Walker Manuscripts

This collection comprises personal papers of Robert Henry Walker relating to his service as a CMS missionary, together with some papers of the Walker family. It includes originals and copies of Robert Walker's letters to his family and friends, 1887-1903, some of his writings, including manuscripts of articles, and an English-Luganda vocabulary. The family papers include a diary, possibly of his sister, which records visits to Paris in the 1880s and 1890s, and correspondence between the family and E. S. Daniell about a proposed biography of Walker's life, 1946. The collection includes a small number of photographs, including a group of the first five women missionaries to Uganda and another of Daudi, Kabaka of Uganda, c. 1900.

Robert Henry Walker (1857-1939), Archdeacon of Uganda was educated at Dedham School, and St John's College, Cambridge where he obtained his BA ( Theology) in 1879. He was ordained a deacon in 1880 and a priest in 1881 and became curate of All Souls, Langham Place, London until 1887 when he was accepted as a Church Missionary Society missionary. He served largely at Mengo, Uganda. In 1892 he was appointed Archdeacon of Uganda by Bishop Tucker and he was also Secretary of the Uganda Mission. He married Eleanor Barbour in 1910 and retired from missionary service in 1913. He translated Oxford Helps to Study of the Bible into Luganda.

Reference: Register of missionaries (clerical, lay & female) and native clergy from 1804 to 1904 ( Church Missionary Society, 1905 ) ; unpublished additions to this register in the CMS archives.

This collection forms part of the Church Missionary Society Unofficial Papers. It is arranged into one series (and sub-series): Family Papers

Open. Access to all registered researchers.

The original provenance of this collection is unknown. It was transferred on permanent loan to the Special Collections Department by the CMS in the 1980s.

See full catalogue for more information.

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the University Archivist, 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 Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult.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 Special Collections Department holds the Church Missionary Society Archive, the official archive of the society (GB 150 CMS), which includes papers relating to Robert Walker's service as a CMS missionary.

The University of Birmingham, Special Collections Department and the Orchard Learning Resources Centre hold a rich collection of archives relating to missions, charities and other religious and ecclesiastical organisations and individuals.

Additional papers of Robert Walker are held by other repositories: letters (c.100) to his family, c1890-1906 at Cambridge University Library: Royal Commonwealth Society Library (GB 115 MSS 45); correspondence including letters to his family and letters from Apolo Kagwa and Ham Mukasa, c.1889-1906 at Cambridge University Library, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives (GB 012 Add 9552); correspondence with Lord Lugard at Oxford University: Rhodes House Library (GB 162 MSS Brit Emp s 30-90).