s-1940s; teacher at Chefoo Girls' School; unmarried; died after 1974.

The Council for World Mission is a co-operative of 31 Christian denominations world wide, and was established in its present form in 1977. It grew out of the London Missionary Society (founded 1795), the Commonwealth (Colonial) Missionary Society (1836) and the Presbyterian Board of Missions (1847).

During the period after 1945, the work of the London Missionary Society (LMS) evolved from traditional mission fieldwork to a more democratic and decentralised structure based on the development of local churches and local church leadership. This response was brought about not only in answer to so-called 'decolonisation' but also to social and political change and demographic shifts in the post-war years. In 1966 the LMS ceased to exist as a Society and merged with the Commonwealth Missionary Society to form the Congregational Council for World Mission (CCWM). The Presbyterian Church of England joined with the Congregational Church of England and Wales (a constituent body of CCWM) in 1972 to form the United Reformed Church. Its foreign missions work was incorporated into CCWM, leading to a name change in 1973 to the Council for World Mission (Congregational and Reformed). The CWM (Congregational and Reformed) was again restructured to create the Council for World Mission in 1977. This structure was more internationalist, reflecting greater ecumenism and church independence, and the end of Western dominance in the mission field. The CWM today is a global body, which aids resource sharing for missionary activity by the CWM community of churches.

The Colonial Missionary Society was founded in 1836 to work with British colonies, and to provide ministers for communities in Canada and America. In 1956 it changed its name to the Commonwealth Missionary Society, merging with the LMS in 1966.

The Council for World Mission is at present administered as an incorporated charity, under a Scheme of the Charity Commissioners (sealed on 14 June 1966, revised 29 March 1977 and further adapted in 2003), with the express aim 'to spread the knowledge of Christ throughout the world'. The Assembly includes members appointed by its constituent bodies, and meets once every two years. A Trustee Body is appointed by the Council, and holds at least one meeting per year. A General Secretary and other officers are also appointed by the Trustee Body.

The Congregational Missionary Society was formed in 1836 with the principal aim of working to provide communities in Canada and North America with ministers. The Society changed its name to the Colonial Missionary Society soon after its formation. Its work was restricted to the British colonies, and later its work would spread out from its base in North America. The Colonial Missionary Society was linked to the Congregational Church, which is reflected in its early name, and the administrative Board or Committee was a committee of the Congregational Church. These close links lessened over time, but a link was always maintained. The Society's object was 'the promotion of education and religion in the British colonies', and in 1834 the Congregational Union made representation to the London Missionary Society, who agreed to donate the sum of £1000 towards provision of ministers for the colonies. The first minister appointed was the Revd H Wilkes, who left for Montreal, Canada, in 1836. The Society grew rapidly, and by 1842 had established mission stations in Wellington, New Zealand, and Canada. By the end of the 19th century, work had expanded to include missions in South Africa, Australia and the British West Indies.

The Society was organised through a main Committee or Board, with a Treasurer and Honorary Secretary. Originally staff were unpaid, but gradually salaried officials were appointed to run the administration. The headquarters of the Colonial Missionary Society were originally at the Congregational Library, Bloomfield Street, Finsbury Circus, London, but moved to the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street. Sub-committees dealt with the day-to-day administration of the Society, with a North sub-committee and a South sub-committee having geographical responsibilities for regions north and south of the equator. By the 1890s, an Eastern and a Western sub-committee had been formed to deal with stations in areas such as Jamaica, Rhodesia and South Africa. The Colonial Missionary Society became an incorporated body on 16th October 1897. In 1956 it changed its name to the Commonwealth Missionary Society, and in 1966 it merged with the London Missionary Society to form the Congregational Council for World Mission.

The origins of the London Missionary Society (LMS) lie in the late 18th century revival of Protestant Evangelism. A meeting of Independent Church leaders, Anglican and Presbyterian clergy and laymen, held in London in November 1794, established the aims of the Missionary Society - 'to spread the knowledge of Christ among heathen and other unenlightened nations'. The Missionary Society was formally established in September 1795 with a plan and constitution. This governed the establishment of a Board of Directors and the conduct of business, outline the powers of the Directors and the conduct of business, established an annual meeting of Members to be held in May, and defined the role of trustees. The Missionary Society was renamed the London Missionary Society in 1818. Although broadly interdenominational in scope, the Society was very much Congregationalist in both outlook and membership.

