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The journey would be long and complicated with many risks and challenges, but thousands of Europeans like Johanna were willing to do it. To start with the ship she was on was due to travel across the North Sea to Grimsby, England. There she and her companions would travel by train across the country to Liverpool where they would board the final vessel, The William Tapscott, to cross the Atlantic to New York.1 In America, she and her emigrant company would continue their journey by steamboat and wagon across the Great Plains. It was going to take months to get there.

Johanna had been raised in a Lutheran home near Drammen, Norway. When her brother, Peter, converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in June 1854 it caused no end of drama and tension in their home and community. Yet he was resolute in his faith. A year later Johanna and Peter’s father, Johan, lay dying in his bed. Peter continued to preach the gospel to Johan who was close to accepting it when he died. Johanna’s mother, Anna, became more receptive to the restored gospel and was baptised in 1856.

In 1858, Peter was serving as a missionary in Norway. While visiting Anna, Johanna, and another sister, he invited them to come and live in Copenhagen with him where he could better care for them. They sold up and moved to Copenhagen soon after, although one sister remained in Norway. Finally, in June 1859, Johanna committed to joining the Church and was baptised by Peter in Copenhagen on what was undoubtedly a happy occasion.

The Gathering + Transmigration

During this period Latter-day Saint leaders often encouraged members to emigrate to Utah. In Copenhagen Johanna and Anna were invited to emigrate with Carl Widerborg, who had been the Mission President for the last two years. He was a native of Sweden who had been baptised in Norway and then served as a missionary there. Later he moved to Copenhagen to work in the mission office. When American missionaries were withdrawn in 1858 he was appointed as president. He was once described as “perhaps the ablest public speaker which the Scandinavian mission has produced up to the present time.”2

Johanna and Anna agreed to travel with Carl and his wife to Utah, but Peter needed to remain in Copenhagen longer with his family. Despite the challenges ahead of them, the 301 Scandinavian Saints would travel together as a unit: men, women, and children. Although some differences in culture and language existed, they were united in their beliefs and dreams of joining the Saints in Utah.

Journeying the 600 miles through the Kattegat and North Sea was rough and some migrants suffered through seasickness. The winds were strong and the ship heaved heavily as it made its way across the sea. They travelled for several days before arriving at Grimsby, a port town in East England. There was a delay in landing due to low water, but by 4 pm they were on English soil, much to the relief of some. The emigrants were then housed in a large emigrant facility at the dock. It was a secure property that served as a type of quarantine but also stopped them from wandering around the town or meeting with locals. They had warm water to clean with and an opportunity to rest.3

The next morning the migrants boarded a train that went direct to Liverpool. Johanna would have been able to gaze out at the passing green British landscape but would have been unable to explore it. They had to get to Liverpool and prepare for the most arduous phase of their journey: an ocean voyage across the Atlantic.

Arriving in Liverpool would have been an eye-opening experience for the young fifteen-year-old Norwegian. Carts hurried by on the roads and people paced down the pavements. The port was also a busy scene. Ships were coming and going carrying goods and people worldwide. Sailors, emigrants, refugees, and others passed through the city on their way to somewhere else with foreign languages and alien smells everywhere. It was a city through which people travelled places to seek fortunes, happiness, and a better future.

Johanna and Anna spent their first night in Liverpool at a hotel on Paradise Street, like other emigrants in their group. The next day, Monday the 7th of May, the emigrants were permitted to board the ship and settle into their quarters. They would then spend the next few days sleeping on the ship waiting for it to sail.

Across the Briny Deep - By Sail

The William Tapscott was a large ship. It was one of the largest full-rigged vessels constructed in Maine during the 1850s and a year earlier it had carried another large group of Latter-day Saint emigrants. Conditions were not to every passenger’s taste, but it was an effective vessel. Ultimately, The William Tapscott was the ship that took the most Latter-day Saints across the Atlantic.

