Chapter III. Cuddesdon and the Work of the Church in the Colonial and Foreign Mission Field

BISHOP WILBERFORCE intended his institution to provide for the "better training of those who shall be called into the ministry of the Church in this land." [These words are from the prayer which the Bishop offered at laying of the foundation-stone of the College.] Cuddesdon was not meant to be a missionary training College. But from the first, in this as in other things, the College has aimed at reflecting the ideal of the Church, and of necessity, therefore, the missionary vocation has been very prominently set before the minds of all who have come under its influence. Edward Willis recognised and did justice to this fact, when he chose for the subjects of his frescoes in the antechapel, S. Peter as representing the priesthood, S. Stephen the diaconate, and S. Paul the missionary vocation. It was a colonial Bishop (Bishop Selwyn, of New Zealand) who preached the sermon on the opening day of the College. The Bishop of Natal was also present at the same time. Two years later (1856) Bishop Chapman, of Colombo, was the preacher at the annual festival. In looking over the lists of guests who attended the festivals, we can see that it was Bishop Wilber-force's delight on these occasions to bring together representatives of the Church's work abroad and impress upon his students the [73/74] world-wide responsibilities of the Church for whose ministry they were being trained. The College from the first in its teaching and its practice has followed its founder in this respect. It can hardly have been possible for any Cuddesdon student to have passed out of the College without realising that, although his immediate training was designed with a view to the work of the Church at home, yet, like every minister of the Church, he was bound to face the question: "Is my vocation to the home work or temporarily or as a life's work to the colonial or foreign mission field?" There have been occasionally great revivals of this missionary interest by the sermons of leading missionary workers at the festivals, such as in 1864 the Rev. R. Milman (afterwards Bishop of Calcutta), 1865 Dr. Kay, Principal of Bishop's College, Calcutta, 1876 Bishop Macrorie, of Maritzburg, 1897 Bishop Johnson of Calcutta, and the memorable occasions of 1880, when Edward Willis spoke and preached on behalf of his future work in India, and of 1888, when Bishop Smythies preached at what might well be called the "missionary festival," and the discussion of the preceding evening was on the subject of "the responsibilities of the clergy in respect of the expansion of the Church in foreign lands." Amongst the visitors at this festival of 1888 were also the Bishops of Capetown, Colombo, Brisbane, and Bishop Mitchinson formerly of Barbadoes. Amongst the resident students at that time who afterwards went to work abroad were Basil Herbert Kingsley (Harrismith, South Africa, 1894-1896), John Parnell Griffin (Capetown diocese), Alfred Cooke Kettle (Qu'Appelle diocese, Canada, 1896; Principal of the Theological College, Umtata, Kafiraria, South Africa, 1898: died 1901), Henry Dalrymple Knatchbull (Queensland, Australia, 1896), and (possibly) Brett Guyer (Claremont, Cape Colony, 1899). But besides these great occasions there has been also the quieter yet even more fruitful influence of the continuous stimulus supplied in the ordinary College course. The [74/75] archives of the College show that from the year of its foundation hardly a term has passed in which the students have not had their interest in some part of the mission field aroused by hearing from the mouth of one of its workers some account of its doings, its sufferings, and its needs. Very many of those who have devoted themselves to missionary work would doubtless say that the first conscious impulse to their vocation came from one of these addresses.

Naturally the greatest proof of the reality of this interest is to be seen in its most practical expression, the offer of personal service, to which over 100 out of the 1097 students whose names stand at present (May, 1904) on the College Register have heard and answered the call. [The number taken from the Register is 102, not including Army (except those stationed in India), Navy, and Continental chaplains. The actual number must be larger than this, as the entries in the Register are not quite complete.] But those also who have not been called to take part themselves in the actual work abroad have had an opportunity of showing their sympathy and joining in the work by united almsgiving and prayer through the two College Missionary Associations, the Cuddesdon Missionary Exhibition Fund, and the Cuddesdon Association in Prayer for Foreign Missions. The Missionary Exhibition Fund was opened at the festival of 1860. Its objects are announced in the College Record as follows:--

1. To bind together the old members of the College in some common Church work.

2. To assist in a work cognate to that of the College by promoting the specific training of young men as missionaries for our colonial and other foreign work.

