Skip to main content

Indigenous Cultures and Christian Conversion in Ghana and Sierra Leone, 1700-1850

  • Home
  • Collections
  • Indigenous Cultures and Christian Conversion in Ghana and Sierra Leone, 1700-1850
An illustration of two houses nestled within the mountains. Two sets of people walk along with path over the hill.

Early Colonial and Missionary Records from West Africa

Upon making Enquiry into the State of the Churches within my District, I found that the Members were much disturbed, and in a very unsettled State, insomuch that some of them had Thoughts of leaving our Communion, and turning to the Dissenters.
Thomas Thompson, An account of two missionary voyages, img 19

Access the full collection

Get full access to Indigenous Cultures and Christian Conversion in Ghana and Sierra Leone, 1700-1850.

Institutional Free Trial

Sign up for a FREE trial 

Single User License

Purchase a license below to view the full collection.

Already have a license? Sign in to view the collection

Study Christian Conversion in Ghana and Sierra Leone

Indigenous Cultures and Christian Conversion in Ghana and Sierra Leone, 1700–1850 was curated in association with the Bodleian Library. 

This collection contains records compiled by the United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG), a UK-based Anglican missionary organisation that operates globally. From the eighteenth to the early twentieth century the USPG went by the name of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG). 

This collection contains letters and supplementary material compiled by the organisation’s West African branches during the period 1700–1850. It includes the papers of Thomas Perronet Thompson, the first governor of the Colony of Sierra Leone, and those of Rev. Phillip Quaque, the first African to be ordained a minister of the Church of England. The collection contains a variety of sources that evidence the continuation of the slave trade. There is also material on the influential Rio Pongas mission conducted by the West Indian Church. The documents in this collection grant insights into the nature of British colonialism, the process of Christian conversion, and the functioning of the slave trade in West Africa.

Contents

Indigenous Cultures and Christian Conversion in Ghana and Sierra Leone, 1700-1850...

Early Colonial and Missionary Records from West Africa

Discover 
A wood engraving of  Cape Coast Castle - one of around 35 historic forts on the Gold Coast (now Ghana), published in 1893.

Highlights

Licensed to access The letters of Rev. Phillip Quaque, 1766–1811

This document includes letters and reports relating to life in a European fort in Western Africa. It covers Rev. Phillip Quaque’s arrival and reception. It also evidences his personal troubles regarding the education of his children and the treatment of his third wife after his death.

Licensed to access Pongas mission

This document includes the report of the Rio Pongas Mission. This commenced on 17 December 1855 and was conducted by the West Indian Church.

Licensed to access Sundry letters from Z. Macauley, T. Ludlam, and others to T.P.T.

This document contains evidence of the slave trade through receipts, licences, court proceedings, and correspondence.

Licensed to access Originals of receipts passed in the case of enslaved people sold in the colony of Sierra Leone

This document contains a variety of receipts generated by the selling of enslaved people in Sierra Leone. It also includes accounts of the employment of native children and of American vessels seizing enslaved people.  

Insights

  • This collection includes correspondence from other missions in Sierra Leone, including the Rio Pongo mission. This ran for 25 years and was conducted by the native clergy of Africa and West India.

  • Despite the legal abolition of the slave trade, it continued to operate. The papers of Thomas Perronet Thompson reveal how slave-owners were caught and tried while he was governor.

  • The Rev. Phillip Quaque was a native of the Cape Coast in Ghana. Sent to England for training, he became the first African to be ordained by the Church of England.

  • Thompson's idea of sending three young Ghanaians, including Phillip Quaque, to England was a source of great interest to the Society. Extracts from the Society's journal cover the conception and development of this project. The journal also contains a report on the subsequent progress of the men.

Licensed to access Ghana in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1886-1951

1886   1951

Licensed to access Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist Periodicals, 1744-1960

1744   1960

Licensed to access Colonial Women Missionaries of the Committee for Women's Work, 1861-1967

1861   1967

Licensed to access Tanzania and Malawi in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1857-1965

1857   1965
Back to Top