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.
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.