Christopher Thackray Eddy and Margaret Eddy correspondence
Collection includes a volume of transcribed correspondence of Margaret Eddy; articles and cuttings on the work of the Eddys and others in the (Wesleyan) Methodist Misssionary Society Gold Coast District; images of educational establishments they worked at along with their colleagues and students (no...
| Date(s) of creation: |
1929-1998 |
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| Level: |
Sub-series |
| Format: | Archive |
| Main author: | Eddy; Christopher Thackray (1906-1999); educational missionary |
| Other authors: | Eddy; Margaret (1908-1984); née Liversidge; missionary wife |
| Summary: |
Collection includes a volume of transcribed correspondence of Margaret Eddy; articles and cuttings on the work of the Eddys and others in the (Wesleyan) Methodist Misssionary Society Gold Coast District; images of educational establishments they worked at along with their colleagues and students (notably at Wesley College, Kumasi, and Winneba Training College) as well as images of Ashanti including the coronation of Prempeh II, King of the Ashanti and the golden stool. |
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|---|---|---|
| Main author: | Eddy; Christopher Thackray (1906-1999); educational missionary | |
| Other authors: | Eddy; Margaret (1908-1984); née Liversidge; missionary wife | |
| Extent: |
2 boxes |
|
| Admin history: | Christopher Thackray Eddy was born in Prestwich, Lancashire, on New Year's Day 1906. Born into a Methodist family (his grandfather was the Rev John Thackray) he attended Holgate Grammar School in Barnsley, Yorkshire, before studying at Queen's College, Cambridge. During his second year (whilst studying Natural Science) he heard the Rev W J Platt speak on Methodist missions and the Prophet Harris in West Africa and he realised this was where his future lay. Encouraged by the WMMS he changed his degree to English Literature and then undertook a postgraduate course in teaching. After two years teaching at the Newcastle Royal Grammar School he joined the WMMS in 1930 and was sent, with little missionary preparation, to their Gold Coast District. His first appointment was at Wesley College, Kumasi, where he was involved in teacher training. During his first furlough (1932) he married Margaret Liversidge (born 23 November 1908), a teacher who had trained at Southlands College and who became immediately involved with her husband's work until she returned to England in 1945 to raise their family. By 1935 Eddy was Vice-Principal of the college and responsible for teacher training until the end of the war (he was also a local preacher and served as an officer in the Home Guard). In 1945 he was appointed as Supervisor of Methodist Schools in the Ashanti being promoted five years later to General Manager of Methodist Schools with oversight of some 650 schools. During this period he also served two brief spells as headmaster of the Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast, in 1947 and 1949. In 1952 he was seconded to Kwame Nkrumah's pre-independence administration as Assistant Director of Education and tasked with developing a teacher training programme. In 1957 he returned briefly to the MMS as Vice-Principal of Komenda College before being seconded as Principal to the government's training college at Winneba. Whilst there he oversaw an expansion in teaching services (including a substantial building programme) and established the National Teacher Training Council, serving as its first president. During this period his brother Geoffrey, a minister serving in the district, became its chairman in 1955 leading the church to form its own Methodist connexion in 1960. In August 1960 Christopher Eddy returned to England but remained in education, initially at a teaching training college for students from Malaysia in Kirby, Liverpool, and later as Vice-Principal of Westminster College, Oxford. Eddy continued his work as a local preacher and in retirement spent three years as a part-time educational consultant for the MMS including visiting Kenya, Zambia and Rhodesia [Zimbabwe]. Margaret died on 11 May 1984 with her husband living for another fifteen years until 1 November 1999. One of their sons, also named Christopher, is a Methodist minister, who served for seven years in Sierra Leone. Further reading: Bartels, F L, The Roots of Ghana Methodism (1965). | Christopher Thackray Eddy was born in Prestwich, Lancashire, on New Year's Day 1906. Born into a Methodist family (his grandfather was the Rev John Thackray) he attended Holgate Grammar School in Barnsley, Yorkshire, before studying at Queen's College, Cambridge. During his second year (whilst studying Natural Science) he heard the Rev W J Platt speak on Methodist missions and the Prophet Harris in West Africa and he realised this was where his future lay. Encouraged by the WMMS he changed his degree to English Literature and then und ... View more |
| Acquisition: |
Collection accepted as a donation on behalf of the Methodist Church from Antony Eddy, March 2012 |
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| Arrangement: | The collection has been arranged into four sections: Manuscripts, Visual material, Published material and Objects. | |
| Access status: |
Open |
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| Copyright: | Copyright mainly held by Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes | |
| User restrictions: | For permission to publish, please contact Archives & Special Collections, SOAS Library in the first instance | |
| Language: | English Akan |
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| Related material: | Also within the records of the (Wesleyan) Methodist Missionary Society is the official correspondence for Christopher Eddy (MMS/West Africa/Correspondence/FBN 16-18 and boxes 1249 & 1250). Further information on Eddy's work, as well as the work of his colleagues, should be contained in the relevant Synod Minutes (MMS/West Africa/Synod Minutes/FBN 11-12 and boxes 1241-1244). Further images taken by him are also available (MMS/West Africa/Photographs/Box 1195A, files 17 & 18). | |
| Format: | Archive |