REGIONS BEYOND MISSIONARY UNION ARCHIVE

Part 1: Minute Books of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union, 1903-1955

Part 2: Correspondence and Reports of Regions Beyond Missionary Union: The Congo Mission,

            1888-1955

Part 3: Correspondence and Reports of Regions Beyond Missionary Union; Peru, Argentina, India, Nepal,

            Kaliminta and Irian Jaya, 1893-1955

Part 4: Regions Beyond, 1878-1981, and Horizons, 1981-1990

Part 5: Correspondence and Reports of Regions Beyond Missionary Union: All Regions, c1955-1990

Introduction

"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) established the East London Training Institute for Home and Foreign Missions in Stepney Green in 1873, across the road from the Mission Hall of his friend, Thomas Barnado, and around the corner from the East London Tabernacle. 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 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).

Henry Grattan Guinness was the nephew of Arthur Guinness, founder of the famous brewing empire, but his life took a different path. Following a spiritual conversion in 1853 he toured Britain, Europe and America, preaching to thousands at a time and helping to swell the Great Revival of 1857-1859. He married Fanny Fitzgerald in Bath in 1860 and their son Harry was born in Toronto in 1861. They became friends with Dwight Moody, the American evangelist, and Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, who encouraged Guinness to train missionaries. Harry Guinness took over the running of the Institute in 1887 following a period in Tasmania where he married Annie Reed. He continued as Director until his death in 1915. Their son, Gordon Meyer Guinness (1902-1980) later served as Honorary Chairman (1933-1945, 1954-1956) and President (1951-1978).

The archive includes the Directors’ minute books, c17,000 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.

The Archive is now held at the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World (henceforth CSCNWW) in Edinburgh and was sorted and listed in 2001 by Caroline Brown. This listing provided the springboard for this microfilm edition. The Administrative and Archival histories which follow have been taken directly from it, as has the list of chairmen, directors and secretaries. The majority of the archive has been filmed and, where possible, we have sought to maintain the order and structure of the original archive. There are two major exceptions. Firstly, we have not filmed the substantial collection of slides, photographs and other audio-visual material within the archive as these may be captured in digital format at a later date. Secondly, due to copyright considerations, we have put all manuscript material post-1955 in Part 5 of this project which is not available commercially. This fifth part can be consulted at CSCNWW or at Yale Divinity Library.

The microfilm edition is organised into five parts as follows:

Part 1 contains the complete run of Director’s 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, c1936-1946, and Minutes of Annual General Meetings, 1903-1943. Printed material includes Annual Reports; Not unto us - a record of 21 year's missionary service 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.

Part 2 is devoted to records of the Congo Mission. Henry and Fanny Grattan Guinness were members of the Committee that established the Livingstone Inland Mission following Stanley's reports of his journey across Africa. The Harley Institute provided the first recruits. RBMU ran the mission from 1880 to 1884 before handing over responsibility to the American Baptist Missionary Union and the Swiss Missionary Fellowship. Instead, RBMU diverted its efforts to the foundation of the Congo Balolo Mission in 1888. This enabled the RBMU to reach the interior and ‘Regions Beyond’ existing missionary activity. By 1912 eight stations had been established and 123 missionaries sent out. They encountered slavery and cannibalism as can be seen in the manuscripts. The RBMU became involved in anti-slavery action, working closely with the Congo Reform Association. It continued to expand, setting up schools and hospitals and a printing press in Bongandanga. The Mission continued to attract local support even when colonial rule was being challenged.The archive of the Mission includes hundreds of letters and reports, as well as memoirs and diaries. The Minutes of the Congo Balolo Mission, 1888-1919, are featured together with a rich collection of rare printed material and a run of The Congo Balolo Mission Record, 1904-1935. Articles concerning native evangelists and on ‘Changing Africa’ are especially interesting, providing a fascinating record of society, politics and religion in the Congo from 1878 to the 1950s.

Part 3 documents the work of the RBMU in other areas. Several Harley Institute students commenced work in South America in the 1890s and this was put on a formal footing in 1897 when Henry Grattan Guinness visited the region. The mission to Argentina became self-supporting through their work with schools, but progress in Peru was difficult. The initial mission was handed over to the Evangelical Union of South America in 1911, but a new mission - the Peru Inland Mission - was established by nurse Annie Soper in 1929, based in Lamas. Correspondence, reports and minutes describe this work. There is also a run of The Lamas Evangel, 1933-1937, full of accounts of medical, educational and evangelical work in South America. Work in India commenced in 1899 with the establishment of RBMU missions in Orissa and Bihar. Bihar was truly at the edge of empire, on the northern fringes of India, next to Nepal. Schools, churches and orphanages were all founded and in 1930 the Duncan hospital opened at Raxaul. The mission did not make many converts, but during the Quit India movement in 1942 it provided a safe haven for refugees from the Australian Nepalese Mission, thus demonstrating its independence from empire. Minutes of the Indian Council, 1900-1919, station reports, letters and a multitude of rare printed items record the work of the RBMU in South Asia. There is only a small amount of material relating to the missions to Nepal, Kalimantan and Irian Jaya, as these were all established at the end of the period covered in this microfilm edition. However, there are many good letters and accounts of pioneering missionary activity in the middle of the twentieth century - at a time when colonial rule was being relinquished.

Part 4 covers the principal periodical published by the RBMU from its inception in 1878 as Regions Beyond to its closure in 1990 as Horizons. It is essential reading for any scholar trying to understand the work undertaken by RBMU as it draws together all of the strands of their work. It is also very well illustrated. There is material covering issues as diverse as the education of women missionaries at Doric Lodge; The training of missionaries at Harley House in Bow; Practical work in the East End of London; Fund-raising; Accounts of conferences, lectures and publications organised to make more people aware of the work of RBMU; News from missionaries from all over the world - both from RBMU missions and from other large and small missionary groups at the fringes of Empire; The establishment and progress of the Congo mission and the relationship of this to the endeavours of explorers and colonisers; Accounts of work in Peru, Argentina, Bihar, Kalimintan, Irian Jaya and Nepal; and on the winding down of RBMU and the reallocation of mission work to other agencies.

Part 5 covers post 1955 unrestricted manuscript material for all regions. It completes the run of Minute Books started in Part 1, offers further central and regional office material, covers council minutes and correspondence for USA, Canada and Australia, details relations with other organisations, and offers additional material for Congo, Peru, India, Nepal, Kalimantan and Irian Jaya.
The Contents of Reels which follow set out the material contained within each Part of the microfilm edition in detail. These can be compared to the full Archival Listing which appears at the end of the guide.
Thanks are due to David Kerr, Director of CSCNWW and Paul Stuehrenberg, Librarian at Yale Divinity Library for their support and encouragement of this project. Also to Margaret Acton, Librarian at CSCNWW for all of her help and to Caroline Brown for listing and sorting the archive.

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