Mission activity started in the South Seas, with the first overseas mission to Tahiti in 1796. Missionary work expanded into North America and South Africa. Early mission activities also centred in areas of eastern and southern Europe including Russia, Greece and Malta. There was also an LMS 'mission to Jews' in London. However, during the 19th century, the main fields of mission activity for the LMS were China, South East Asia, India, the Pacific, Madagascar, Central Africa, Southern Africa, Australia and the Caribbean (including British Guiana, now Guyana). The LMS was not always successful in gaining a hold in the overseas mission field. Western missionaries were refused entry to China until after 1843, and in Madagascar, early missionary success was countered by a period of repression and religious intolerance lasting from 1836 to 1861, and which included the deaths of many local converts.

In terms of organisational structure, the LMS was governed by a Board of Directors. The workings of the Board were reorganised in 1810 when separate committees were appointed to oversee particular aspects of mission work, including the important foreign committees. The administrative structure of the LMS relied upon the work of salaried officials such as the Home Secretary and the Foreign Secretary, together with the workings of the various committees, including the Examinations Committee, which appointed missionaries to the field. Directors themselves were unpaid. The constitution of the LMS was revised in May 1870, as a direct result of financial pressures and the expansion of overseas mission work; the work of the Investigation Committee (1866) in turn led to a new administrative policy and the emphasis on the development of the self-governing and self-financing indigenous church. In 1966 the LMS merged with the Commonwealth Missionary Society, to form the Congregational Council for World Mission (CCWM), which in turn was restructured to create the Council for World Mission in 1977.

Further information on the history of the London Missionary Society can be found in the official histories: Richard Lovett, The History of the London Missionary Society 1795-1895 (2 volumes, Oxford University Press, London, 1899); Norman Goodall, A history of the London Missionary Society, 1895-1945 (Oxford University Press, London, 1954); Gales of change: responding to a shifting missionary context: the story of the London Missionary Society, 1945-1977, ed Bernard Thorogood (WCC, Geneva, 1994).

Born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland, 1775; apprenticed to a linen manufacturer in Leven; clerk in Dundee, 1794-1797; converted in the Haldane revival; studied at Hoxton Theological College for three years and entered the Congregational ministry; assistant in Newbury, Berkshire; minister at the first Scottish Congregational chapel in Aberdeen, 1804; married Jane Ross (d 1847), 1809; the work of the London Missionary Society (LMS) in South Africa was threatened with closure by the British authorities and as an LMS director went on a deputation, with the Rev John Campbell, to investigate, 1818; arrived in Cape Town, 1819; prevented by a war from travelling beyond the colony; found the mission stations neglected and colonial opinion against the missionaries' benign relations with indigenous people; believed the population to be oppressed by the settlers; appointed to remain in South Africa as LMS superintendent, 1820; his wife, Jane, was the de facto LMS administrative secretary there; Doctor of Divinity, Princetown College, New Jersey, USA, 1820; travelled extensively to inspect mission stations within and beyond the colony and to collect evidence supporting his theories, 1820-1826; pastor of the new Union chapel in Cape Town, 1822; campaigned for civil rights for the 'Cape Coloured' people, who formed a number of LMS congregations, 1823; visited Britain to lobby for their civil rights, 1826; the campaign achieved success and, following Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton's motion in the House of Commons, the Cape government was ordered to implement Philip's recommendations, 1828; Philip hoped that the Christian `mini-state' the Griqua people, aided by the LMS, had formed beyond the Cape Colony frontier would become a model for other indigenous peoples; while in Europe, solicited the Paris Evangelical Mission Society and the Rhenish Missionary Society to begin work in South Africa; corresponded with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to persuade them to come; advocated the idea that only Africans could convert Africa ('native agency'); returned to Africa to increased unpopularity from the white population, 1829; a libel suit by William Mackay, one of the officials accused by Philip in his Researches in South Africa, resulted in a unanimous verdict for Mackay, 1830; visited stations within and beyond the colony, 1832-1833; accompanied Coloured and Xhosa Christians to London to give evidence before a parliamentary committee and rouse public opinion against the Cape government, 1836; the committee's report supported his views, but his insistence that much of the responsibility for the war lay with the British authorities and white colonists brought hostility from much of the white population in the Cape, 1837; returned to South Africa, 1837-1838; travelled extensively to promote his scheme for establishment of independent states north and east of the colony, 1839, 1842; following a war (1846) Philip withdrew from public affairs, 1849; retired to Hankey; died, 1851; admired by the Coloured, Griqua, Sotho and Xhosa peoples, he was buried in the Coloured graveyard of a Coloured township. Publication: Researches in South Africa, illustrating the civil, moral and religious condition of the Native Tribes (2 volumes, 1828).