3. To excite and keep up among its members an interest in missionary work.

Annual subscriptions of 5s. and upwards are invited from old [75/76] Cuddesdon men. At first the money was applied to the support of a student at S. Augustine's, Canterbury. Afterwards, as the fund grew, it was able to support more than one student. In the first sixteen years of its existence it raised £593 15s. 8d, with which it supported entirely four students at S. Augustine's and six partially at Warminster College. [It is not possible in many cases to say whether the sum voted covered the whole or only part of the student's expenses.] At the present time the fund amounts to a little over £60 per annum, and supplies grants to three missionary students. The first treasurer of the fund was the oldest student of the College, the Rev. C. Porter, now Vicar of Banbury, who held the office until 1881. Various old students, the Revs. R. L. Ottley, J. Watkin Williams, H. Barnett, W. Chetwynd Atkinson, carried on the office until 1891, since which time the work has always been done by the Chaplain of the College, and makes not the least arduous of his many duties. Up to 1903 inclusive the fund had collected altogether £2,774 10s. 10d., and wholly or partiallyx supported thirty missionary students during their time of special training. It has been affiliated to the Oxford Diocesan Missionary Candidates' Association, founded in 1866, which itself owes its existence mainly to the second student at Cuddesdon, the Rev. E. Sturges, late Rector of Wokingham.

Along with the opportunity of united almsgiving afforded by the Missionary Exhibition Fund, there is provided the opportunity of united prayer by the Cuddesdon Association in Prayer for Foreign Missions. This Association was started on the occasion of a visit from Dr. Mylne, Bishop of Bombay, on May 23rd, 1876. The address which he then gave made a deep impression on the officers and students who heard him. It was in all probability one of the things which turned Willis' thoughts especially towards work in India. [See below, p. 80.] The most important immediate [76/77] outcome was the formation of this Association of Prayer. A Litany of Intercession for Foreign Missions was said in the chapel after Bishop Mylne's address, and it was agreed that there should be a special intercession for missions on every Tuesday evening after Compline. The Rev. E. F. Willis, the Vice-Principal, drew up the Cuddesdon Manual of Intercession for Missions, which is still in use in the College, and has been adopted very largely as an office book by missionary associations throughout the country. All old students were invited to join the Association in saying the Litany of Intercession once a week, on Tuesday evening if possible. In 1880, when the Oxford Mission to Calcutta was started, a proposal was made to form a "Cuddesdon Indian Mission Association," for the purpose of daily prayer on behalf of this mission. It was felt, however, that the two associations would cover too much of the same ground to remain separate, and at the festival of 1880, after some discussion, the question was referred to a committee, which decided to issue the following circular:--

Cuddesdon College,
Wheatley, Oxon.

Dear Sir,

At the last festival we had a discussion on the advisability of forming a Cuddesdon Association in Prayer on behalf of the Oxford Mission to Calcutta, with which Mr. Willis, so long Vice-Principal in the College, is closely connected. It was finally left to a committee to arrange what should be done.

Since that meeting an Association of the kind suggested has been formed at Oxford, under the presidency of Dr. King, and it seems to the committee that this will supply what was wanted, and that it Would be a mistake to form side by side with this a separate organisation. Doubtless many Cuddesdon men will be glad to join this Association, and thus connect themselves with an undertaking in the success of which they are so nearly interested. The committee, however, desire that this opportunity should not be lost of drawing attention to the existing Cuddesdon Association in Prayer for Foreign [77/78] Missions; this it is proposed to re-form with the following new features:--

1. Once a year, on the Monday next before Advent, there will be a meeting at the College to which all members of the Association will be invited, when information will be given about the missions in which the College is specially interested, letters read from Cuddesdon missionaries, etc., etc. On the following morning the Holy Communion will be celebrated on behalf of the Association in the College chapel; absent members will be asked to especially remember the Association at some celebration during that week.

2. About twice a year the secretary of the Association will prepare a short printed paper to be sent round to the members, giving information about the missions in which the College is interested and containing extracts from letters of missionaries. [The earlier numbers of the College Record, from its beginning in 1876, contained selections from letters by Cuddesdon men working in the mission field. Want of space made it necessary to discontinue these as the Record increased in volume, and the occasional papers took their place.]

The only existing rule for members of the Cuddesdon Association is that they should once a week use a Litany compiled for the purpose, which may be had from me or from Mr. Bowden, 59, High Street, Oxford; its price is fourpence, and it is called The Cuddesdon Manual of Intercession for Missions.

It is not proposed to ask the members of the Association for any subscription, but the offertory at the celebration at the Annual Meeting will be devoted to paying the necessary expenses of printing and postage.

I shall be glad to receive the names of any who wish to join this Cuddesdon Association, and will send them notice of the Annual Meetings, and such other information as may be of interest.

Yours faithfully,

Herbert Barnett,
Secretary to the Committee.

The meetings on the Monday before Advent in each year were continued, with the exception of one or two years, until 1895. At the meeting of the year 1881 the Ely Association [78/79] in Prayer for Foreign Missions was affiliated to the Cuddesdon Association at the suggestion of the Rev. W. B. Trevelyan, the Vice-Principal of Ely Theological College. The following list of speakers at these meetings may be of interest:--

Year. Speaker. Subject.

