Scrapbook of letters relating to the 'Bombay Guardian' newspaper

Scrapbook of letters dating mainly from 1899, the majority addressed to Henry Stanley Newman, who was proprietor of the 'Bombay Guardian' from that date. The newspaper, managed by the Society of Friends, was a general Christian newspaper published weekly from its offices in Bombay.

At front are included a published photograph of George Bowen [first general editor of the 'Bombay Guardian']; and a published photograph of George Gillett [London supporter of the newspaper]

The letters reflect the difficulties of operating the newspaper, its funding, circulation and editorship. There is little comment reflecting the newspaper's purposes, which were to spread the knowledge of the Gospel, to oppose and extinguish the traffic in vice and in opium, and to promote total abstinence from intoxicating liquors.

The 'Bombay Guardian' was first published on 7 March 1851 by a committee of missionaries, following a resolution of the Bombay Missionary Conference. Information from the Friends House Library, Euston, identifies it as a weekly publication for the Indian branch of the Society for the Abolition of the State Regulation of Vice. George Bowen (1816-1888), member of the American Methodist Episcopal Church in Bombay and one of the original editiorial committee of five, became its sole editor in 1854. After his death the publication was taken on by the Society of Friends and Alfred Dyer became its editor. That role subsequently passed to Henry Stanley Newman. By 1915 the newspaper's strapline was 'The Christian weekly newspaper circulating throughout India and the East'. By 1923 the name had changed to 'The Guardian' and its printing had moved to Calcutta; in 1932 its printing was undertaken in Madras under the strapline 'A Christian weekly journal of public affairs'. It continued as 'The Guardian' until at least the late 1950s; but then its publishers, the Mission Press and Guardian Mission Trust, were wound up in c 2010.
Henry Stanley Newman (1837-1912) was editor of the Quaker weekly paper 'The Friend' between 1892 and 1912, and was honorary secretary of the Friends Foreign Mission Association [FFMA]. In 1873 he had established the Orphans Printing Press in Leominster. He brought the 'Bombay Guardian' through crisis in 1899, bought the press and secured it on a more secure business footing. In 1863 he had married Mary Ann Pumphrey, sister of Caroline Westcombe Pumphrey. The Newmans lived in Leominster, H.S. Newman working as a wholesale and retail grocer and minister of the Society of Friends.

Sources: the letters in this scrapbook
MS880 at CRL
Introduction to records of the 'Bombay Guardian' Mission Pres and Guardian Mission Trust (ref: EMP MSS 941) at Friends House Library, Euston

Open, access to all registered researchers.

Transferred from OLRC [Orchard Learning Resource Centre], July 2015

Please see full catalogue for more information.

Front cover of volume missing, back cover loose; spine leather affected by red rot

Catalogued by A. George, in accordance with guidelines provided by ICA General International Standard Archival Description (ISAD(G)), second edition, Ottawa; and in-house cataloguing guidelines, July 2015

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Director of Special Collections. Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

The full provenance of this volume prior to its being held in the University of Birmingham Orchard Learning Resource Centre, Selly Oak, is not known. It is perhaps possible that the volume passed to the Woodbrooke Quaker College in Selly Oak prior to tranfer to OLRC.

Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections also holds historical notes relating to the 'Bombay Guardian', reference MS880
'Bombay Guardian' 1903-1916, 1930-1942, 1953-1957 at OLRC, University of Birmimgham (plus some isues 1889, 1891-1893, 1895-1900 in very poor condition)

Associated Materials
'Bombay Guardian' 1851-1891 (microfilm) at British Library
Friends House Library (http://www.quaker.org.uk/library ): records relating to the 'Bombay Guardian' including H.S. Newman's History, 1851-1899; trustees' minutes (refs: TEMP MSS 941; MSS ACC 10595; TEMP MSS 20); incomplete set of the periodical (ref: in Periodicals Collection)