Southern Africa Incoming Correspondence: Matabeleland

Incoming correspondence from missionaries in Matabeleland to the London Missionary Society headquarters to 1899.

Early letters from the Matabeleland field illustrate the beginnings of the mission, which was pioneered by Robert Moffat who travelled North from his station established at Kuruman. He was soon joined at Inyati [Nyathi] by William Sykes and Thomas Morgan Thomas. The mission had the approval of the Matabele leader Mzilikazi [referred to in the letters as Moselekatse] whom Moffat had first visited in 1830. The mission extended to Hope Fountain. Principal correspondents other than those already mentioned were Charles Helm, William Allan Elliott, David Carnegie, Bowen Rees and Cullen Reed.

From 1900, Matabeleland letters are kept with the correspondence for Bechuanaland in the South Africa sequence.

Open

*A detailed list for incoming correspondence from Matabeleland, 1835-1899 (list E4) is available for consultation in the Special Collections Reading Room, SOAS Library.

Catalogued