David Livingstone: born in Blantyre, Lanarkshire, Scotland, 1813; his surname was originally spelt Livingston; aged ten, began work in a local cotton mill, but attended its school in the evenings; achieved university entrance qualifications and attended the Andersonian Medical School, Glasgow, supporting himself by working in the mill for part of the year; studied at the Theological Academy, Glasgow; accepted for service by the London Missionary Society (LMS); went to London for theological training and continued his medical studies there, 1838; returned to Glasgow to take his final medical exams; licentiate of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow University, 1840; appointed LMS missionary to Bechuanaland; ordained at Albion Chapel, London, and sailed for South Africa, 1840; arrived in Cape Town and travelled to Kuruman, Bechuanaland, 1841; served for a time under the LMS missionary Robert Moffat among the Tswana and became fluent in their language; married Moffat's daughter Mary, 1844; made various journeys in southern Africa and became determined to evangelise to the peoples living beyond white-dominated southern Africa, 1840s; his party was the first group of Europeans to see Lake Ngami, 1849; sent his family back to Scotland, 1852; travelled north to Zambia, walking with Kololo companions west to Luanda on the coast of Angola and subsequently walking across Africa to Mozambique, 1852-1856; LLD, University of Glasgow, 1854; awarded the Queen's Gold Medal by the Royal Geographical Society, 1855; saw the Victoria Falls, 1855; hailed a hero on his return to Britain, 1856; DCL, University of Oxford, 1856; retired from the LMS, 1857; elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, 1858; undertook a government-backed expedition to the lands of the Zambezi River and Lake Malawi, 1858-1864; the Royal Geographical Society sent him back to Africa to explore the headwaters of the Nile, Congo, and Zambezi Rivers with his Kololo companions, 1866; his whereabouts were often unknown for months at a time in Europe; he became increasingly concerned by the devastation the slave trade was spreading in the region; he was located by H M Stanley of the New York Herald at Ujiji and greeted with the famous words 'Dr Livingstone, I presume?', 1871; died at Chitambo's village, Zambia, 1873; his heart was buried there by his African companions, who carried his mummified body to Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), from where it was returned to Westminster Abbey for burial, 1874. Publications: Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa (1857); Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries (1865).

Mary Livingstone: born in Griquatown, South Africa, 1821; eldest child of the LMS missionary Robert Moffat and his wife Mary (née Smith); spent five years at Salem School in the eastern Cape Colony; teacher training at Cape Town; lived in Britain with her parents, but found life there uncongenial, 1839-1843; taught at the school at Kuruman in Griqualand, 1843-1845; married David Livingstone, 1844; worked with him in his missionary work; with their children, accompanied him on his two journeys to the north, 1850-1851; following her parents' insistence that she should not accompany him on his exploration of the Zambezi Valley, she spent four unhappy years in Britain; following her husband's return (1856) she spent two more years in Britain; insisted on joining him on the next Zambezi expedition and returned to Africa, 1861; died at Shupanga on the Zambezi River, 1862.