One correspondent who observed Johanna and the other emigrants in Liverpool described the passengers as “all of respectable appearance.”4 On the 10th of May, an inspector and doctor boarded the ship to inspect the emigrants and ensure they were healthy. The passengers passed the inspection and the next day, 11th of May 1860, the ship left Liverpool. The Latter-day Saint emigrants came from across Europe and were led by Elder Asa Calkin, the recently released European Mission President. His counsellors were William Budge and Carl Widerborg, who were experienced Church leaders.

As with most emigrant ships the living arrangements were cramped and uncomfortable. One Swiss emigrant onboard the same ship recorded what it was like to cook onboard:

I had to do some cooking for about 8 persons. I was most of the time sick. By standing before the hot stove stirring the rice which, however, got burned, the kitchen was always crowded by the folks and everything were uncomfortably fixed. I ate very little on board a ship. Our main food was salty pork, rice, and some potatoes. No bread but some hard crackers without salt. I did nearly starve and was very sick.5

Other Scandinavian Latter-day Saint teenagers were undertaking the same journey. Over the following weeks and months, she might have chatted with Anna Poulson or looked out to sea with Helvig Jenson. If the conditions were decent, she might have played a game with Anne Kraiberg or others. Crucially, she was not alone, and travelling in a group afforded her and others a degree of protection.

The emigrant group was cosmopolitan. The Saints were divided into nine districts, each with a president. The Scandinavians were formed into five districts with Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes leading each other. The captain of the guard and the cook were also Scandinavians. In Liverpool, Johanna and the other Scandinavians had been met by a group of English and Swiss Latter-day Saints who were joining them on their way to Utah.

While Johanna may have had friends to be with, the voyage was not smooth sailing. Stormy conditions caused much sea sickness among the passengers. Still, routines were held. Prayers were offered in the morning and night and on Sundays religious services were held on the ship’s deck. Cold weather and a change of diet further complicated the emigrant’s health. On the 3rd of June, a few weeks at sea, there was an outbreak of smallpox on the ship, but no one died from it. Ten people, however, died during the journey of various causes. However, in happier news, there were also nine marriages and four births. When the ship arrived in New York on the 15th of June 1860, they were detained and no one was allowed to leave until everyone was vaccinated against smallpox. Those who were ill were taken to hospital. After five days of quarantine aboard the ship, a tugboat transported the emigrants to New York along with their luggage and began the next stage of their journey.6

Onwards to Zion - By Rail

There was no time to wait or play tourists in New York. At Castle Garden the emigrants had been met with members of the Church that had been arranging their onward travel. The next day the emigrants left the city aboard a steamboat which sailed up the Hudson River to Albany, New York. Even though Latter-day Saint emigration from Europe had only begun 20 years earlier there had already been significant developments and technological advances. Railroads now headed further and further west which made the journey to the frontier quicker. George Q. Cannon, who would become an Apostle in August 1860 and later a member of the First Presidency, functioned as the Church’s emigration agent for Johanna’s trip across America and made the arrangements for the emigrants to travel by train. He was an adept administrator and through booking train travel managed to save nearly 300 miles from the journey which was described as a “toilsome and harrassing” stretch. In previous years the stretch from Iowa City to Florence would occupy 15-20 days.

In Albany, Johanna and the others boarded a steam train and set off on an epic journey that would wind through Canada and on to Chicago, Illinois. As they travelled from Albany to Rochester they passed Niagra Falls where the train stopped for seven hours to allow the emigrants to see the waterfalls and the suspension bridge. With some wonder, perhaps, Johanna may have gazed out at the wonder of natural beauty.

