GOUDIE, William (1857-1922)

[Typescript titled:] Strictly Private for Officers Only ... Report of Visit to West Africa

Np: 1914. Quarto. (10 1/2 x 8 inches). 90 leaves. Includes a 5-page report at the end by another administrator.

Two holes punched in left margin with brass fasteners.

An unpublished report by a General Secretary of a Methodist mission, reviewing detailed administrative policies of mission work in West Africa in the midst of World War I.

Wesleyan missions in the British colonies began in 1786, with the first mission in West Africa, to Sierra Leone being established in 1811, and later The Gambia in 1821 and the Gold Coast (present-day Ghana) in 1834. The Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (W.M.M.S.) was then established in 1818, which coordinated foreign mission activities. Reverend William Goudie, who was born and raised in Scotland and ordained in London, served the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society as missionary in their Madras District of India from 1882 to 1906. This unpublished typescript contains a classified report on the state of mission work in West Africa by Goudie, who was the W.M.M.S. General Missionary Secretary. In 1914-15, Goudie travelled to Sierra Leone, Lagos, The Gambia, the Gold Coast, and the "Northern territories." He wrote about the details of administrative policy and functions in the Methodist Church regarding educational work (evaluating teachers and schools), the staff and ministers, physical property standards, evangelical goals within the church (including membership figures), and more. He also makes recommendations on how to improve the state of mission work in each of these territories with the goal of mobilizing resources and organizing converts into established churches.

Item #36717

Price: $500.00