1881. Rev. E. S. L. Randolph. U.M.C.A.

1882. Rev. W. H. Penny. U.M.C.A.

1883. (?) Rev. W. P. Johnson. U.M.C.A.

1884. Rev. C. Gore. General Mission Work.

1885. Rev. W. B. Pope. Indian Missions.

1886. Rev. W. C. Porter. U.M.C.A.

1887. Rev. W. H. Penny. U.M.C.A.

1888. Bishop Webb. Grahamstown Diocese.

1889. Rev. J. P. Farler. U.M.C.A.

1890. Rev. H. Whitehead. O.M.C.

1891. Archdeacon Jones-Bateman. U.M.C.A.

1892. No meeting.

1893. Mr. A. C. Madan. U.M.C.A.

1894. Bishop Hornby. U.M.C.A.

In 1895 the idea of an annual meeting was given up, as the available room in College only admitted of two or three old members being present. Its place for resident students has been taken by the Day of United Intercession on S. Andrew's Day, when the College unites with the whole Church throughout the country in a day of continuous prayer for Foreign Missions. For some time also there have been no occasional papers issued Jo the members. The difficulty in the way of doing so is that there is no list of members belonging to the Association. On several occasions an attempt has been made to draw up a list: but it has not been kept up to date each year. At present the membership of the Association is regarded as informally including all past and present members of the College.

A copy of the Cuddesdon Manual of Intercession for Foreign Missions is given to each student as he leaves the College, and it [79/80] is taken for granted that he will make such use of it as he can. The present Chaplain expresses his willingness to send to all subscribers to the missionary fund, and any others who may desire it, a copy of the occasional papers containing any letters forwarded to him from Cuddesdon men at work in the Colonies or the mission field.

We turn now to the work which members of the College have done by personal service in the Colonies and the mission field itself. One mission in the work of which the College, through its old members, has had the privilege of taking a very great share, is the Oxford Mission to Calcutta. The leading idea of this mission, that of a missionary brotherhood based upon a community life, took shape perhaps in the mind of Edward Willis, from some words of Bishop Mylne in his address to the College on May 23rd, 1876. After a stirring appeal to Churchmen to recognise more fully Christian England's duty to heathen India, the Bishop went on to sketch a plan of a missionary community on the lines of the Oratorian motto, "Entre qui peut, sort qui veut." He in turn had derived the idea from his predecessor, Bishop Douglas, who had suggested it in a charge to his diocese a few years before. The claims of India were being especially pressed on the College at this time. On December 18th, 1876, the Rev. Valpy French spoke on mission work amongst Indian Mahometans. On March 8th, 1877, Father Goreh preached and lectured, giving an account of his own conversion to Christianity from Hinduism. In the College Record for 1877 there is a significant sentence, "Why should there not be some day a Cuddesdon Mission to India?" In 1879 for the usual discussion on the night before the festival there was substituted an address by the Rev. S. W. O'Neill, of the Society of S. John the Evangelist, Cowley, upon the Church's work in India. It was announced at this festival that the Vice-Principal intended to devote himself [80/81] to the work of Indian Missions. The appeal which Bishop Johnson of Calcutta made in 1879 to Oxford men, asking them to undertake a mission to the University students at Calcutta after the pattern of their Cambridge brethren at Delhi, seems to have brought an immediate response from two Oxford and Cuddesdon men, the Rev. Edward Willis, Vice-Principal of Cuddesdon, and the Rev. Ernest Faulkner Brown. The following brief notice appeared in the Cuddesdon Record for 1880:--

THE OXFORD MISSION TO CALCUTTA

So far as it goes at present, this might not unreasonably be called the Oxford and Cuddesdon Mission to Calcutta. The two members of the Mission who propose (d.v.) to sail for India in October next to make the first beginning of the work are both Cuddesdon as well as Oxford men. It would be a great relief to these if two, or even one other Cuddesdon man could be found ready to sail with them in October. The community life, which is to be adopted by the Mission, can hardly be carried on by only two; the maintaining of the daily celebration will be also a difficulty with so small a body. It is hardly possible to overrate the importance and urgency of the present crisis in India. The native mind is being stirred to its very depths by a variety of causes. Opportunities are now presenting themselves for turning the current of thought into the direction of Christianity, such as, if now lost, may never occur again. But there is an urgent need of men, men well read in theological science, of firm faith, and with really Catholic sympathies; just such men, in fact, as Cuddesdon has the credit of training. Short, however, of offering themselves personally for the work, Cuddesdon men may help the Mission greatly by their intercessions. (Then follows the suggestion to form a Cuddesdon Indian Missionary Association. See above, p. 77.)