The journey continued onwards and crossed into Canada where the train travelled along the North Shore of Lake Erie to Windsor. It then returned to the United States and arrived in Detroit, Michigan. The next leg of the journey was a train journey from Detroit to Chicago, Illinois. Days were spent on the train watching the scenery pass by. The train journey continued. From Chicago, they travelled to Quincy, Illinois, before crossing the Mississippi River by ferry to Hannibal, Missouri. After arriving in Hannibal they travelled by rail to St. Joseph, Missouri. Again, they boarded a ship and travelled up the Missouri River to Florence, Nebraska, where they rested in some abandoned houses.

There were challenges during these journeys. Occasionally there would be a death and while travelling by train smallpox again broke out, but not in a serious manner.

By Trail

The emigrants had not remained as one group. Some had split off to travel by handcart, but Johanna remained with her mother and the Widerborgs throughout. Their company was the last oxen train to leave that season and was described as one of the largest groups to cross the plains. About 400 people travelled with 72 wagons, 215 oxen, and 77 cows. Their leader was William Budge, but the Scandinavians travelled in a detached group under the leadership of Carl Widerborg, likely for communication reasons. Another group of Scandinavians had set off earlier to cross the plains with handcarts under the leadership of Oscar Stoddard, which would be the last-ever handcart company.

William Budge was a Scottish Latter-day Saint who had served missions around Europe before his emigration. He was a capable and experienced leader who was often looked to by members and other leaders. Various accounts from the 2.5-month journey portray a hard and gruelling experience that would have been eye-opening for Johanna. The following extracts of the journey are from the journal of Danish Latter-day Saint Niels Christensen:

Sunday, July 22. Meeting was held in the camp <in the forenoon>, but we resumed our journey at 3 o'clock in the afternoon and traveled for 6 hours. We passed through a part of the country which was infected with numerous insects and the water was very poor.

Wednesday, July 25. We resumed our journey at 7:30 a.m. and traveled until 3 o'clock p.m., making 16 miles. The day was very warm and both the people and oxen suffered in consequence. We encamped for the night by the Platte River where grass was and wood and was plentiful.

Friday, July 27. We continued our journey at 8:30 p.m. The weather in the forenoon was fine, while the afternoon was somewhat stormy. We camped for the night at 4:30 p.m. I was sick and tired during the day. Two Indians came into camp who and were treated to food. They were armed with bows and arrows.

Tuesday, July 31. We resumed our journey at 8 o'clock a.m. About 1 o'clock p.m. a fearful storm accompanied with <by> thunder and lightning came up which made travel very unpleasant. The downfall was so plentiful that we could scarcely move because of the water; one wagon belonging to the English emigrants broke. We camped for the night at 3 p.m. Soon afterwards the weather cleared up. About this time the wife of Ola Gaarder from Norway gave birth to a son. We enjoyed a good nights rest not being molested by mosquitoes.

Wednesday, Aug. 8. Resumed our journey at 6 o'clock a.m. The roads were quite muddy, owing to the recent rains, and the water had cut several deep channels across the road. A number of Indians on horseback came to the camp wanting something to eat. We traveled during the day 22 miles when we camped after dark. During the day we were annoyed by the grasshoppers which seemed to literally cover the earth.

Saturday, Aug. 11. We resumed our journey at 6 o'clock a.m. and the Indians likewise, but they told us that more Indians would soon be <put> in their appearance. We had traveled only a short distance when between 1500 and 2000 Indians, consisting of men, women and children were surrounding us. They had with them a number of tents and a multitude of dogs, as well as loose horses. We were very much amused to witness their peculiar mode of travel with their long tent poles and <other equipments>. We gave them some provisions, which, however, did not go far, there being so many of them. They encamped for the night a short distance from the place where we also made our night's encampment in the middle of the afternoon. Most of the day we traveled over sandy roads many of the oxen nearly gave out. We crossed a brook with clear water where we encamped for the night, after traveling 15 miles during the day.

