The Unfolding Destiny of the British Bahai Community Part 122

PHILIP HAINSWORTH

Accepted the Faith in Bradford in 1938, and at the outbreak of War was the first British believer to register as a Baha'i in the Armed Forces. He had to appeal in Court when seeking exemption from being involved in the taking of life and, being released from combatant service, was drafted into the Royal Army Medical Corps. Prior to his release from military service in 1946, he spent five weeks in Haifa and in the same year pioneered to Nottingham. He was appointed Chairman of the National Youth Committee and Secretary of the National Teaching Committee and was elected to the National a.s.sembly in 1947. He subsequently pioneered to Oxford and Blackburn. In June 1951 he was one of the party of five pioneers who first went to Dar-es-Salaam and then on to Kampala, Uganda, where he became Secretary of the first local Spiritual a.s.sembly in 1952 and of the Regional National a.s.sembly in Central and East Africa in 1956. He returned to pioneer in the Leeds area in 1966, was elected to the National a.s.sembly in 1967 and is still (1979) a member.

WALTER WILKINS

Born in 1883 Walter embraced the Faith when he was about 40 years old. He was a keen Esperantist through which he learned of the Faith. He served for many years on the London Spiritual a.s.sembly and was on the National a.s.sembly for a year in 1934. Responding to the pioneer call of the Six Year Plan he moved to Birmingham in 1946, to Blackburn in 1947, to Norwich in 1948, and in 1961 at the age of 78 he pioneered to Canterbury. At the age of 82 he took a small flat in an old people's home where for the first time in his life he was able to entertain the friends and hold Feasts and even an a.s.sembly meeting. He pa.s.sed away after an accident on 19 March 1973.

MRS ALMA CYNTHIA GREGORY

Although she remembers her mother, Louise Ginman, going from town to town in the United States trying to find the Master, but reaching the place shortly after He had left, and speaks with feeling of personal involvement as a Baha'i youth, of many early meetings in London at the homes of Lady Blomfield, Claudia Coles, Ethel Rosenberg, "Mother" George and many others of that day, she did not formally register as a Baha'i in the British Isles until 1942. She pioneered to Northampton in August 1946 and helped to form its first a.s.sembly, leaving for Liverpool in 1949 for the same purpose. She subsequently pioneered to Bristol, Exeter and Stornoway; was the Secretary of the National Youth Committee when it launched its "Baha'i Youth Bulletin" from 1946 to 1948; was Secretary of the a.s.sembly Development Committee for some years and was a member of the National a.s.sembly for seven years between 1948 and 1956.

ROBERT CHEEK

Became a Baha'i in London on Naw-Ruz 1945, pioneered to Bournemouth in September 1946, to Bristol in 1947 to help form the first a.s.sembly there, and to Norwich in 1948 where he has lived since except for a short special pioneer project in Blackburn in 19501.

MRS JOAN GIDDINGS (nee BROWNE)

Accepted the Faith in Bradford in 1938. She pioneered first to Cardiff and later to York and Canterbury, and was active on a.s.semblies and on National Committees throughout her Baha'i life. She pa.s.sed away in Canterbury in 1978. (See also note about developments in Bradford under "Cyril and Margaret Jenkerson".)

HUGH AND VIOLET MCKINLEY

Hugh McKinley and his mother, Violet McKinley, pioneered from Torquay to Cardiff in 1947, serving on the first local Spiritual a.s.sembly when formed there in 1948. Together they pioneered to Nicosia, Cyprus in 1953, moving to Famagusta in 1958. Violet pa.s.sed away there in August 1959. In 1966 Hugh pioneered to Syros in the Cyclades Islands (Greece) and returned to the United Kingdom in October 1977. ("Baha'i World", Vol. XVI, p. 512.)

DR. LUTFU'LLaH HAKiM

Was born into a family of distinguished Jewish medical doctors in 1888.

His grandfather was the first Jew to embrace the Cause and Baha'u'llah revealed a Tablet in his honour. Lutfu'llah came to study physiotherapy in England in 1910 and he was in constant attendance on the Master during His visit in 1911. He went to serve in the Holy Land and returned to England in 1920 when he accompanied Shoghi Effendi. He later served with distinction in Persia and returned, at the request of the Guardian, to Britain in October 1948, where he taught and travelled extensively until called to Haifa by the Guardian on 14 November 1950. He was appointed to the first International Baha'i Council. He was elected to the first Universal House of Justice in 1963 but because of failing health and advanced age regretfully his resignation was accepted in October 1967 though he consented to serve until the 1968 election. He pa.s.sed away in August 1968 and the House cabled the Baha'i world: "GRIEVE ANNOUNCE Pa.s.sING LUTFU'LLaH HAKiM DEDICATED SERVANT CAUSE G.o.d. SPECIAL MISSIONS ENTRUSTED HIM, FULL CONFIDENCE REPOSED IN HIM BY MASTER AND GUARDIAN, HIS CLOSE a.s.sOCIATION WITH EARLY DISTINGUISHED BELIEVERS EAST WEST INCLUDING HIS COLLABORATION ESSLEMONT, HIS SERVICES PERSIA BRITISH ISLES HOLY LAND, HIS MEMBERs.h.i.+P APPOINTED AND ELECTED INTERNATIONAL BAHa'i COUNCIL, HIS ELECTION UNIVERSAL HOUSE JUSTICE WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED IMMORTAL ANNALS FAITH BAHa'U'LLaH." ("Baha'i World", Vol. XV, pp. 4304.)

