The organisation of missionary societies & the recruitment of missionaries in Britain, & the role of missionaries in the diffusion of British culture in Jamaica during the period 1834-65

• Main Author: Ryall, Dorothy Ann
• Published: Royal Holloway, University of London 1959
• Subjects: 266.0234107292
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.362857

The aim of this study is to provide a. portrait of "the missionary personality" & to make an analysis of the political, economic, social, educational & religious roles performed by missionaries working in Jamaica during the thirty years following emancipation. The thesis examines the content of the missionaries' message, the methods by which it was conveyed & discusses the relation of religion to culture in Jamaica in this period. Much of the information has been derived from the archives of the missionary societies in Britain & Jamaica as well as from Jamaican newspapers & periodicals. It is felt that the disadvantage of increasing the length of the thesis by extensive quotation is counterbalanced by making available extracts from inaccessible sources, The background of Jamaican political, economic & social development during the period has been indicated in order to provide data sufficient to show the importance of the missionaries' influence. To this end, a resume of British colonial policy & the changing relations between mother - country & colony has also been given. The relevant features of the British ecclesiastical background & religious outlook in the period likewise set the scene for an account of the growth, organisation & administration of the missionary societies & the methods of recruiting & social origins of their missionaries. Short sections on the relations between the missionary societies & the Colonial Office & the administration of the missions in Jamaica serve to complete this picture of 19th-century missionary enterprise. The evidence here assembled suggests that the missionaries transmitted to Jamaica a replica of British religious culture, generally of a lower-middle class variety. When the social & economic circumstances of their hearers were favourable, they were easily able to reproduce this British model & the missionaries' ideas received a ready response. When the island was crippled by unrelieved economic depression, few had the necessary educational attainments & personal incentive to maintain their allegiance. From the mid-18 1&O's large numbers reverted to formerly-practised, yet still latent, African religions. In many cases these were combined with Christianity as practised by the missionaries & their more faithful followers.