Thursday, Aug. 16. We resumed our journey at 6 o'clock a.m., traveled over sandy roads, 8 miles, and camped for noon at 1 o'clock p.m. A meeting was held at which we were ordered to throw away sufficient of our baggage to enable us to travel faster. Between 7 and 8 o'clock today the Indians <surrounded> took a sister Madsen and son <who traveled behind the company> with Bro. Widerborg's wife who was lame. and would have <The Indians evidently intended> run away with <Sister Madsen and do violence to her person> them. This caused a great disturbance in the camp. We all grabbed our guns and ran back to fight the Indians but the woman had already escaped <and rescue the woman, but when we reached her, she had already escaped from the savages unhurt>. Three Indians came Bro. Widerborg's wifebut Bro. Widerborg shot her at once.

Thursday, Aug. 30. We resumed our journey at 7:15 a.m. Our road at first was level and good, but we soon found ourselves going in among the Black Hills where the climbs were frequently very steep. We did not stop this day for noon, but traveled on till 8 o'clock at night when we encamped on the Platte River, where grass was scarce, having traveled during the day 16 miles. The mountains here are covered with pine and other birch trees.7

Pioneers were witnesses to tragedy, and sometimes victims of it. Niels Christensen, an ardent record keeper, died on the 1st of September 1860 when he was hunting grouse with a friend. His friend had seen birds and cocked his shotgun. After tripping over he stumbled and accidentally shot Niels who died later that night from a shotgun wound to his stomach. Still, Johanna and the others had to continue the journey and get to Utah.

At night the wagons would be drawn into a corral formation and people would camp in the middle. Food was often made up of dried provisions and whatever could be found along the way. Teenagers would be expected to walk and contribute to the company. Streams had to be waded through, cactuses safely navigated, and they would need to put up with mosquitos tormenting them.

Life in Utah

Johanna and her fellow emigrants finally arrived in Salt Lake City on the 5th of October 1860. She later became the plural wife of Ludvig Berg, a Danish Latter-day Saint who became a prominent dentist in Brigham City. She was described as having many friends and associates to who she ministered and that she was a “diligent laborer” in the Relief Society of her ward. She was never able to have children and after Ludvig died in 1908, she and another widow, Louise Berg, became companions and spent their remaining years together.8

Johanna frequently attended the Brigham City Tabernacle and went to the temple for her endowments and to be sealed to her family. In 1920 Johanna died firm in her faith sixty years after she left Scandinavia.

The two brothers were alike in many ways. Charles had joined the British Army in August 1914, about a week after Elijah had enlisted. Charles was posted to the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment and Elijah found himself in the Lancashire Fusiliers. The Scott brothers were hard workers who had both been employed working on the railway in Todmorden. The two brothers, the younger perhaps inspired by the older, had both chosen to fight for their country.

A Mediterranean Meeting

Charles had sailed with his battalion from Avonmouth, Gloucestershire, in June 1915. Elijah, who was a corporal, had also been fighting in the Dardanelles. The two brothers had the opportunity for a brief meeting. As Charles and his battalion arrived he found out he would be replacing Elijah. In the trenches of the Dardanelles, they were briefly reunited which was noted to be a “glad one.” The reunion was a fleeting moment of humanity and joy in an otherwise depressing and dire situation. It wouldn’t be long before Elijah would be back at the front and the two brothers, along with a cousin, fought together for a week. In July the 6th Battalion of the King’s Own Royal Lancaster began participating in the fighting for Gallipoli which involved brutal trench raids and bombardments and was ultimately a grinding battle of attrition.

Elijah wrote a letter to his mother in August 1915:

”I haven’t seen Charlie for about three days, but he was all right then, and it is about a week since I saw Harry, but he was in the pink then. We have just had a good issue of cigarettes from Todmorden. It ran about seven packets of cigarettes per man. Then we had some chocolate. By Jove! it was grand.”1

Tragically, Elijah was wounded during the fighting just a few days later. One challenge with the invasion is that trenches were not dug deep enough and so many soldiers were shot while trying to hunker down in the shallow defences. Although he was evacuated to a ship he died from his injuries and was buried at sea about a week later. Thousands of men on both sides of the conflict died from combat action, injuries, or disease in this Theatre of War. It was a bloody battle that ultimately resulted in the Ottomans retaining control of the Gallipoli peninsula.

