REGIONS BEYOND MISSIONARY UNION ARCHIVE
Papers of the RBMU concerning the Congo, India, Nepal and Peru from the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World, New College, University of Edinburgh

Part 1: Minute Books of the RBMU, 1903-1955

"The Regions Beyond Missionary Union, founded by the great nineteenth century millenarian, Henry Grattan-Guinness, D. D., is all but forgotten. The Guinness evangelical empire spanned the twentieth century and the world - Africa, Latin America, Asia. Moreover the mission survived through the turbulent era of decolonisation in the Belgian Congo, India and Asia, opening a whole new range of sources for those concerned with issues of colonialism and post-coloniality."
Professor David Dorward, Director, African Research Institute, La Trobe University, Australia

The Regions Beyond Missionary Union (RBMU) had its origins in the East End of London. Henry Grattan Guinness (1835-1910), whose uncle, Arthur Guinness, was the founder of the famous brewing empire, established the East London Training Institute for Home and Foreign Missions in Stepney Green in 1873. The Institute moved to larger premises in Harley House in Bow later in that year. From the outset, the Institute was interdenominational and international, and sought to train missionaries for service with missions around the world. Its first student, Joshua Chowriappah, was from India, and by 1903 some 887 men and 281 women had been trained. Of these 215 left to work in Africa, 182 in Asia, 170 in the Americas and 26 in Australasia.

The name Regions Beyond Missionary Union was adopted in 1899 in recognition of the growing global outreach of the Institute. It was committed to working among the poor regions peripheral to and beyond the British Empire and had established its own missions in the Congo (1878), Peru (1897), and in Bihar and Orissa, India (1899). Later missions were established in Kalimantan (Borneo) (1948), Nepal (1954), and Irian Jaya (1957).

The archive includes the minute books of the Board of Directors, c.17,000 letters from missionaries in different regions, books, pamphlets, journals and photographs. These records contain information about the socio-economic development, as well as the growth of Christianity in these areas. They are a valuable source for world history and will serve scholars in a variety of disciplines.

Part 1 contains the complete run of Directors Minute Books from 1900 to 1955. These refer to all aspects of the administration and policy of the mission, including the training college; missionaries and mission fields; theological principles; membership of the board and councils; publications; fund-raising and finance; auxiliaries and branches; and relationships with other missions and bodies in the UK and in the mission fields.

We also feature Early Documents, 1880-1950, Minutes of the Harley Institute, 1896-1910, c.1936-1946, and Minutes of Annual General Meetings, 1903-1943. Printed material includes Annual Reports (the third, fourth and sixth are written as The Story of our Third/Fourth/Sixth Year by Mrs H Grattan Guinness); Not unto us - a record of 21 year's missionary service and Lucy Guinness Kumm: Her Life Story, both by the Rev H Grattan Guinness; The Life Story of Henry Grattan Guinness by C W Mackintosh (1916); In the Far East: Letters from Geraldine Guinness from the Mediterranean to the Po-ying lake, China (1889); The Cloud Moves by Kenneth Holmes (n.d., a short account of the RBMU) and For Such a Time by Elizabeth Pritchard (1973) describing the 100 year history of the RBMU. These show the important contributions made by both men and women in the foundation and expansion of the RBMU.

This archive was deposited at the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World in 1991 following the winding up of the RBMU. The papers were fully sorted and catalogued in 2001. This microfilm edition offers scholars around the world the first opportunity to explore this archive in detail. The records relating to the Congo, Peru, Argentina, India, Kalimintan, Irian Jaya and Nepal will be vital to scholars studying these regions, but the archive also tells us much about the relationship of missionary enterprise and empire.