| Summary: |
Papers of and relating to Thomas Birch Freeman, comprising his journals, 1837-1845, including a manuscript account of a journey from Badagry to Dahomey, 1842-1843, perhaps prepared for publication, with a letter, 1843, from George Maclean concerning the manuscript; copy of Governor William Winniett's journal of a tour in 1850 through the recently acquired Danish territories in the Gold Coast [Ghana]; letter books, 1848-1864; correspondence with colleagues, friends and associates, in particular correspondence with Forster and Smith of London (1855) and correspondence re Beulah Gardens (1880); manuscripts recording the work of the WMMS in the Gold Coast District including Freeman's history of the rise and progress of Wesleyan missions in the Gold Coast district to 1838, and typed transcript [20th century], lacking chapters I-II, of Freeman's reminiscences [1884] of the Gold and Slave Coasts, including his extensive travels in the region; manuscripts and papers on finances or the raising of funds in the Gold Coast District; copy certificate, 1928, recording Freeman's marriage to Lucinda Cowan (1840).
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| Admin history: |
Born at Twyford, Hampshire, son of an English mother (Amy Birch) and Thomas ? Freeman (possibly a freed African slave), on 6th December 1809; joined the Methodists; moved to Ipswich and became a local preacher; head gardener at Orwell Park, a Suffolk estate, but lost his position owing to his Methodist activism; accepted by the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, 1837; sailed to the Gold Coast [Ghana], West Africa, 1837-1838; missionary on the Cape Coast (where an indigenous Methodist church had been tenuously supported by a succession of English missionaries), 1838-1857; visited Kumasi, the Ashanti capital; married, for the second time, Lucinda Cowan (d 1841) at Bedminster, Somerset, 1840; visited England to appeal for funds and recruits, 1841; the publication of his journals made him a celebrity; his pioneering work in founding many mission stations and chapels in the area underpinned later Methodist success in Ghana, Western Nigeria, Benin and Togo; married for the third time, 1854; financial controversy and other difficulties caused him to retire from missionary work, 1857; civil commandant of Accra, 1857-1860; remained in the Gold Coast [Ghana], farming, writing, and preaching; returned as a missionary, to Anamabu, West Africa, 1873-1879; Accra, 1879-1886; retired and settled at Accra, 1886, dying there on 12th August 1890.
Further Reading:
Birtwhistle, N A, Thomas Birch Freeman, west African pioneer (1950);
Freeman, T B, Journal of two visits to the kingdom of Ashanti, in western Africa (2nd edition, 1843);
Freeman, T B, Journal of various visits to the kingdoms of Ashanti, Aku and Dahomi, in western Africa (2nd edition, 1844);
[Freeman, T B], Missionary enterprise no fiction. A tale founded on facts (1871);
Milum, J, Thomas Birch Freeman: missionary pioneer to Ashanti, Dahomey, and Egba (?1893);
Morrison, J A, The begnnings of Methodism in Ghana and Nigeria (1835-1885), with special reference to the role of the Rev. Thomas Birch Freeman (1985);
Walker, F D, Thomas Birch Freeman, the son of an African (1929). |
Born at Twyford, Hampshire, son of an English mother (Amy Birch) and Thomas ? Freeman (possibly a freed African slave), on 6th December 1809; joined the Methodists; moved to Ipswich and became a local preacher; head gardener at Orwell Park, a Suffolk estate, but lost his position owing to his Methodist activism; accepted by the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, 1837; sailed to the Gold Coast [Ghana], West Africa, 1837-1838; missionary on the Cape Coast (where an indigenous Methodist church had been tenuously supported by a succession of En ... View more |
| Related material: |
Also within the records of the (Wesleyan) Methodist Missionary Society is the official correspondence (with journal extracts and the odd paper) for Thomas Birch Freeman (MMS/West Africa/Correspondence/Gold Coast/FBN 9-12). Furthermore, the synod minutes will detail his work, and that of his colleagues, in the Gold Coast district (MMS/West Africa/Synod Minutes/Gold Coast/FBN 2-3). Additionally, SOAS holds a transcript of a letter from Freeman to the Wesleyan missionary Robert Brooking, 1855, describing the work of the Cape Coast mission (MS 380587). |
Also within the records of the (Wesleyan) Methodist Missionary Society is the official correspondence (with journal extracts and the odd paper) for Thomas Birch Freeman (MMS/West Africa/Correspondence/Gold Coast/FBN 9-12). Furthermore, the synod minutes will detail his work, and that of his colleagues, in the Gold Coast district (MMS/West Africa/Synod Minutes/Gold Coast/FBN 2-3). Additionally, SOAS holds a transcript of a letter from Freeman to the Wesleyan missionary Robert Brooking, 1855, describing the work of the Cape Coast mission (MS 3805 ... View more |