While the fighting in the Dardanelles claimed its victims, there were plenty of soldiers who became sick from dysentery, typhoid, and other diseases due to the unsanitary conditions. Providing soldiers with enough water was a constant struggle, especially in the dry, dusty climate.2 As the weather changed issues related to hygiene and heating were increasingly discussed by military leaders. He fought on the frontlines for two months, but during this time Charles became sick and needed to be evacuated. He was taken to Malta and given time to recuperate, but for years afterwards, he would live with the effects of his sickness.

Recovery

Before long, Charles was transferred back to England to recover in Crumpsall Hospital in Manchester, which was close to his family, although his parents’ relationship became dysfunctional some years earlier. His father had been “associating with other women” since at least 1903. The couple would formally divorce in the early 1920s. His mother, Mary (known as Nellie to most), was probably pleased to have one of her sons return from the war, but not necessarily to see him so debilitated.

An aspect of this story and Charles’ recovery relates to faith. Charles’ mother, Nellie, had long been a person of religious conviction. She had been a Spiritualist Medium with strong convictions. She would travel from town to town for events and charge a fee. Although she had friends who were Latter-day Saints and had met with the missionaries many times she had been unconvinced. Besides, she was making good money with her work as a Medium.

Over time, however, Nellie became uneasy. She would think about what the missionaries had shared with her, making her uncomfortable. Unfortunately, one day as she went about her business as a Medium she had an accident and for 6 months was unable to care for herself and unable to walk. She moved from place to place and met with two doctors who both told her she would not walk again.

A Latter-day Saint friend offered to care for her and so Nellie moved in with her. When her friend emigrated to America another Latter-day Saint friend offered to host her. During this time Nellie began attending Church meetings and eventually received a testimony and was baptised. She also received Priesthood administrations in which she was promised that if she was obedient to God’s commands, she would be healed. Despite what her doctors had told her, over a number of years she recovered.

Nellie joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in April 1914 and appears to have shared the gospel with her children. When Charles was sent to Manchester he had the opportunity to attend meetings and was baptised on 8 April 1916. Not much is known about why he chose to be baptised, but his mother’s conversion and perhaps the death of Elijah might have spurred his own investigation of the Church. Later she would declare:

I hope that if any read this testimony when sick and helpless, they will take courage and have faith. Seek the servants of the Lord and ask your heavenly Father to help you. I am sure He will show His wisdom in your case. The Lord has taken one of my boys, but I have one left, and I am glad to say he also is a member of the Church. I thank God that I heard the gospel. I am trying to serve God. I know I can never pay Him the debt I owe, but I hope I may be kept faithful to the end.3

By early 1918 Nellie had recovered well enough to be called as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She still lived in Rochdale but would travel around teaching, sharing missionary publications, and other similar activities.4 While the world war raged in different parts of the world, she did what she could to serve others and to share her faith.

Back to the War

In 1916 Charles, as a freshly baptised Latter-day Saint, had recovered enough to return to military service and joined the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. In October he was sent to German East Africa where he fought until February 1917 before being sent to fight in Egypt and Palestine. He joined different regiments over time but also contracted other illnesses, including dysentery and malaria. Disease, a common stalking figure in wars, caused him considerable damage and discomfort during his military service. He ultimately spent time in five hospitals recovering from different ailments. Eventually, in June 1918 he was deemed no longer suitable for active military service and was transferred to the Labour Corp. He was stationed in Cairo, Egypt, to work at the Imperial School of Instruction, a military academy for the British Army and its allies.

