Guide to the Records of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (as filmed by the AJCP), 1701-1970

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Summary

Collection number:

M1201 - M1335, M1401 - M1516

Creator:

United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel

Extent:

1032 items

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference.

Background

Content Summary:

The records comprise minutes of the Standing Committee 1778-1819, 1900-1935 and the Foreign Committee 1846-1880, anniversary sermons, annual reports and journals of monthly meetings of the Society 1901-1935, missionary reports 1852-1938, letters received from Australia, New Zealand, Melanesia and Southeast Asia 1821-1936, copies of letters of the Secretary, Assistant Secretary and Overseas Secretary 1842-1935, missionary rolls 1846-1910, candidates' papers 1821-1857, testimonials, ledgers 1891-1936 and photograph albums, including photographs of Malaya, Singapore, Borneo and Melanesia.

Most of the letters were written to or by the Secretaries Ernest Hawkins, W.T. Bullock, H.W. Tucker and H.H. Montgomery. Other correspondents include Bishops W.G. Broughton, C. Perry, Frederick Barker, G.A. Selwyn, J.C. Patteson, W.G. Cowie, William Williams, J.R. Selwyn, Daniel Sandford, C.J. Abraham, F.T. McDougall, Reverend J.B. Wittenoom, Reverend J.R. Wollaston, Reverend W.B. Clark, Reverend W.J. Woodcock, Reverend W.H. Coombs, Reverend E. Coleridge and Sir James Brooke.

The records include printed annual reports 1719-1872, minutes of the Standing Committee 1833-1901, journals of the monthly meetings of the Society 1783-1901, missionary returns, comprising annual reports of missionaries in Australia 1845-1900. Australian papers 1789-1859, and letters received from Australia 1857-1900.

Correspondents include Reverend. Richard Johnson, Archdeacon T.H. Scott and Bishops W.G. Broughton, C. Perry, F.R. Nixon, Augustus Short, F. Barker, William Tyrell, Mesac Thomas, C.H. Bromby, E.W. Tufnell and Matthew Hale.

Biographical / Historical:

The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) was founded in 1701, largely on the initiative of Reverend Thomas Bray. He had visited the American colonies and believed that they were 'in very much Want of Instruction in the Christian Religion'. He was supported by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London and a charter was granted to the Society by King William III. It specified that the Archbishop of Canterbury would be its president. Between 1701 and 1783 the SPG sent 309 missionaries to America and supplied them with a great number of books, pamphlets and furnishings for their churches.

Following the loss of the American colonies, the Society went through a lean period of about thirty years. It was supported by a small number of bishops and priests and by a few hundred members. Its income was low and it faced competition from more evangelical bodies, such as the London Missionary Society (founded 1795) and the Church Missionary Society (founded 1799). Its missionary work was largely confined to Canada and the West Indies. Its revival began in the 1820s, under the leadership of Archdeacon Anthony Hamilton. The membership grew rapidly, and income from subscriptions and donations rose from £620 in 1818 to £16,082 in 1838. The SPG began issuing pamphlets and other publications, such as Quarterly Papers, it set up a board of examiners to approve the appointment of missionaries, and it administered parliamentary grants to churches in the colonies. Above all, it sent out missionaries to new colonies: India (1814), South Africa (1820), Australia (1834), New Zealand (1840), Borneo (1847), Hong Kong (1849), Sierra Leone (1851), Mauritius (1855) and Straits Settlements (1861). By 1901 it had 753 clergy serving in 101 dioceses in countries overseas.

In 1834 the SPG made its first grant to Archdeacon William Broughton in Sydney and in the next few years it began sending missionaries to the Australian colonies. It made endowments for new bishoprics, such as Adelaide, Melbourne, Newcastle and Tasmania, and provided annual grants to bishops to support clergy and to open up the remoter areas of their vast dioceses. Tasmania gave up its grants in 1859, Adelaide did the same in 1865, and by 1882 most of the other dioceses had followed suit. The exceptions were the remote, thinly populated dioceses: Riverina, North Queensland, Capricornia, North West Australia, Perth, Bunbury, Kalgoorlie and New Guinea. Their grants gradually came to an end in the twentieth century, with the diocese of Bunbury receiving the final grant in 1939.

The first SPG missionary arrived in New Zealand in 1840. In 1841 the Society agreed to give the new Bishop of New Zealand, George Selwyn, an annual grant for endowment, rather than paying the stipends of individual clergy. These grants, which totalled £7000 in the first ten years, were used to bring clergy and teachers to New Zealand also to purchase land as a permanent endowment of growing value. The Church Missionary Society was already well-established in New Zealand, but SPG stations soon spread from Auckland and Wellington to Nelson and New Plymouth. Five new dioceses were created between 1856 and 1869 and they all received continuous aid from the Society until 1880.

In the Pacific the SPG supported the early efforts of Bishop Selwyn to bring Christianity to the islands of Melanesia. In 1854 it raised £10,000 for the endowment of a bishopric and its annual grants to the diocese of Melanesia continued from 1861 until 1880. A missionary was sent to Pitcairn Island in 1850 and the SPG continued to support the Pitcairn Islanders after they were transferred to Norfolk Island in 1856. Although Hawaii was never a British colony, the Society in 1861 voted stipends for three missionaries to work in the new diocese of Hawaii. Financial assistance continued until 1900 when, following the annexation of Hawaii by the United States, the diocese was transferred to the Episcopalian Church. The first SPG missionary in Fiji arrived in 1870, but little was done until the creation of the diocese of Polynesia in 1908. By 1930 the Society was supporting the bishop and about six clergy in Fiji, and two years later it sent its first missionary to Samoa.

The establishment of the Borneo Mission in 1847, in response to an appeal by Sir James Brooke, was the responsibility of a committee headed by Reverend C.D. Brereton in which the SPG played a small part. The Society took over the responsibility in 1853. By 1864 there were eleven clergy in the diocese of Labuan and Sarawak, headed by Bishop Francis McDougall. In 1869 the diocese was extended to include the Straits Settlements and missionaries were appointed to serve the Chinese and Tamil communities, as well as British residents, in Singapore and the Malay Peninsula. In 1908 the diocese was divided into the diocese of Labuan and Sarawak and the diocese of Singapore. In both dioceses the SPG set up schools and medical missions, mainly staffed by women missionaries. Its support for the Church in Fiji, Borneo, Singapore and Malaya continued until the 1960s.

In 1965 the SPG merged with the Universities' Mission to Central Africa to form the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Its current name is United Society Partners in the Gospel.

Reference: H.P. Thompson. Into all lands: the history of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts 1701-1950, London, 1951.

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:: Available for Access.
Conditions Governing Use:: Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.