Born at Kidderminster, England, 1815; studied at Homerton College; appointed London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary to Africa; ordained at Leamington, 1838; married Anne Garden; sailed to South Africa, 1839; arrived at Cape Town; proceeded to Griqua Town; moved to Lekatlong and took charge of that station, 1840; moved to Borigelong, between Lekatlong and Taung, connected with the Kuruman mission, 1842; returned to work in Lekatlong, 1843; returned to England, his health having failed, 1856; appointed to open a mission among the Makololo, north of the Zambesi, 1858; arrived at Cape Town with his wife and four children and proceeded to Lekatlong; left Kuruman, 1859; arranged to travel with Roger Price and family to meet David Livingstone at Linyanti; after a difficult journey, arrived at Linyanti, where he, his wife and two children died of fever, 1860; the mission to the Makololo was abandoned.

Born to a devout Church of Scotland family in Knockando, Scotland, 1835; studied at Bedford; volunteered for service with the London Missionary Society (LMS), 1855; appointed to the Makololo mission, South Africa; ordained in Edinburgh, 1858; married Ellen Douglas (1835-1925); sailed to Cape Town and travelled on to Kuruman, 1858; set out with his wife for Makolololand, 1860; travelling northwards to the Zouga River, he met Roger Price (1834-1900) and heard of the disasters which had befallen Holloway Helmore's party of missionaries; travelled with Price to Lechulatebe's Town and returned to Kuruman with Helmore's two surviving children, 1860-1861; missionary to Shoshong, the town of the Bamangwato tribe, 1862; a second scheme for a mission to the Makololo also proved abortive; visited Matabeleland, 1863; returned to Shoshong, 1864; built a church at Shoshong, 1867-1868; visited Kuruman, 1868; visited England, 1869-1871; visited Matabeleland, 1873; appointed tutor at the Moffat Institution and began classes, 1873; moved to Kuruman when the Institution transferred there, 1876; also pastor of the native church and congregation at Kuruman; visited England, 1882-1884; resigned from the LMS, 1884; appointed and resigned a government appointment as Resident Commissioner in Bechuanaland, 1884; advocated direct imperial rule to prevent settler takeover of native territories; appointed LMS missionary pastor at Hankey, South Africa, 1891; died at Kimberley, 1899. For further information see his son W Douglas Mackenzie's John Mackenzie: South African Missionary and Statesman (1902) and John Mackenzie (London Missionary Society, 1921). Publications include: Ten Years North of the Orange River (1871); Day-Dawn in Dark Places (1883); Austral Africa: Losing it, or Ruling it (1887).

Born in Ormiston, East Lothian, Scotland, 1795; moved to England, 1813; under-gardener at High Leigh, near Liverpool; came under Methodist influence; moved to the employment of James Smith, a Scottish nonconformist, near Manchester, 1815; appointed London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary, ordained at Surrey Chapel, and sailed to South Africa, 1816; arrived at Cape Town, 1817; travelled in southern Africa, 1818; gained fame for his conversion of a bandit, Jager Afrikaner, on the northern frontier; visited Cape Town and married Mary Smith (1795-1871), sister of the missionary John Smith, 1819; they worked together among the Tswana; Moffat accompanied the deputation of the Rev John Campbell on his visit to the interior, 1820-1821; travelled in southern Africa, 1823-1825; settled at Kuruman (which was to become an important mission station), 1826; visited Mzilikazi (Moselekatse), chief of the Ndebele (Matabele), 1829; visited Cape Town to publish his version of St Luke's Gospel and elementary books in the Tswana (Sechuana/Bechuana) language, 1830; returned to Kuruman, 1831; proposed a mission among the Ndebele, 1835; visited towns on the Yellow and Kolong Rivers, 1836; attempts to print his Tswana version of the New Testament in Cape Town proved abortive and he sailed to England to publish it, 1839; a pioneering linguist, his Tswana translations - which also included Pilgrim's Progress and hymns - were important in the growth of Christianity in southern Africa; met David Livingstone in London, 1840; returned to Kuruman, 1843; made a long tour to the interior, 1854; completed the Tswana version of the Bible, published at Kuruman, 1857; visited the Ndebele to arrange a mission, 1857; returned to Kuruman, 1858; travelled to Cape Town to meet new missionaries appointed to the interior and returned with them to Kuruman, 1858; accompanied the missionaries to Inyati in Matabeleland, 1859; the trip resulted in the establishment of an LMS mission near Bulawayo; returned to Kuruman, 1860; undertook no further long treks; with his wife, returned to England for health reasons, 1870; Doctor of Divinity, University of Edinburgh, 1872; received a testimonial, 1873; attended Livingstone's funeral, 1874; remained active in promoting foreign missions; retired from public speaking, 1878; died at Leigh, Kent, 1883; buried in Norwood cemetery. Publications include: Missionary Labours and Scenes in Southern Africa (1840 and subsequent editions).