Courses were run for officers and non-commissioned officers with additional courses on machine-guns, signalling and communications, grenade throwing, and more. As a signalman before and during the war, it would make sense that he trained others in this important role. Signalmen were typically based close to the frontline to relay information to officers and to communicate orders.

Zeitoun was a large British training facility with soldiers billeted nearby in tents and later in sleeping huts. Here Charles was safe from the frontline, but even in training environments, there could be injuries and accidents. Thousands of servicemen passed through the Imperial School for their training. Charles would have participated in delivering specialised signalling training related to the conditions in Egypt including telegraphy, camel transport, how to function during sandstorms, and other related conditions.

Training in desert conditions was not necessarily easy. Sand and dust as well as the scorching sun caused challenges and was a stark contrast to the greenery of Lancashire that Charles had lived in for most of his life. When peace was declared in November 1918 he remained in Egypt in a training capacity.

Finally, in June 1919, Charles returned home on leave. While there the Rochdale Relief Society organised a party for him where he had the opportunity to share some of his amusing incidents since joining the army. There were also games and refreshments, with people at the conclusion of the night wishing him a speedy return home.5

Their wish was granted and shortly after reporting for duty, he was discharged from the army.

Later Life

In October 1919 he was living at home and was ordained a Priest. Then, on 10 July 1920, he was ordained an Elder. We might wonder how he had been affected by what he had seen and experienced, but he was evidently resolute in his observance of his faith.

Ten days after his ordination as an Elder, Charles, like many other Latter-day Saints, emigrated to Salt Lake City, Utah, arriving in America on 1 August. Prospects in England after the war were poor and the desire to gather in a centre of strength was a strong pull for men and women alike. His mother, Nellie, finally broke ties with her husband and emigrated with Charles.6 There she secured a divorce and in April 1923 remarried an English Latter-day Saint.7 Tragically she only lived a few months and died in September. Before her passing, however, the mother and son went through the Logan Temple and had the work done for Elijah and other relatives.

In America, Charles quickly became a naturalized citizen. Shortly after arriving in Utah, he married Annie Dalton who was also from the Rochdale branch, and they had two children. Unfortunately, the marriage didn’t last and Charles remarried another English girl and had a daughter. Over the years he worked in different jobs but always sought to provide for his family.

Sadly, Charles would forever live with the effects of the injuries he sustained from the war. Still, he lived until the ripe old age of 97 when he passed away in 1991.

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Douglas could not believe his eyes. Different grades of sugar had been spread onto the floor. With bare and dirty feet, the workers walked over the sugar mixing it together with shovels. One of them smoked a pipe as he worked and now and then would take it out and squirt a mouthful of tobacco juice onto the sugar. Horrified, he soon left the warehouse vowing never to consume sugar from Hawaii again. Douglas’ journey from America to Australia continued to be eventful with storms, broken equipment, fishing for sharks, and other close accidents.

Soon after arriving in Sydney, Douglas was assigned to labour in Hobart, Tasmania, with fellow missionary Charles Burton, and they wasted no time in heading there. They arrived in Hobart which would remain their hub and principal area of proselyting for the entirety of their stay. The island only had a population of 100,000 people with Hobart being the largest settlement.1 After their arrival they made some arrangements for accommodation and quickly set to their work by renting the Odd Fellows Hall for Sunday meetings, despite having no established congregation. They were now 600 miles away from the nearest missionary and had no one to help them. To announce their arrival and purpose they paid for adverts in newspapers which announced “Missionaries from Utah” would be preaching that Sunday and invited the public to attend.