This appeal for further help was quickly answered by another Cuddesdon man, the Rev. W. B. Hornby (afterwards first Bishop of Nyasaland), Mr. Brown's fellow-curate at S. Margaret's, Anfield, Liverpool; and by a friend of Mr. Willis, the Rev. Marsham Frederick Argles, Fellow of S. John's College, Oxford, and Principal of S. Stephen's House, who had been so much at [81/82] Cuddesdon as almost to reckon as a member of the College. In 1885 they were joined by another Cuddesdon man, the Rev. C. H. Walker. The following is a list up to date of those members of the Oxford Mission who have been trained at Cuddesdon:--

Name. Joined the Mission. Left.
E. F. Willis. 1880. 1883.
E. F. Brown. Still on the staff.
W. B. Hornby. 1880. 1883.
C. H. Walker. Still on the staff.
M. F. Bell. 1888. 1888.
J. L. Peach. 1888. 1896.
W. P. G. Field. 1889. 1892.
F. W. Douglass. Still on the staff.
E. L. Strong. Still on the staff.
J. R. Cooke. Still on the staff.

Out of a total of twenty-seven priests who have worked in this Mission, ten have been Cuddesdon men. In addition to this, the present Bishop of Worcester (Dr. Gore), when he resigned the office of Vice-Principal in 1883, went out to the help of the Mission at a time of great strain and spent the first nine months of 1884 with the brotherhood at Calcutta. Mr. Peach went with him also as a temporary visitor. "Their arrival," wrote one of the Mission staff", "was like the relief of a garrison." "Mr. Gore's presence for the first nine months of the year was an enormous help and encouragement,'" says the historian of the Oxford Mission to Calcutta. [G. Longridge, The Oxford Mission to Calcutta, p. 22.] In the beginning of 1890 Mr. Gore paid a second but shorter visit to the Mission at another time of anxiety, when its superior, Mr. Townsend, had just seceded to the Roman Church, an action which was sure to bring undeserved suspicion upon the Mission, and when a new superior, Mr. Whitehead, was just entering upon his office. When we hear of those distinguishing marks which are the glory of the Oxford Mission to Calcutta, the spirit [82/83] of brotherhood among its members, and the wider sense of brotherhood which makes the natives of India learn to value their sympathy, the spirit of prayerfulness, their patient and persevering unrewarded laboriousness, the simplicity and self-denial of their lives, the breadth of their work, aiming, as it does, at the highest and the lowest intellects, University students and Sunderban peasants, witnessing to the truth that the gospel to all alike is one and the same gospel, within the reach of all, and able to satisfy the needs of all--remembering these things we may indeed be thankful that Cuddesdon has had a great share in the building up of characters able, in such a spirit, to carry on such a work. It will be noticed, on looking at the list of Cuddesdon men on its staff", that of late years the claim of this Mission upon the College has hardly had its due share of consideration from our old students. In the last ten years only one Cuddesdon name has been added to the list. No doubt many other causes have helped to bring about this comparative failure of supply--notably (since 1899) the great needs of the South African Church. But it is to be hoped that the close bond between Cuddesdon and Calcutta will never be broken or even loosened; and this can only be avoided by preserving the link of personal connection between them.

There is another corner of the mission field which stands in a specially close connection with Cuddesdon--the Universities Mission to Central Africa. Indeed, in some respects Central Africa may be said to have a greater claim to our interest than even the Oxford Mission to Calcutta. Its connection with the College dates from an earlier time. The Mission itself was founded in 1859. Mention was made of it by the Dean of Ely at the College festival in that year. At the festival of 1860 Archdeacon Mackenzie, the Bishop-elect of the newly founded Mission, was present, and "spoke, as usual, most effectively, claiming a double interest in the College, both as an expectant of recruits from its ranks for [83/84] his enterprise, and as a student of a model which he might some day hope to copy on the banks of the Zambesi. . . . He was most warmly received by the company." [The Guardian, June 6th, 1860.] It was on the evening before this speech that the College had agreed to start the Missionary Exhibition Fund. Archdeacon Mackenzie's expectation of recruits from Cuddesdon was not realised until 1875, when the Rev. E. S. L. Randolph became the first representative of the College in Central Africa. But the interest thus fixed upon the Mission at the time of its foundation had not been allowed to die down. It had always been assumed that this Mission had an exceptional claim upon the College. Within a year from its foundation two Cuddesdon men volunteered (in 1860) to serve under Bishop Mackenzie, but were refused on medical grounds. [Guardian, May 29th, 1861. Their names cannot be found out.] With Mr. Randolph was begun the personal link between Cuddesdon and the Central African Mission. He was followed in 1880 by three others: Herbert Wilson, formerly organist in the College, who died in Africa on September 12th, 1882, while still in the Diaconate; Charles Janson, who died earlier in the same year (February 21st, 1882), that saintly soul who has left behind him at Cuddesdon, in his Oxford parish (SS. Philip and James), and in Central Africa the memory of a holy life which is still treasured up in many hearts; and William Porter, still alive and at work with the Mission. The next name to be mentioned is the one which beyond all others has riveted the bond between the College and the Mission. Charles Alan Smythies was called to take charge of the diocese of Zanzibar as its Bishop in 1883. Bishop Smythies had been a student at Cuddesdon from October, 1868, to December, 1869. After serving the Mission for eleven years as its Bishop, he died at sea on May 7th, 1894. We venture to quote here some words written about him in the College Record of 1895, which will bring back to [84/85] the minds of his friends what he was to them both at the College and afterwards.