FRED STAHLER

Arose to pioneer shortly after accepting the Faith in Manchester in 1947.

He pioneered first to Cardiff, then to Bristol, moved for varying periods to seven other cities and finally settled in Derby in 1965.

MRS. PRUDENCE GEORGE

Born in England in 1896 she moved to Canada in 1928 where she accepted the Faith in 1941. She first pioneered from St. Lambert to Moncton and then from Canada to England with her young daughter in 1946 to settle in Blackburn, Lancs. From there to Norwich and Bournemouth in the Six Year Plan and then to Edinburgh and Portsmouth. In 1959 she pioneered to Luxembourg and then in the Nine Year Plan, to Guernsey, to Chelmsford, Ess.e.x and again overseas to the Canary Islands. In 1969 she returned to England to pioneer in Hereford and St. Austell and then back again to the Canaries where she was on the first Spiritual a.s.sembly of Arucas. For over thirty years she served the Cause with utter consecration; carrying out at least sixteen pioneer projects in three continents. She pa.s.sed away in Birmingham, England on 12 July 1974. ("Baha'i World", Vol. XVI, p. 534.)

JOHN LUDLOW MARSHALL

"Johnny" was a Scot, born in 1876, went to work as a tinsmith at the age of eleven and later, after marriage, settled in Birmingham to pursue his trade. He was confirmed in the Faith by the Master, Whom he met in 1911 and 1913, when he was, for many years, the only Baha'i in Birmingham.

Johnny kept excellent records of visits and lectures by some of the early visitors to Birmingham, including Martha Root, Dr. Esslemont, Mountford Mills and Helen Bishop. At the age of 71 he retired from work and pioneered to Edinburgh where he died as a result of an accident in January 1948, only three months before the first Spiritual a.s.sembly was formed there.

MARY OLGA KATHERINE MILLS, Knight of Baha'u'llah

Born in Germany in 1882 with a German father and English mother she grew up with an insatiable love for travel. In the United States she married an Englishman. It is not certain when she accepted the Faith but she was on pilgrimage in 1930 and stayed for a month as companion to Effie Baker. She was later a great help to the friends in Berlin and Leipzig and gave much support to Adam Benke who pioneered to Sofia. After suffering many privations during the war in Germany she wrote to the Guardian in 1947 and he encouraged her suggestion to pioneer to England. She arrived in early 1948 and settled in her first pioneer post in Nottingham. Within nine months she was again on the move in response to pioneer calls. Belfast, Edinburgh, St. Ives, Brighton, and Bournemouth, making six moves in just over two years by a lady in her late sixties. In 1953 she responded immediately and was enrolled as a Knight of Baha'u'llah for Malta where, after numerous vicissitudes and a small but painful accident which affected her for many months, she was able, some twenty years later, to witness the formation of the first Spiritual a.s.sembly in Malta. She pa.s.sed away, after twenty-seven years of dedicated pioneering which covered four territories, in May 1974, when the Universal House of Justice cabled: "Pa.s.sING n.o.bLE SOUL OLGA MILLS GRIEVOUS LOSS BRITISH BAHa'i COMMUNITY. HER LONG STEADFAST DEVOTION BAHa'U'LLaH SHEDS l.u.s.tRE ANNALS FAITH THAT COMMUNITY. ISLAND MALTA HISTORICALLY FAMOUS CLa.s.sICAL CHRISTIAN ISLAMIC ERAS RECIPIENT NEW SPIRITUAL POTENTIALITIES THROUGH HEROIC SERVICE KNIGHT BAHa'U'LLaH DEDICATED BAND PIONEERS. EXPRESS FRIENDS RELATIVES LOVING SYMPATHY a.s.sURE ARDENT PRAYERS PROGRESS SOUL." ("Baha'i World", Vol. XVI, p. 531.)

ALFRED AND EDITH LUCY SUGAR

After hearing of the Faith from her brother, E. T. Hall, Lucy Sugar accepted the Faith on 28 November 1921, but Alfred remained agnostic until about 1925. He became well known for his depth of knowledge of the Faith and for his cogent argument. He was a teacher of the highest order and was largely responsible for the development of the Faith around Lancas.h.i.+re and over the Pennines into Bradford and Leeds. Lucy was a member of the National a.s.sembly in 1929 and Alfred was a member during eight of the following thirteen years.

Alfred died in December 1961 at the age of 92 (or 93) and was followed in March 1966 by Lucy aged 90.