Guide to the Records of the Methodist Missionary Society (as filmed by the AJCP), 1798-1903

Summary

Collection number:

M118-M172C, M536-M549, M988-M991

Creator:

Methodist Missionary Society

Extent:

386 items

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the School of Oriental and African Studies/ 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: Minute book of the Executive Missionary Committee and copies of letters on missionary business), Sep 1814 - Feb 1819, Records of Methodist Missionary Society, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (AJCP ref: https://nla.gov.au/(nla-obj-756119315)

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference.

Background

Content Summary:

The records of the Methodist Missionary Society contains administrative papers and papers of those who served the society. The administrative papers include committee minutes; minutes and reports of district committees; correspondence between missionaries and the general secretaries; publications; records regarding assets including ships, land and property; and papers regarding missionary candidates.

The personal papers include the diaries and other papers of James Calvert regarding Fiji; John Hunt's papers; Richard Lyth; Henry Hanson Turton; extracts from the journal of Nathaniel Turner; Joseph Rennard Orton journals and notebooks; letters of John Bumpy; and John Thomas's journals and manuscripts.

Biographical / Historical:

Wesleyan missions overseas began in 1786 when Thomas Coke landed at Antigua in the West Indies. Soon missions were established in every British colony in the West Indies. Under Coke's leadership, missions were also sent to Sierra Leone (1811) and Ceylon (1813). The Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society originated with the district auxiliaries that were formed from 1813 onwards to support the work of the overseas missions. The Methodist Conference formally approved the establishment of the Society in 1818. It was managed by an Executive Committee (later the General Committee), chaired by the President of the Conference, which met every month and which reported to the annual Methodist Conference.

Wesleyan Methodist missions were set up in the West Indies, Canada, West Africa, South Africa, India, China, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Samuel Leigh arrived in Sydney in 1818 to form a mission for the convicts in New South Wales. Missions were subsequently established in Van Diemen's Land (1821), New Zealand (1822), Port Phillip (1840), South Australia (1840), Western Australia (1840) and Moreton Bay (1850). In the Pacific, missions were established in the Friendly Islands (Tonga) in 1822 and Fiji in 1835. The Pacific missions achieved considerable success. Strongly supported by George Tupou, the first king of Tonga, Wesleyan Methodism became the official religion of the Friendly Islands, while in Fiji Wesleyans made up about half the population by the early twentieth century. The first mission in Samoa was short-lived (1835-39), but missionaries returned in 1857 and achieved a permanent presence in the Samoan islands.

In 1852 the British Methodist Conference resolved that Robert Young should be sent to Australia and New Zealand to work out a plan for autonomy for the Wesleyan churches. Following the receipt of his report, the Methodist Conference at Birmingham in August 1854 approved the formation of the Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Connexion. Its first conference took place in Sydney in January 1855 and William Boyce, who had been in charge of the New South Wales District since 1845, was elected the first President. The Wesleyan missions in the Pacific were taken over by the Australasian Conference. A separate New Zealand Conference was established in 1910, while the missions in Tonga, Fiji and Samoa became autonomous in 1964.

In 1932 the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the United Methodist Church and the Primitive Methodist Church united to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain. The missionary societies of the three Churches merged to form the Methodist Missionary Society. The Society was dissolved in 2013.

Related

Existence and Location of Copies:

The original AJCP microfilm of the records filmed from this collection is available at the National Library of Australia [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2190903] as well as other institutions holding AJCP microfilm.

Existence and Location of Originals:

School of Oriental and African Studies, Russell Square, London, England. For further information see:Records of the Methodist Missionary Society (https://www.soas.ac.uk/library/archives/collections/missionary-collections).

From 1978 onwards the archives of the Methodist Missionary Society, also its library, were deposited on idefinite loan at the library of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London by the Methodist Church in Britain.

An overview of the entire archives can be found in a guide edited by Elizabeth Bennett, Methodist Missionary Society Archives, London, Zug, IDC, 1987 (42pp.).

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 School of Oriental and African Studies.

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the School of Oriental and African Studies/ 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: Minute book of the Executive Missionary Committee and copies of letters on missionary business), Sep 1814 - Feb 1819, Records of Methodist Missionary Society, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (AJCP ref: https://nla.gov.au/(nla-obj-756119315)

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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