When he came to the College in October, 1868, he was rather older than the rest of us. He had taken one or more pupils since the end of his Cambridge career, and he looked decidedly older than most recent graduates. He was never known at Cuddesdon without the beard, which in later days so well became his episcopal dignity; and his tall, commanding form, in spite of a slight stoop of the head and neck, gave him an effective prominence. On the surface it might have seemed to a stranger that the chief result of the elderly manner was to expose Smythies to a current of lively chaff. Certainly at that time Cuddesdon was not wanting in liveliness. It could not have been while George Swinny was a student, and among those who gave opportunity to his bright and boyish wit the future Bishop must be included. No two men could have been more suited to play off, by contrast and repartee, each other's characteristic points; no two were more united in that depth of character, which, crowned by grace, led them both, the grave and the gay, the celibate and the married, to give their lives to Africa. But it would have been a great mistake to think that Smythies' peculiarity meant nothing more than this. As the eldest of a large double family he had, while quite young, been somewhat fatherly in his home relations, and he became the trusted friend of more than one, younger or weaker than himself, at Cuddesdon. . . .

There is perhaps no more honourable elevation possible for a priest than the charge of the Universities Mission to Central Africa, fixed, as it is now, in the see of Zanzibar; but it is not, and probably will not be in the future, an easy post to fill. It is a work to which the Church is bound to give her best; and as a rule the work has to be offered to some man, whom it seems almost impossible to remove from a great work, and perhaps hardly less possible to convince that he is fit for the new enterprise. In 1883 it was only when for the second time his name had been thought of that Smythies entertained the invitation to succeed Bishop Steere, and even then he only accepted after having urged the nominators to make the offer to Father Puller. There can be no doubt that the call was obeyed with genuine self-distrust, and with a high sense of its greatness; but, when once the matter was settled, there succeeded to this diffidence a deep spiritual trust, issuing in a combination of strength and humility, [85/86] which has made the episcopate of Bishop Smythies memorable through the whole Anglican Communion. He was fitly consecrated in S. Paul's Cathedral, with its growing beauty of worship and its gathering memories of honoured names; and the preacher was again, as at Winchester in I869, the Principal under whose charge he had been at Cuddesdon, and who was then known everywhere as Dr. King, Canon of Christ Church. This time the subject was the coming of the heathen to their true Lord, and, as in a memorable reference of Dr. Liddon's to the Central African Mission, our European civilisation seemed to be dismissed in shame, as the vision was conceived of the waiting races answering with the kiss of homage to the presentment of their enthroned and risen King. His leadership helped to seal the vocation of many clergy, and his old friendship with the Sisters of Charity at S. Raphael's, Bristol and with their warden brought to the Mission their priceless aid. . . .

Each time he came home he expressed his humble thankfulness that he had been spared so long; he dwelt on the signs that warned him of failing vitality--first the trembling of the hands, and then the painful affection which hardly allowed him, on his first arrival amongst us, to put his foot to the ground. Through all, his patience and his dignity never failed, for his faith was firm, and his hope and love were growing. He was never afraid to be bold in his friendliness with Roman Catholic missionaries in Africa, for he never doubted for a moment the Catholicity of the Church of England; and in the same way he reckoned amongst his friends and helpers at home some from whom he differed on matters very near his heart, such as the Archbishop of Dublin. Africa was always first to him; there he wished to work and to die; but he never doubted or forgot that he was a Bishop of the Universal Church, and that whatever tended to the welfare of the Church of England or the reunion of Christendom had a claim upon his thoughts and service. His days in England were freely spent for his Mission, but he found time to go into retreat, to see old friends who sought his help in their need, to take part in the work of the English Church Union, to give his fearless support to all that he believed to be for the honour of our Lord and the good of His Church.

Cuddesdon has its share in the spots of African soil made sacred by the graves of Charles Riddell, George Swinny, Charles Janson, and Herbert Wilson, as well as in the "vast and wandering grave" which [86/87] received the Bishop himself. It is among the many blessings that go to make up the indescribable spirit of Cuddesdon, that she possesses the gratitude and the prayers of Charles Alan Smythies, fourth Bishop of the Universities Mission, first Bishop of Zanzibar.--V. S. S. C.

