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Anyone got more on Rev George SMITH?
Rosemary


Joined: 08 Oct 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Durban Natal South Africa
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I quote your site re Rev George SMITH: "He served as a missionary in South Africa from 1870" - can anyone tell me where SMITH was located in the mission field and with what missionary society and/or religious denomination he was associated before becoming an army chaplain and taking part in the defence of Rorke's Drift?

Regards all,
Rosemary

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Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1797
Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
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Rosemary

Smith arrived in S Africa in 1871 and spent most of his next 8 years at Estcourt (with Weston, Mooi River). (Most publications give his arrival in SA as 1870, but they are wrong).

He was sent there by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG). He was, of course, Anglican, and his training had been fairly High Church. He was not ordained by Bp Colenso, as most publications claim or assume, but by Bp William McCrorie.

I have made a detailed study of his life (especially pre-1879) and continue to research his career. If there are any other points you'd like to know, I'd be pleased to help.

Peter
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Rosemary


Joined: 08 Oct 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Durban Natal South Africa
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Thanks so much for your prompt response, Peter. Interesting that George SMITH was with the SPG - I have recently been in touch with the society (now USPG) on another missionary matter. Catherine Wakeling is the helpful Archivist I spoke to at their London offices; their website is at www.uspg.org.uk; I have phone numbers also if you ever need them; you've probably tried this avenue already. They have a treasure-trove of material, original letters, many of these have been filmed and Killie Campbell Library Durban is where I accessed these films; I wasn't researching SMITH at that point, so not sure what USPG may have on him. Pleased to have the correct year of SMITH's arrival in SA, most sources do suggest 1870 but I aim for accuracy! Do you know precisely when he left the SPG and joined as army chaplain? Part of the theme of my research into SA missionaries involves those who ended up in 'hot spots' (I am not referring to the weather here!) and SMITH certainly found himself in a spot hotter than most, at Rorke's Drift. Was his part in the heroic defence recognised in any tangible way? He wasn't awarded a medal - was he?
Next question (this is like the Spanish Inquisition, sorry): any chances of sending me a high resolution photo of SMITH that I would be allowed to use for publication? Copyright being such a minefield, I have no wish to transgress. Any suggestions for acquiring a photo would be welcomed.
Regards and thanks again for the input, Rosemary
PS I gather that there is a direct descendant out there, name of, wait for it, George SMITH.

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John Young


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 1020
Location: Lower Sheering, Essex
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Rosemary,

Try the following for photographs:-
The Museum of Army Chaplaincy
Amport House, Amport, near Andover, Hampshire SP11 8BG
tel 01264 773144 ext 4248
email [email protected]

Now in a new home after five years in storage!

John Y.
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Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1797
Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
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Rosemary

Glad to have helped.

Try John's suggestion re the photo. The two usual illustrations which generally appear in publications are those held by the Army Chaplains Dept (they show him in uniform). Lummis's little work, which is all right as far as it goes but includes a number of errors and misunderstandings, contains both of these portraits. He also appears in a number of AZW paintings.

Incidentally, I think I may (and the emphasis at present is on may) have located recently an unknown portrait photo of Smith. I need to complete more research on it & on the photographic studio which took it, and although I'm excited about the possibility, I would only rate the chances of its being him (and being able to prove it or demonstrate it as probable) at around 50% at present. I traced it only fairly recently and have done no work on it yet. (It's a little cdv). I'll flag it up here when I get round to summoning help!


Yes, the USPG are very helpful - most of their archives collection was transfered to Rhodes House, Oxford, a few years ago. Most Anglican clergy sponsored by the SPG were required to submit quarterly reports from the field, although they didn't always manage to do so that regularly. Smith didn't do badly, and was also a keen letter writer (and keen writer and communicator generally) so I've picked up correspondence from him in various sources. The SPG was the main Anglican missionary society in SA after the LMS (or was it the CMS, I'm not with my notes at present) withdrew their sole rep in Zululand when he witnessed the Retief murders in 1838.

Smith provisionally accepted the job as CF in Jly/Aug 79 but it took a few weeks of frantic correspondence between London and the new Army command in Zululand because it was suddenly realised he would be too old next birthday if they didn't cut through the red tape! His appointment began formally in Jan 80 although he was still at Isandlwana as late as Dec 79. No, he rec'd no medal - and there is no truth in the story that he was offered one, although one or two papers in Natal and England did raise the topic, this lobbying being no stronger, however, than that on behalf of several other RD defenders. He received regular promotions in the 80s and 90s and, of course, saw action again more than once. He was the only RD defender I can find whom I know to have returned to RD in later years, though I daresay there could be others, especially those who remained in SA.