The Moffats' children included Mary (1821-1862), who married the missionary David Livingstone (1813-1873) in 1844, and John Smith Moffat (1835-1918), also an LMS missionary in southern Africa, who published The Lives of Robert and Mary Moffat (1885).

Born in Rotterdam (Netherlands), 1747; served as an army officer; studied medicine at Leyden and Edinburgh; received his degree, MD, University of Edinburgh, 1782; practised as a physician in Zealand, 1782-1795; his conversion followed the drowning of his wife and only child in a boating accident, 1791; came into contact with the Moravian Brethren at Zeist and heard of the newly-founded London Missionary Society (LMS); appointed LMS missionary to South Africa and ordained in London, 1797; helped to found the Netherlands Missionary Society; embarked for South Africa, 1798; arrived in Cape Town, 1799; ministered among the Xhosa for two years; to Graaff Reinet, 1801; ministered to the Khoikhoi (Hottentots); moved with the first Khoikhoi congregation to Botha's Farm, near Algoa Bay, 1802; founded a mission station at Bethelsdorp, 1803; his marriage to a young Malagasy convert who he had redeemed from slavery, Sara Janse, was considered shocking, 1807; composed a hymn celebrating the abolition of the slave trade, 1807; also wrote a commentary on Romans xiii-xvi and a midwifery textbook for use at Bethelsdorp; an opponent of slavery and advocate of the rights of the indigenous population, Van Der Kemp was unpopular with the majority of Europeans in the Cape Colony; planned to found a mission in Madagascar but died at Cape Town while carrying out the arrangements, 1811; a pioneer of LMS work in South Africa, he was to have become superintendent of its missions there. Publications: Principles of the Word of God for the Hottentot Mission (1804); Memoirs of the Rev J T Vanderkemp MD (1813).

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, 1766; attended the Royal High School; apprenticed to a goldsmith; helped to found the Religious Tract Society of Scotland, 1793; founded the Missionary Magazine in Edinburgh, 1796; promoted Sunday schools and preached widely; among the founders of societies for 'fallen women' in Edinburgh and Glasgow; interested in the condition of slaves; following the Haldane revival, became a Congregational minister; founded an independent chapel, 'Kingsland', and a school in London; minister at Kingsland from 1802; helped to found the Bible Society; director of the London Missionary Society (LMS); appointed to the first deputation to inspect LMS settlements, in southern Africa; sailed to Cape Town, 1812; the first person to visit the missions inside and outside the colony, travelling extensively and visiting Bethelsdorp, Graaff Reinet, Griqua Town and Lattakoo, and communicating with tribes in other localities, 1812-1814; helped John Anderson to establish a permanent Christian presence among the Griqua people; returned to England with his report and maps of the colony and its hinterland, 1814; with the Rev John Philip, sailed to South Africa on a deputation to regulate the LMS mission, 1818; arrived at Cape Town, 1819; the deputation visited Paarl, Tulbagh, Caldon Institution (Zuurbraak), Pacaltsdorp, Bethelsdorp, and Theopolis, but a war prevented them from travelling further; returned to Cape Town; made long journeys across the colonial frontier, travelling to Griqua Town, New Lattakoo (Kuruman), Old Lattakoo, Meribohwhey, Mashow, Kurreechane, and towns west of Kuruman, 1820; returned to England and resumed his pastorship of Kingsland, 1821; a prolific writer on African missions and a pioneer author of children's books; for many years editor of the religious publication The Youth's Magazine; died, 1840. For further information see Robert Philip, The Life, Times, and Missionary Enterprises of the Rev John Campbell (1841). Publications include: Travels in South Africa (1815); Travels in South Africa: Second Journey (1822).