Bishop Smythies immediately drew after him a great reinforcement to the ranks of his Mission. Amongst them were three Cuddesdon men, who joined it in 1884. Two of them, like their leader, have laid down their lives in their work: George Swinny, the son of the late Principal, who died of fever on February 13th, 1887; and Charles S. Buchanan Riddell, who died at Magila on June 11th, 1886. The third, Evelyn B. L. Smith, still continues his labours for the gospel in Central Africa, and is stationed in the diocese of Likoma. In 1888 Bishop Smythies was in England, and paid a visit to the College on the memorable festival of that year. In 1892 the Rev. W. B. Hornby, who had already served the Oxford Mission to Calcutta, was consecrated on December 21st first Bishop of the newly formed diocese of Nyasa-land, only, however, to come back home again invalided after eight months' work in his diocese. The following is a full list of the Cuddesdon men who have worked, or are working, in Central

The Rev. E. S. L. Randolph joined 1875, resigned 1879.

The Rev. W. C. Porter joined 1880, still working there.

The Rev. H. A. B. Wilson joined 1880, died Sept. 12, 1882.

The Rev. C. A. Janson joined 1880 died Feb. 21, 1882.

The Rev. C. A. Smythies, Bp. joined 1883 died May 7, 1894.

The Rev. C. S. B. Riddell joined 1884 died June 11, 1886.

The Rev. G. H. Swinny joined 1884 died Feb. 13, 1887.

The Rev. E. B. L. Smith joined 1884, still working there.

The Rev. H. G. Maxwell .joined1888, invalided home Nov., 1888.

The Rev. R. F. Acland Hood joined 1891, resigned 1896.

The Rev. W. B. Hornby, Bp. joined 1892, invalided home 1894.

The Rev. E. S. Palmer joined 1893, resigned 1903.

The Rev. M. Mackay joined 1900, still working there.

[88] Altogether thirteen members of the College have served in this Mission. But when we look at the list and count the roll of those who have laid down their lives in this work (besides those who have been sent home with shattered constitutions), and when we remember how much they learnt at Cuddesdon of the spirit of self-sacrifice so gloriously consummated in their deaths, we realise how sacred and deep-rooted are the associations which bind together Cuddesdon and the Universities Mission to Central Africa. As we mourn together over our common loss and thank God together for the great victory they have won, we feel of each of them what Bishop Smythies wrote of one, that "his death . . . adds strength to the chain which links the Dark Continent to the hearts of Cuddesdon men." How long will the three present workers be the only representatives of the College in this corner of the Master's vineyard?

There is still another venture in the Church's work abroad, belonging to the colonial rather than the mission field, in which Cuddesdon has been deeply interested, but which actually proved too premature for success. This was the enterprise for establishing a daughter Theological College at Bloemfontein. In 1870 a former Vice-Principal, the Rev. Allan B. Webb, was consecrated Bishop of Bloemfontein. A home-born ministry of sons of the soil, both of European and native descent, was felt by him as being one of the chief wants of his vast and under-staffed diocese. He hoped that such a ministry might be more easily supplied if the means of training were available within the country itself. And his thoughts naturally turned to Cuddesdon as the model on the lines of which he might look forward to work. In 1874 the Rev. B. J. Puller, the Chaplain at Cuddesdon, took up the matter with the keenest interest, and began to collect subscriptions, himself subscribing £500; he also brought the question forward at the festival of that year, when a committee [88/89] was formed and a scheme drawn up for carrying out the proposed plan.

Through the funds obtained by these efforts the work was Started at Bloemfontein in 1876, with the Bishop as warden, and two Cuddesdon men, the Rev. R. K. Champernowne and the Rev. F. R. T. Balfour, as chaplain and bursar. A building was rented until the College, to which the name of S. Cyprian's Theological College was given, was ready and started on its career with two students. After various necessary alterations and additions had been made to the premises which had been purchased, the College was formally inaugurated by the Bishop in 1877, the offertories at the Cuddesdon festival of the same year being given to the institution. In the autumn the Rev. C. O. Miles, an old Cuddesdon student, sailed for South Africa to take up the work of theological tutor.

