Rev Arthur Joseph Hopkins correspondence and photographs
Letters written and received by Rev A J Hopkins; papers on and photographs of the Methodist mission in Kenya; notes, etc, on regional languages (particularly Meru); published translations of Christian texts into regional languages.
| Date(s) of creation: |
1910s-2002 |
|---|---|
| Level: |
Sub-series |
| Format: | Archive |
| Main author: | Hopkins; Arthur Joseph (1883-1965); ordained missionary, linguist |
| Summary: |
Letters written and received by Rev A J Hopkins; papers on and photographs of the Methodist mission in Kenya; notes, etc, on regional languages (particularly Meru); published translations of Christian texts into regional languages. |
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|---|---|---|
| Main author: | Hopkins; Arthur Joseph (1883-1965); ordained missionary, linguist | |
| Extent: |
2 boxes |
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| Admin history: | Arthur Joseph Hopkins was born on the 11 May 1883 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, to the Rev & Mrs J G Hopkins, who were United Methodists. He was educated at King Edward's Grammar School, Birmingham, and entered the ministry in 1908. After postings to English circuits (including Birkenhead, Bristol South and Rochdale) followed by one year of medical training he was sent overseas to East Africa in May 1918. By 1929 ill health forced him to return to England (working in the Sheffield circuit for one year and then the Bristol South circuit for four years) but he returned overseas in 1934 and remained in Kenya until his retirement in 1950. Hopkins' (or 'Hoppy' as he seems to have been universally called by friends and colleagues) missionary work began in Ribe in 1918 but by 1921 he had been posted to work along the Tana River, where prior to the First World War German missionaries had worked. After two years his health forced him to relocate to Meru, then he returned briefly to England before locating to Ribe again. In 1929 his health was sufficiently poor for him to be recalled to work in English circuits. In those eleven years in Kenya Hopkins assisted in expanding the mission as well as encouraging education and literacy, particularly through the founding of a teacher training institute in Ribe. Hopkins returned to Kenya as Chairman of the District in 1934 after the sudden death of the Rev R T Worthington (amongst the first things Hopkins oversaw was the building of a memorial church in Meru to his predecessor). From the start of his tenure he advanced the growth of education and literacy in mission schools including supporting the Native Council's call for the foundation of a large teaching training centre which was realised in 1949. In the post war period he and his colleagues provided greater resources for adult education. Under his tenure there was also growth in medical provision as well as agricultural and industrial interests. Hopkins used his tenure as Chairman to facilitate the growth of an indigenous church, chairing the meeting that wound up the Kenya Missionary Council and being involved in the creation of the Christian Council of Kenya in 1944. He often stated the view that what the Church saw as problematic African customs were best resolved by African Christians themselves. Hopkins also served on a number of colonial committees and inter-church organisations. To the Meru he was known as 'Mwigithania' ('The Reconciler'). In 1950 he retired to England and was a supernumerary first in Witney, Oxfordshire, and later in Bournemouth, Dorset. He spent much of his remaining years on translation work. Previously, in 1946, he had been involved in the translation of the Four Gospels & Acts into Kimeru, and in retirement this was followed by the New Testament in 1952, Psalms in 1955 and lastly the complete Meru Bible in 1964. Hopkins was awarded an OBE in 1951 and died in Bournemouth on the 20th May 1965. Further Reading: Hopkins, A. J., Trail Blazers and Road Makers (1928); Hopkins, A. J., The Methodist Church in Kenya: the Meru Bible: translation of the Scriptures into Kimeru (1962); Nthamburi, Z. J., History of the Methodist Church in Kenya (1982). | Arthur Joseph Hopkins was born on the 11 May 1883 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, to the Rev & Mrs J G Hopkins, who were United Methodists. He was educated at King Edward's Grammar School, Birmingham, and entered the ministry in 1908. After postings to English circuits (including Birkenhead, Bristol South and Rochdale) followed by one year of medical training he was sent overseas to East Africa in May 1918. By 1929 ill health forced him to return to England (working in the Sheffield circuit for one year and then the Bristol South circ ... View more |
| Custodial history: | Mrs R Alison Lewis acquired the papers from the Hopkins family between 1965 and 2002 | |
| Acquisition: |
Gift, accepted on behalf of the Methodist Church, from Mrs R Alison Lewis, in 2002, 2004, 2009 & 2013 |
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| Arrangement: | The four accessions have been combined and arranged as follows: correspondence, manuscripts, visual material, personal papers and published material. | |
| Access status: |
Open |
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| Copyright: | Copyright mostly 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 Meru Kikuyu Swahili (macrolanguage) Masai |
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| Related material: | Unfortunately the only archive source extant for the records of the United Methodist Missionary Society (UMMS) is their minutes (MMS/Home/Minutes/FBN 6). After 1932 the records of the Methodist Missionary Society (MMS) do include synod minutes (MMS/South Africa/Synod Minutes/FBN 8 & Box 1255) and correspondence (MMS/Southern Africa/Synod Minutes/FBN 39 & Box 1256) for Kenya up to 1950. Hopkins, as Chairman of the District, will be well represented in both of these. Hopkins wrote quite a large number of articles for both the annual reports and missionary magazines of the UMMS and the MMS. | Unfortunately the only archive source extant for the records of the United Methodist Missionary Society (UMMS) is their minutes (MMS/Home/Minutes/FBN 6). After 1932 the records of the Methodist Missionary Society (MMS) do include synod minutes (MMS/South Africa/Synod Minutes/FBN 8 & Box 1255) and correspondence (MMS/Southern Africa/Synod Minutes/FBN 39 & Box 1256) for Kenya up to 1950. Hopkins, as Chairman of the District, will be well represented in both of these. Hopkins wrote quite a large number of articles for both the annu ... |
| Format: | Archive |