Missionary activity in Africa
Content Warning
Historical resources referred to in this post reflect the racial prejudices of the era in which they were created, and some items include language and imagery which is offensive, oppressive and may cause upset. This is not condoned by The University of Manchester, but we are committed to providing access to this material as evidence of the inequalities and attitudes of the time period.
During the second half of the 19th century, European countries sought to expand their territories all over the globe. There were a variety of intersecting drivers behind this: the economic incentive of controlling sources of valuable raw materials, developing growing trade networks, and discovering new markets; and the political and military motivations which viewed empire building as a sign of political strength and recognised the necessity in having global outposts and bases from which to support powerful naval forces. Social, ideological and religious factors played a part, too: during this period Social Darwinism, a theory which viewed Europeans as superior to other races and ethnicities was gaining traction, and with it a view that the role of Europeans was to ‘civilise the uncivilised’. Not unconnected to this was the work by European missionaries to spread Christianity.
Dan Crawford was born in Gourock, Scotland in 1870. He was converted to Open Brethren (an evangelical Christian movement) and baptised into the faith at the age of 17. He soon decided that he would become a missionary in Africa, inspired by David Livingstone and the Brethren missionary Frederic Arnot.
Following a visit to the UK by Arnot, Crawford and a number of other missionaries travelled back to Africa with him to join the mission field. They departed from Lisbon, Portugal on the SS San Thomé on 6 April 1889, arriving at Benguella, Angola on 9 May.
Crawford kept a diary and notebook in which he documents his travel to and his early experiences in Africa in 1888–1890 (there is some dispute about the precise dates: please see this blog post by Dr Graham Johnson for more information).
In the entry above, Crawford describes Fred Arnot’s African worker, known as Dick, who has come to meet them at Benguella:
…but to return to Dick, he is now a little over 20 years of age & in height stands about 5 feet, by no means, a tall young man, yet just to see him broadly & lovingly grinning and when working too a perfect picture of sturdy activity yes, let us all rejoice with thanksgiving that God has raised up one faithful bright light at least among the prevailing gloom all around & as I write the young man stands beside me, on each cheek he has tattooed the tribal mark which tell of his old upper Zambesi home.
Ah! You say either the picture or the face is hideous please stigmatise the former with as many anathemas as possible but as for Dick and his countenance I defend both.
(Transcribed extract from Dan Crawford’s diary, pp.37–39)
Missionaries would frequently send reports and photographs home to be distributed by missionary support agencies and societies to members of the public to encourage charitable donations for mission work. Crawford’s diary entries might well have provided the basis for letters and reports he sent home to the Christian Brethren magazine, Echoes of Service. Photographs and lantern slides would also be produced and shared at missionary conferences and other fundraising events. Examples include the following images, also part of the Echoes of Service archive.
Crawford’s diary also provides some interesting insight into the way in which missionaries were often witnesses, and at times involved with the diplomatic negotiations and military operations of European expansion. His entries from April 1890 from Bihe, Angola, give an account of the events leading up to the death of the Portuguese trader António da Silva Porto, the declaration of war by a local chief on a group of Portuguese soldiers and the aftermath.
For the account in full, please see the digitised version of Dan Crawford’s diary, pp.100–107.
Reports from Crawford’s companions, Fred Arnot and Hugh Thompson, published in the Echoes of Service magazines, give more detail. Please see pp.219–221, pp.248–250 and pp.310–313 of the digitised magazine from 1890.
Discussion points:
How did the work of missionaries, centred around religious conversion, support the economic and political motivations of colonising countries?
Most of the records we hold of interactions between the missionaries and the people indigenous to the areas being colonised reflect the opinions and viewpoints of the missionaries. How might the perception of these interactions differ if viewed from the opposite perspective?
What do you think the images and documents reveal about attitudes towards Africans and missionary work at the time?
Further reading:
The full text of Dan Crawford’s diary can be viewed online in full here