After a period of comparative prosperity a time of most severe depression for the country and Church ensued. The Basutoland and Transvaal wars, which touched the diocese so closely, had been a great drain upon South Africa, while the latter conflict and all that led up to and followed the catastrophe of Majuba Hill in 1881 had called forth bitter feelings of racial hatred and a widespread insecurity. Changes were beginning to take place in Kimberley, which seriously affected its wealth for some time. In addition to these troubles a time of serious drought was setting in, and property became heavily depreciated to an extent which only young countries can experience and recover from at all. In 1883, also, Bishop Webb was translated to Grahamstown. With all this unsettlement it was found that the cost of living and the expensive charges of travelling by post-cart over long distances which separated centres without railways, prevented the College from being of service to other parts of the province. For some time the annual expenditure had been in excess of the income, [89/90] and the College was finally closed, arrangements being made at S. Andrew's College for such students as might present themselves. The College was instrumental in training several clergyman, who have since done good service in the Church. The instruction of native readers was carried on side by side with that of the training of clergy until the middle of 1881. A considerable library of books was collected by the Rev. C. O. Miles, which now forms part of the Diocesan library. The office of theological tutor, for which an endowment was provided through the S.P.C.K. and Cuddesdon, is now held by the Rev. Canon Orford, M.A., who resides in the old S. Andrew's College. A provincial theological hostel has now been established in Grahamstown at S. Paul's House, and the beginning of what may be an important work on special lines for the theological and spiritual preparation of candidates for Holy Orders has been made also at S. Augustine's, in the Bloemfontein diocese, by the Society of the Sacred Mission. Bishop Webb writes: "Through circumstances which could not have been foreseen, we failed in carrying the scheme through, though at one time it promised so well. . . . But the plan thus generously promoted by Cuddesdon has helped forward the Church ideal, and we need not doubt that under more favourable conditions there may be still good success." The mention of the theological hostel at Grahamstown recalls the name of the last chaplain of Cuddesdon, the Rev. E. C. West, who offered himself in 1903 for work in the diocese of Grahamstown, and was at first asked by Bishop Cornish to assist in the work of this hostel. Shortly before his departure from England, however, a change was made in the plans of the diocese, and he was sent to take up the work of training for the ministry the elders of the "Ethiopian" congregations who have lately come over from Wesleyanism to the Anglican Church. In this most important work it is most gratifying to think that Cuddesdon has had a [90/91] large share through the labours, first, of Father Puller, who took over the training of the Ethiopian elders when they expressed the desire to join the Church, and at the present moment of Mr. West, our energetic Chaplain. [Mr. West, writing in the Occasional Paper for the diocese of Grahamstown, April, 1904, speaks of the great need of another priest in helping on the work among the Ethiopians. Does any Cuddesdon man feel this call to come to him?]

It may be of interest to close this chapter with some account of the way in which the question of foreign and colonial work is put before the minds of our students at the present time. The "atmosphere" in which they find themselves as regards mission work is very much that which we have tried to describe at the opening of this chapter. The College aims at "reflecting the mind of the Church" in regard to the missionary vocation. Once or twice a term speakers from some branch of the colonial or missionary field come to describe their work and its needs, to enlist our sympathies, to ask for our intercessions, and to plead for personal help. In this way the needs of many parts of the Church's work are brought before us; we are helped to save ourselves from narrow parochialism or Little Englanderism in our pastoral ideals. Many, perhaps, of those who have gone or may one day go to work abroad can date their first or clearest sense of a call from one of these gatherings. On all Fridays in Lent and daily throughout Holy Week a part of some missionary book is read during dinner. Once a month there is a special intercession for foreign missions (taken from the S.P.G. Manual) after Evensong in the parish church (which members of the College attend). The Annual Day of Intercessions for the work of Foreign Missions, on or near the festival of S. Andrew, is observed with a chain of continuous prayer. In the monthly intercession paper intended for use at the daily Eucharist or in private prayer the subject of missions takes up about one week in every five. Lastly, twice in every week, after [91/92] Compline in the chapel, there is a service of intercession for missions. On Tuesday nights the intercession is for general missionary work, taken from the Cuddesdon Manual of Intercession for Missions, with special prayers for the Oxford Mission to Calcutta, the Cambridge Mission to Delhi, and other University Missions in India, for all "Colonial and Missionary Bishops, Priests, Deacons, and Catechists," with special mention of all Cuddesdon men, and for all departed missionaries, again with mention of the names of members of the College. On Thursday nights the Intercession Service of the Universities Mission to Central Africa is read by one of the students, with an additional prayer for those who have laid down their lives in its work.

APPENDIX

The two following lists, relating to the work of Cuddesdon men in the mission field, are as complete as we can make them. The Chaplain would be grateful if any errors or omissions in them were pointed out to him. The first is the list of those who, having been engaged in the mission field, have either died at their work, or been invalided home with illness from which they did not recover.

Charles Alan Smythies, Bishop of Zanzibar: Cuddesdon 1868: U.M.C.A.: d. 1894.

Charles Albert Janson: Cuddesdon 1878: U.M.C.A.: d. 1882. Charles Sydney Buchanan Riddell: Cuddesdon 1880: U.M.C.A.: d. 1886.

George Hervey Swinny: Cuddesdon 1868: U.M.C.A.: d. 1887.

Herbert Amyot Brereton Wilson: Cuddesdon 1877: U.M.C.A.: d. 1882.

Edward Francis Willis: Cuddesdon: student 1867: Vice-Principal 1870-1880: O.M.C. 1880-1883: d. 1898.

