Wright Family Album

Shudy Camps 1925-1930, Africa 1925-1936

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The Vicarage, Shudy Camps  




     Shudy Camps Vicarage

     and Church
St Mary's Church, Shudy Camps  

At Shudy Camps we spent 5½ happy years.  It was just the place for children, nice large house and garden, surrounded by fields and lanes where they could play to their heart’s content.
Auntie Pem w  GWW and family
Father returned to Sierra Leone in March 1925 and in June his sister, Aunty Pem, who was assistant matron in a London hospital, decided to retire from her work and come to live with us. There, it seemed, was an answer to our prayers and she said she would look after Barbara and the rest of the family in the holidays, so I was free to join father.

Auntie Pem with GWW and the children

I sailed in October and was able to do my little bit in helping him in his busy life.  Those first months in the Diocese made me realise how necessary it was for me to be with him - 101 little things I could do to relieve him and give him more time and energy for the more important work he was doing.  So, we planned that, if possible, I should join him after the summer or Christmas holidays and spend some months with him. He used to come home for two or three months in the summer as it was then the rainy season in Sierra Leone, which made travelling and much of work impossible.

African pictures:

1. GWW on the verandah at Bishop's Court, Sierra Leone.   2. GWW & Archdeacon Purnell   3. Sierra Leone 1927 Bishop's Court

1.   2.   3.

4. Staff of Princess Christian Mission Hospital   5. With the owner of the hut   6.The start after breakfast
4.    5.   6.

7. The only means of crossing. Permanent bridge down   8. Government Rest House - York. With the Head Man   9. An early morning interview. Government Rest House, York
7.   8.   9.

10. With the school children at York. Outside church   11. With the D.C. at Waterloo   12. Light in primeval darkness - York... forest
10.   11.   12.

13. The 'Down Road' from Hill Station Sierra Leone   14. Mothers' Union House, Sierra Leone (with a room named May Wright Annexe)   15. GWW on board SS Aba
13.   14.    15.

Most of the time in England was spent in deputation work and working on a new constitution for the Sierra Leone Church, now a self-governing body. This work brought him into touch with many learned men in the home Church, including the Bishops of Chichester and Salisbury both of whom invited us to their palaces for a brief visit.

After a year or two father realised what a colossal work he had under-taken.  Besides the work of the Church in Sierra Leone and the missionary work in the Protectorate, which really needed all his time, he had, in addition, the shepherding of the flock in the Rio Pongas, French Guinea and the Gambia; the supervision of the English people and their Church in the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores, which are half way across to America; then the whole of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia where there were numbers of English people, whose spiritual welfare was his responsibility, missionaries and four English Churches which had to be provided with Chaplains.  How could one man do really efficient work when such tremendous distances had to be covered and so many Churches and people had to be shepherded?

The first survey of the Diocese took five years and in 1928 father approached the Archbishop of Canterbury about the practicability of dividing the Diocese into 3.  Archbishop Davidson was cautious - where was the money to come from for the new Dioceses?  Who would undertake the responsibility?  Who would provide the Bishops? Father, always optimistic, never gave up hope, and when Archbishop Lang was made Archbishop, he approached him about his project of dividing the diocese.  He was very sympathetic and decided that something must be done.  In quite a short time S.P.G. consented to become responsible for a new Diocese which included the Rio Pongas and Gambia Missions.  Their first Bishop was consecrated in 1935.  That left North Africa, Madeira, Canary Islands and the Azores.  Would C.M.S. agree to keep responsibility for this part of the Diocese, appoint and finance a Bishop who would extend missionary work amongst the Muslims? They were approached but felt they could not commit themselves to undertake any more spheres of work. Dr. Wilson Cash who was then C.M.S. General Secretary suggested that B.C.M.S. should be asked if they would become responsible.  Father did this and they consented, asking him to become the first Bishop.  So in October 1936 he did this and became the first Bishop in North Africa.

To go back to the family in England, David was born in September 1926, our last child “born in the purple” which is the title given to a child born to a Bishop who is actively engaged in his work.
I took him out to Sierra Leone in January 1927, much to the delight of our African friends, but not to the Government Officials.  The country was then called “the White man’s Grave”.  If a white child could live and thrive there, the reputation of the country would go up and the concessions given to white people living there would be taken away.

David in Freetown


David in Las Palmas, Grand Canary
  

More family pictures

1. Barbara with Betty     2. Barbara     3. Barbara with Peggy
1.   2.   3.   

4. Elizabeth     5. Pip     6. Doris, cousin Margaret White, Betty, Basil, Hugh, Gordon, A Pem, Phil
4.   5.   6.  

7. A Pem with David     8. all eight children in 1927     9. females only: Barbara, Doris, Betty, AMW

7.   8.  9.  

10. GWW with all eight children     11. Gordon, GWW, Barbara, Phil, Basil, AMW, David, Maid, Doris, Hugh     12. same with AMW

10.   11.   12.   

13. Philip     14. Betty      15. David and Pip

13.   14.   15.  

16. Phil holding David, Basil Hugh Doris Barbara Daddy after playing tennis     17. Barbara, David and Pip     18. Barbara, A Pem and Pip
16.    17.   18.

19. A Pem and Barbara     20. Barbara and Marie Payne.
19.   20.


Taken at Coombeside, Penselwood (the home of AMW's parents, Harry and Anna Binns):
21. Family Group   22. Three girls at Coombeside for Easter Holidays NB Doris & Barbara have to wear school uniforms   23. David and Barbara
21.   22.   23.

24. David on the rockery   25. GWW, Barbara, AMW, David   26. AMW David & maid.
24.   25.   26.

27. AMW
27.

Doris' memories

Basil's memories

David's memories

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