Revd Arthur James Maxwell (Max) Saint (1910-2007) attended St John's College Oxford and spent three years in India before returning to England where he was ordained in 1935. He was assistant priest at the Church of St Peter ad Vincula in Stoke-on-Trent before taking-up a post in Borneo in 1937. He was vicar of Kuching in January 1938 and subsequently became Headmaster of St Thomas' School in Kuching where he introduced compulsory physical education and introduced scouting. His wife's family had connections with the McDougalls and these transcriptions were created whilst researching their history. He wrote Twenty Years in Sarawak, 1848-1868: 'A Flourish for the Bishop' and 'Brooke's Friend Grant': Two Studies in Sarawak History. He left Borneo in November 1941.
There are extensive handwritten notes and annotations made to transcriptions which appear to have been made by Saint. A key to Saint's notes is also included (U DX318/3/11).
The main authors of the letters in this collection are Bishop Francis Thomas McDougall (18171886) and his wife Harriette nee Bunyon (1818-1886). The material traces McDougall's career, but focuses in particular on the family's time as missionaries in Sarawak. During his time at Oxford McDougall was part of the winning team of the 1842 boat race. He was ordained in Norwich in 1845 and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1854. McDougall worked for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) which was formed in 1701. In 1965 it joined with University Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) to form the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG).
McDougall and Harriette married in 1843. In 1848 McDougall, Harriette and one of their children arrived in Sarawak, leaving their eldest son, Charles, at school in Ipswich, where he later died from injuries sustained from a cricket ball. In Sarawak they established a church, school and dispensary with McDougall using his medical training extensively in the local area. In 1855 McDougall was consecrated as the first Bishop of Labuan. There was considerable unrest in the region at this time, including an insurrection in 1857, and there are accounts of piracy, tribal disputes and political affairs included in this collection. In 1862 McDougall was in a ship attacked by pirates where his involvement in the defence of the ship and its crew led to him being widely criticised for many years.
The McDougall's returned to England in 1868 and served in Godmanchester, Ely, Winchester and the Isle of Wight before they died within six months of each other in 1886. Both are buried at Shorwell, Isle of Wight.
The original letters were written by Bishop F.T. McDougall, Harriette McDougall, Herbert [their son], Elizabeth Wooley, John Harvey B.C.L., G.E.L. Cotton, Bishop of Calcutta, Rajah Charles Brooke, Lady Lucy Grant, W.N. Nicholls, James Brooke Brooke, Lord Eustace Cecil, Revd Walter Chambers, C.T. Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury, Revd J Glover and Revd W Chalmers, Revd W Hackett and Charles J Bunyon.
The recipients include Sophia McDougall, Fanny Sawyer, Annie, a Bishop, probably Charles Baring of Durham, Charles J. Bunyon, Eliza Bunyon, Dean of Winchester (Bramston), Frank Turner, Bishop F.T. McDougall, Revd Ernest Hawkins, Ellen Robson, Revd T.F. Stooks, Revd C.D. Brereton, Fanny Sawyer, Revd W. Wright, John Robson, Mrs Bunyon (Harriette's mother), Ellen Bunyon, Captain C.D.R. Bethune, Sir Francis Beaufort K.C.B., Revd W.T. Bullock, Eliza Bunyon, Brooke Brooke, Frances Colenso, S. Clark, Esq., Fanny Sawyer, Lady Lucy Grant, Rajah James, Sophy McDougall, James Brooke Brooke, Sir Frederick Rogers, the Secretary for the Colonies, Bishop (A.C. Tait) of London, S.P.G.[ Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts], The Guardian, Revd E.B. Evelyn, Matilda Grant, John Grant, Charles Grant and Mab McDougall.
The letters were written from a number of locations including Ireland, Sarawak, Godmanchester, Ely, Winchester, Corsica, Milford Vicarage, Lymington, Shorwell, Isle of Wight, Calcutta, Purton House, Wiltshire, London, Singapore, Littlehampton Forncett St Mary, Norfolk, Schooner 'Julian' off Jahore, Kuching, Penang, Hong Kong, HMS Hastings, Malacca, Santubong, St Asaph [Denbighshire], King Weston [Bristol], ships 'Alfred', HMS Spartan, Borneo, Labuan, Dublin, Malta, S.S.Baliana, Kuching, Steamer 'Rainbow', P & O Steamer 'Baroda' and Leatherhead.
The information in the catalogue has been compiled from material contained within the collection.