I have undertaken quite a bit of biographical (and occasionally genealogical) research on Anglican missionaries in Zululand, Natal, British Kaffraria and Swaziland, and to a much lesser degree, on British non-Anglican as well as Norwegians, Americans and Germans. I have a number of files on the Anglicans and a reasonable library on the Zulu and Natal mission field, so may be able to answer any queries. I'm in regular touch with descendants of several of those who worked in Zululand before and after 1879 - Johnson, Roach, Lee, Oscroft, Jackson etc etc. (I have some leads on Smith descendants but am not yet in touch with any). My notes on Smith are much fuller than those on any other missionaries as I have researched his life (esp. the 1860s) before he left England and hope, before too long, to publish the results, although my researches are not yet complete.

Hope the above helps a little.

Peter
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Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1797
Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
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Just to clarify: by "no medal" I meant no decoration, as of course he rec'd the SA medal and later campaign medals.

PE
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Keith Smith


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 540
Location: Northern NSW, Australia
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Rosemary

I have sent you a private message with some information that may be helpful.

KIS
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Tom516


Joined: 08 Feb 2006
Posts: 136
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Rosemary wrote:

Next question (this is like the Spanish Inquisition, sorry): any chances of sending me a high resolution photo of SMITH that I would be allowed to use for publication? Copyright being such a minefield, I have no wish to transgress.


[SLAM! ] Twisted Evil Noooooooo one expects the Spanish Inquisition! Twisted Evil

(Sorry Rosemary I couldn't resist. Best wishes with your research, Tom)

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GlennWade


Joined: 16 Jan 2006
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Location: Swansea
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Twisted Evil Cardinal Fang...............................THE COMFY CHAIR! Shocked
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Keith Smith


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 540
Location: Northern NSW, Australia
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Rosemary

Sorry - I can't understand why you have not received it. Did you check your private messages? (Sorry, just asking!). In any case, I have sent the information again.

KIS
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Rich
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Recently, I just finished a book on the French and Indian War ("White Devil") about Robert Roger's attack on a French Indian settlement up in Canada. This was a reprisal raid done in vengeance for a previous massacre. The war then was pretty brutal to missionaries,fighters and civilian settlements who ventured in outlying territories.
As I was reading I wondered if anything like this happened to those missionaries who found themselves in Natal during the AZW. I have impression that the Zulus didn't persecute them at all and for the most part let them do their preaching and proselytizing.
Rosemary


Joined: 08 Oct 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Durban Natal South Africa
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The Zulus didn't exactly welcome the missionaries with open arms. In fact the first missionary to come to Natal, GARDINER, in 1835 was refused permission by Dingane to establish a mission station near Umgungundhlovu, so Gardiner did so at Port Natal instead. Later, 1837, Gardiner brought Rev Francis Owen of the Church Missionary Society, hoping to begin a mission to the Zulu people, but that sojourn was brief - Owen was witness to the massacre of Retief and his trekkers in Feb 1838 which was a strong incentive to the Rev to leave Natal almost immediately.
The American Board Missionaries (Adams, Venable, Wilson, Grout etc) also withdrew from Natal, leaving Lindley as their sole representative. It was 4 years before Adams took up his work at Umlazi which was near the Port and reasonably safe. The founder of the first mission station in Zululand itself was the Norwegian, Schreuder - Mpande refused him entry in 1843, and again in 1847, but eventually Schreuder founded three stations, at Mapumulo in 1850, Empangeni in 1851 and Entumeni in 1852; he established a rapport with Mpande through medical skills used to heal the king and had some influence among the Zulu, who admired his physical strength (the missionary on one occasion apparently strangled a leopard with his bare hands). During the Zulu War Schreuder's mission stations were the only ones spared destruction.

Regards, R

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Alekudemus


Joined: 15 Feb 2006
Posts: 147
Location: Monmouthshire/Gwent
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This is slightly off topic but could someone tell me how succesful the missionaries were? What % of the current population is Christian?
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Missionaries - how successful?
Rosemary


Joined: 08 Oct 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Durban Natal South Africa
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Current SA stats:

Christian 68% (includes most whites and Coloureds, about 60% of blacks and about 40% of Indians), Muslim 2%, Hindu 1.5% (60% of Indians), indigenous beliefs and animist 28.5%


R

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Alekudemus


Joined: 15 Feb 2006
Posts: 147
Location: Monmouthshire/Gwent
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Thanks Rosemary, I'd call 68% a good result. Nice to know the good Mr. Witt wasn't wasting his time.
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Anyone got more on Rev George SMITH?
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