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

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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

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Study Christian Conversion in Ghana and Sierra Leone

Map of Lagos and Nigeria from 1898.

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

Section of a handwritten letter dated 20 December 1767.

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.

Section of the front cover of a report titled Pongas Mission. West Indian Church Association for The Furtherance of the Gospel in Western Africa. Dated 15 November 1850, 16 June 1851 and 17 December 1855.

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.

Section of a handwritten letter dated 30 August 1809.

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.

Table recording various names.

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

This document details the fates of enslaved men, women, and children released from an American slave vessel and taken to Sierra Leone by the Royal Navy in 1808.  

Insights

  • This collection includes correspondence from other missions in West Africa, including the Rio Pongas Mission. This was conceived by the West Indian Church in Barbados, and was conducted by West Indians of African descent.

  • Despite Britain's legal abolition of the slave trade in 1807, it continued to operate under the flags of other nations. The papers of Thomas Perronet Thompson reveal how slavers 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.

An image of the Independence Memorial Arch at Independence Square in the center of Accra.

Licensed to access Ghana and Togo Under Colonial Rule, in Government Reports, 1843-1957

1843   1957
Person holding a holy bible and cross in their hands and praying as the sun rises.

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

1886   1951
Freetown, Sierra Leone, the way we looked at it in 1949.

Licensed to access Sierra Leone Under Colonial Rule, in Government Reports, 1893-1961

1893   1961
The launch of the Missionary Ship The John Wesley at West Cowes, Isle of Wight, September 23rd 1846. People gather at the dock to watch the ship.

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

1861   1967
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