Copy correspondence of Edward Stallybrass and Sarah Stallybrass

Photocopied letters, dated 1813-1847, from Edward and Sarah Stallybrass nee Robinson to Sarah's sister and brother-in-law, Ann Robinson Monds and Joseph Monds. The letters describe the meeting with Tsar Alexander of Russia, the journey to Selenginsk and their first impressions, their work in Selenginsk and Khodon, family matters, death of Sarah and marriage to Charlotte, and the suppression of the mission.

Edward Stallybrass was born at Royston, England in 1793 or 1794. He studied at Homerton College in East London and was ordained at Stepney in 1816. In the same year he became engaged to Sarah Robinson (1789-1833), the daughter of a tallow-chandler of Stepney and was appointed to the newly-established London Missionary Society's mission in Siberia. He married in 1817 and, together with his wife, travelled via Cronstadt and St Petersburg to Moscow. Here they were joined by Cornelius Rahm from Göteburg and granted an audience by the Tsar, Alexander I, who showed support for their work. They reached Irkutsk with Rahm and made an exploratory tour to Werchney, Oudinsk, Selenginsk and Kiachta, on the south-eastern side of the Baikal, 1818.

Stallybrass and his wife, settled at Selenginsk among the Buryat people and founded a mission station in 1819; made a tour into the country of the Chorinsky Buryats in 1822 and moved from Selenginsk to Khodon in 1828. Sarah Stallybrass died in February 1833 and was buried at Khodon. Edward, with his two sons, left Khodon in 1834; married, secondly, Charlotte Ellah of Elsinore (1808-1839) in Copenhagen and travelled to London before returning to St Petersburg in 1835. He spent time in St Petersburg revising the Mongolian scriptures; returned to Khodon in 1836 and completed and published his translation of the Old Testament into Mongolian, in 1840, In that same year the work of the LMS in Russia was suppressed by decree of the Orthodox synod. Stallybrass returned to England and retired from the LMS in 1841. His revision with William Swan (1791-1866, another LMS missionary at Seleningsk) of the Mongolian version of the New Testament (originally produced by the Russian Bible Society, 1824) was published in1846. Stallybrass was briefly headmaster of the Boys' Mission School, Walthamstow and pastor at Hampden Chapel, Hackney. He was pastor at Burnham, Norfolk from 1858 to 1870 and died at Shooter's Hill, Kent, 1884. His grave is in Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington.

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Copies donated by Ohio Wesleyan University Library in 1981 through the good offices of Professor Charles Bawden.

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The School of Oriental and African Studies holds the records of the London Missionary Society (Ref: CWM/LMS), including letters from individual missionaries, among them Stallybrass (Ref: CWM/LMS Russia Incoming Correspondence); his candidate's papers (Ref: CWM/LMS Candidates' Papers Box 15 No 41); journal of Stallybrass and C Rahm describing their journey from St Petersburg to Irkutsk (incomplete), 1818, Stallybrass's journal giving an account of the burial festival of the White Month, 1821, and Stallybrass's journal of a tour with W Swan in the country of the Chorinsky Buriats, 1822 (Ref: CWM/LMS Russia Journals Box 1); The School of Oriental and African Studies holds the records of the London Missionary Society (Ref: CWM/LMS), including letters from individual missionaries, among them Stallybrass (Ref: CWM/LMS Russia Incoming Correspondence); his candidate's papers (Ref: CWM/LMS Candidates' Papers Box 15 No 41); journal of Stallybrass and C Rahm describing their journey from St Petersburg to Irkutsk (incomplete), 1818, Stallybrass's journal giving an account of the burial festival of the White Month, 1821, and Stallybrass's journal of a tour with W Swan in the country of the Chorinsky Buriats, 1822 (Ref: CWM/LMS Russia Journals Box 1); letters, 1834-1841 and undated, of Edward and Charlotte Stallybrass to members of her family, the Ellahs of Elsinore, largely from Khodon, dealing mainly with family affairs, including Charlotte's death (Ref CWM/LMS Europe Personal Box 1); an engraving of his wife Sarah (Robinson) and a photograph, 1996, of his grave (Ref: CWM/LMS General Portraits Box 5). SOAS also holds photocopies of three letters, 1828, relating to the financial affairs of the LMS mission at Selenginsk, including references to Stallybrass and his fellow missionaries (Ref: MS 380624); SOAS also holds photocopies of three letters, 1828, relating to the financial affairs of the LMS mission at Selenginsk, including references to Stallybrass and his fellow missionaries (Ref: MS 380624).