Born at Redruth, Cornwall, England, 1857; studied at Spring Hill Theological College, Birmingham; appointed by the London Missionary Society (LMS) to central Africa and ordained as a Congregational minister, 1882; returned home with malaria, 1883; resumed study at Spring Hill; minister in Perth, Scotland, 1885-1887; married Charlotte Elizabeth Pountney (d 1940), 1885; engaged in deputation work for the LMS, 1887-1889; minister in Brighton, 1889-1892; appointed LMS missionary to the Bechuanaland Protectorate (now Botswana), 1892; went to Palapye to work among the Bamangwato of the Christian chief Khama (Kgama) III, 1893; accompanied Khama and other chiefs, Bathoen and Sebele, to England to help them oppose Cecil Rhodes's demands for administrative rights over the Protectorate, 1895; a member of the South African Native Races Committee, London, 1900-1908; removed with the Bamangwato tribe to Serowe, 1903; appointed first principal of the proposed LMS Central School for Bechuanaland, 1903; established the school, named the Tiger Kloof Native Institution, on a farm near Vryburg in the Cape Colony; local correspondent of the Royal Anthropological Society from 1905; gave evidence before the Select Committee of the House of Assembly of the Cape of Good Hope, 1908; resigned as principal of Tiger Kloof owing to ill-health, 1915; responsible for Molepolole mission, 1914-1917; visited Australia and New Zealand on an LMS deputation, 1917; returned to England via America, 1918; Professor of African Missions, Kennedy School of Missions of Hartford Seminary, Conneticut, USA, 1919-1931; elected Vice-President of the Fourth International Congregational Council, 1920; awarded honorary doctorate of sacred theology, Hartford Seminary, on his retirement, 1931; settled in England; Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; died in Birmingham, 1938. Publications include: Native Life on the Transvaal Border (1900); Tiger Kloof (1912); Race Problems in the New Africa (1923); The Soul of the Bantu: a Sympathetic Study of the Magico-Religious Practices and Beliefs of the Bantu Tribes of Africa (1928); Nature Worship and Taboo (1932).

Born at Beeston, near Nottingham, England, 1869; member of a Congregational chapel in Sheffield; appointed as a London Missionary Society (LMS) artisan assistant missionary in the Central Africa Mission; left England and arrived at Fwambo, 1892; settled at Kambole, 1894; returned to England on medical advice and resigned his connection with the LMS, 1896; died at Bournemouth, 1943.

Born in New Cross, London, 1904; member of a Congregationalist chapel in Purley, Surrey; trained at Carey Hall, Birmingham; appointed London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary, dedicated at Purley, and sailed to north China, 1930; visited England, 1935; resigned for health reasons, 1936; worked in the Overseas Department of the LMS at Livingstone House, 1959-1963; died, 1964.

Born in Liverpool, England, 1811; trained at the Meath Hospital, Dublin, and Guy's Hospital, London; member of the Royal College of Surgeons, 1834; appointed London Missionary Society (LMS) medical missionary to Canton and, as such, was the first British medical missionary; sailed to Batavia (Jakarta) and proceeded to Canton, 1838; travelled to Macau, where he opened a hospital, but government hostility compelled him to leave, 1839; returned to Macau, 1840; in accordance with an arrangement between the American and London missionaries, left Macau for Tinghae, where he started work, 1840; returned to Macau and married Catherine Parkes (d 1918), 1841; went via Hong Kong to Chusan (Chou-san, Zhoushan), 1842; proceeded to Shanghai and opened the first Shanghai hospital, 1843; elected Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, 1857; travelled to England, 1857-1858; left England for China, intending to open the first missionary hospital at Peking (Beijing), 1861; visited Hankow and Japan and returned to England, 1864; director of the LMS; retired from LMS foreign service, 1867; elected Chairman of the LMS Board of Directors, 1869-1870; President of the newly-formed Medical Missionary Association, London, 1878; presented his books on China to the LMS, 1892; advocated a strict separation between the roles of preacher and physician; died at Blackheath, 1896. Publications: The Medical Missionary in China (1861); translations from Chinese medical works; contributions to the Royal Asiatic Society Record.