Alfred Cooke Kettle: Cuddesdon 1888: Canada and Kaffraria: d. 1900.

Ernest Wesley Taylor: Cuddesdon 1895: New Guinea: d. 1903. R.I.P.

[93] The second list includes members of the College who are at present out in the Colonies or foreign mission field.

1. Province of India and Ceylon.

Diocese of Calcutta.

Ernest Faulkner Brown: at Cuddesdon 1877

Charles Henley Walker at Cuddesdon 1882

Frederick Wingfield Douglass at Cuddesdon 1889

Edmund Linwood Strong at Cuddesdon 1885

John Roper Cooke at Cuddesdon 1889

Herbert Octavius Moore at Cuddesdon 1877

Richard Gee at Cuddesdon 1897

Diocese of Bombay.

Cecil Stansfield Rivington: at Cuddesdon 1875

Edward Samuel John D'Alessio at Cuddesdon 1896

Hugh Smith Nicholson at Cuddesdon 1884

Diocese of Lucknow.

Richard Duncan Ninis: at Cuddesdon 1889

Diocese of Madras.

John Windham Foley: at Cuddesdon 1880

Diocese of Colombo.

Charles Twining Boyd: at Cuddesdon 1865

George Benjamin Ekanayake 1903

2. Province of South Africa.

Diocese of Capetown

Michael Henry Mansel Wood: at Cuddesdon 1889

Brett Guyer at Cuddesdon 1887

John Charles Herries Brooke at Cuddesdon 1897

Walter Parry de Winton Kitcat at Cuddesdon 1896

Diocese of Bloemfontein.

Francis Richard Townley Balfour: at Cuddesdon 1872

Charles Sydney Hill at Cuddesdon 1892

Alfred Davenport Kelly at Cuddesdon 1895

John Alexander Bouquet at Cuddesdon 1899

Norman Macleod Lang at Cuddesdon 1899

[94] Diocese of Grahamstown.

Robert George Mullins: at Cuddesdon 1891

Percy Herbert Osmond at Cuddesdon 1895

Arthur Stephen Withers Moore at Cuddesdon 1892

Edward Courtenay West: student 1894: Chaplain 1900-3.

Diocese of Mashonaland.

Arthur Shearly Cripps: at Cuddesdon at Cuddesdon 1891

Lawrence Hands at Cuddesdon 1898

Diocese of Pretoria.

James Okey Nash: at Cuddesdon 1886

Michael Bolton Furse at Cuddesdon 1896

Theodore Hayes Robinson at Cuddesdon 1893

Alfred George de Rougemont at Cuddesdon 1890

Diocese of St. Helena.

Alfred Porter: at Cuddesdon 1879

Diocese of St. John's, Kaffraria.

The Bishop of St. John's (Joseph Watkin Williams): at Cuddesdon 1881

Austin Moultrie: at Cuddesdon 1890

3. Province of Canada.

Diocese of Montreal.

Arthur Thomas William French: at Cuddesdon 1876

Alexander John Doull at Cuddesdon 1895

Diocese of Fredericton.

The Bishop of Fredericton (Hollingworth Tully Kingdon): at Cuddesdon 1858

4. Province of New South Wales.

Diocese of Sydney.

Frederick John Albery: at Cuddesdon 1891

5. Extra-Provincial.

Diocese of Melbourne.

James Cheong: at Cuddesdon 1903-4

[95] Diocese of Adelaide.

Edward Archibald Forbes: at Cuddesdon 1894

Diocese of North Queensland.

Charles Victor Parkinson Day: at Cuddesdon 1886

6. Province of New Zealand.

Diocese of Auckland.

William Edward Lush: at Cuddesdon 1883

Diocese of Christ Church.

Henry Edward Newton: at Cuddesdon 1895

Diocese of Dunedin.

Thomas Wilson Kewley: at Cuddesdon 1871

Diocese of Wellington.

Arthur Towgood: at Cuddesdon 1864

Charles Coleridge Harper at Cuddesdon 1889

Harold Anson at Cuddesdon 1890

Arthur Lloyd Hansell at Cuddesdon 1890

7. Missionary Dioceses.

Diocese of Singapore.

William Herbert Cecil Dunkerley: at Cuddesdon 1884

Diocese of Corea.

Arthur Beresford Turner: at Cuddesdon 1886

Diocese of South Tokyo.

Walter Paul Gray Field: at Cuddesdon 1886

Diocese of Zanzibar.

William Carmichael Porter: at Cuddesdon 1859

Malcolm Mackay at Cuddesdon 1895

Diocese of Likoma.

Evelyn Bucknall Larratt Smith: at Cuddesdon 1882

Diocese of Madagascar.

John Whately Pyddoke: at Cuddesdon 1895

Project Canterbury