Fundraising Certificate, Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society

A certificate issued by the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society to Margaret Clarke for raising £46.8.7½ towards the work of the Society between 1927 and 1933.

The certificate is signed by Rev. Walter James Noble, General Secretary of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, the local Methodist minister, and the Dunstable Missionary Secretaries (including Miss Doris Monk, daughter of a local shopkeeper).

The certificate is illustrated with an image of John Wesley and includes seven individual coloured wax seals for each year of service collecting funds for the Society. Size: 11 inches x 14 inches.

Margaret Clarke was born in Dunstable, Bedfordshire in 1917. She was the daughter of Harry and Alice Clarke, who had moved to Dunstable from North London, when the paper manufacturing firm Cross and Company relocated in 1911.

Clarke was educated at The Cedars School, Leighton Buzzard. She was brought up with a strong non-conformist belief and attended The Square Methodist Church, Dunstable with her parents. Clarke was a keen supporter of the overseas work of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society and regularly collected contributions from local Methodists towards the work of the Society.

Margaret Clarke met Martin Shepherd in 1944 when he was stationed at Dunstable barracks with the Royal Engineers during the Second World War. The couple met in the canteen of the Methodist Church whilst Clarke was on duty serving refreshments to soldiers, they were subsequently married at The Square Church, Dunstable. Following the end of the war, the couple moved to Birmingham, where Margaret Shepherd continued to be active within the Methodist Church and support its overseas work. Margaret Shepherd (née Clarke) died in Birmingham in 1995.

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Donated to SOAS Library in February 2012.

SOAS Library also holds the archival records of the Methodist Missionary Society (Ref: MMS), which include the records of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (WMMS).