IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0102 PP MS 34
Held at: School of Oriental and African Studies
Title: Millman, William
Date(s): Created 1890-1957
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 13 boxes
Name of creator(s): Millman | William | 1872-1956 | missionary
Millman | Edith | d 1952 | missionary | wife of Walter Stapleton and later of William Millman
Stapleton | Walter | d 1906 | missionary
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
William Millman was born on 1 March 1872. His upbringing was strict and puritanical, his parents being devout Congregationalists. He trained as a pupil-teacher in Wolverhampton in 1885, and then moved with his family to Leicester in 1888, where he became a teacher in 1893. In 1897 he was accepted by the Baptist Missionary Society and in the same year left England for the Congo. Shortly after his arrival in Yakusu, Walter Stapleton, the missionary responsible for the station, left on furlough, leaving Millman in charge. During his own first furlough in 1901, he married. Tragically, shortly after their return to Yakusu, his wife died. In 1906, Walter Stapleton died. Millman took it upon himself to visit his widow, Edith, to return various personal effects left behind in the mission field. In 1908 Millman and Edith were married and returned together to Yakusu. In 1909 their daughter, Litwasi, was born. In 1912 Litwasi was taken to live in England while William and Edith continued their missionary work in Africa. During their time there, they undertook the building of a hospital and a church premises, and William used his language skills to translate much of the New Testament into Lokele. Upon their retirement from the mission field, they returned to live in Worthing, England. Edith died of natural causes in 1952, and William Millman died on 14 March 1956.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Papers, 1890-1957, of William Millman and his wife's first husband, Walter Stapleton, comprising correspondence, education and language (Lokele) material concerning missionary work in Yakusu, Belgian Congo (Zaire), Central Africa. Also includes photographs of missionaries and tribal groups, and a copy of a volume of the experiences of Edith Millman (1913-1938), taken from her letters and diaries.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English, Lokele and French
System of arrangement:
The collection is arranged into the following sections: correspondence of Walter Stapleton; correspondence of William Millman; reports on missionary work and projects in Yakusu; Bible study notes and sermons; language work and texts in the Lokele language; miscellaneous; photographs; J J Butterworth; Edith Millman. Material is arranged chronologically within each section.
Conditions governing access:
Unrestricted.
Conditions governing reproduction:
No publication without written permission. Apply to archivist in the first instance.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
Unpublished handlist.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Donated in 1988.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
The Baptist Missionary Society Archive is held at the Angus Library, Regent's Park College, Oxford.
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Date(s) of descriptions: 16 May 2000