Their first Sunday (23 January 1876) saw a crowd of 200 people gather to listen to the missionaries with many people collecting tracts until there were none left. The meeting also helped identify some old time members who had moved to Hobart and lost touch with the Church. Douglas made a note of one of those who came up to him:

Among those who came to the stand was an old man by the name of Speakman who said he had belonged to the church many years ago, that he had been a priest & had preached a great deal until he had found a contradiction in the book “Doctrine & Covenants” & he had then left the church. He wanted to know if we had that book with us & said he would like to talk to us on the subject. I told him we had the book & would be glad to talk with him at any time he would appoint either at our lodgings or his house. But no, he said, “We will have it out in public.” I told him we didn’t come to discuss in public with anyone, that personally I didn’t approve of public discussion but if we could explain it to his satisfaction we would be pleased to do so. He went off saying he would see about it or something to that effect.2

That “Speakman” was Thomas William Speakman who had been born in Scotland in 1811 and had been a committed Latter-day Saint missionary in the British Isles. He and his wife had joined the Church in Norwich in the 1840s. Emigration records showed that in 1855 he and his wife, Sarah, left Liverpool with their children bound for Tasmania. They recorded their religion as Baptist and worked in relatively low paid positions.

As the missionaries met some old time members they also tried to understand what missionary work had previusly taken place. Douglas had learned that three missionaries had visited Tasmania in 1853 when it was known as Van Diemen’s Land. However, nothing could be discovered about the impact of their visit. As he continued his enquiries he soon learned that the island has been under martial law in 1853 and it seems as if public meetings could not be held. In 1874 William Geddes, then the president of the Australasian Mission, had visited Tasmania and baptised a family, the Greens. While in Hobart he had also preached at the Oddfellows’ Hall.3 Douglas and his companion were the first missionaries to be stationed on the island since President Geddes’ visit and lived with the Greens.4 Over the years, families and individuals, such as the Speakmans, had moved to Tasmania as part of the wider migrations that were taken place in the nineteenth century.

In the days after the service newspaper articles appeared detailing the missionaries arrival, their first service, and would contintue to pass comment periodically over the ensuing months.5 On 26 January 1876, Douglas met William Speakman, the son of the man who had approached the missionaries their first Sunday. He had been baptised in Scotland shortly before his family left the Church and was now living in Hobart working as a baker on Murray Street. William explained that he believed in the principles of the gospel, but his father had been unable to understand or reconcile himself to polygamy. This impasse had prevented other family members from living their faith.

The following Sunday Thomas Speakman was in attendance again. Douglas recorded the following in his journal:

After the meeting was dismissed, the old man Speakman who had occupied a seat near the front came up in a great hurry & said that we had expressed ourselves willing to answer questions & why didn’t we give him a chance to ask some before dismissing the meeting? I replied that if he wished to ask any that we were still there to answer him. That didn’t suit him but he asked if we had a Doctrine & Covenants. We said “Yes.” Charley found one & he then endeavored to find some passage in it & after searching awhile gave it up & went off.

Before long, Douglas discovered that the Speakmans belonged to the ‘Campbellite faith’, which is more appropriately and better known as the Disciples of Christ movement. It was a Restoration movement that had emerged in earnest during the 1830s. It’s principal goal was to return to “primitive Christianity” and to reject non-Biblical teachings. Douglas recorded many such interactions with adherents of the faith:

The next night we had a visit from another member of the same church, a Mr. Poultenay, a young man. We discussed nearly the same questions with him as we had done the evening before with Davidson and on his leaving I lent him one of the catechisms that we brought with us from Sydney. We went part of the way home with him & he gave us a little idea of how they work in their church. It appears they have no particular head but appoint evangelists from their number. Also they appear to have no settled creed but the scriptures at large. He also told us about what Speakman’s character is with them for he belongs to them. It appears he is very quarrelsome & fanatical and is always introducing difficulties & new doctrines. He, Speakman, came to us today & wanted a tract & said that he could not let it alone & told us he was at variance with the sect he belonged to. Of course we gave him a tract but I don’t want him to come in & think to do with us as he does with them, for if that is his idea he will find he has made a mistake & it may cause some trouble, so that I am not at all anxious about his joining the church again at present.

Douglas found it difficult to work with Thomas Speakman and was hesitant to engage with him. In fact, Douglas showed a remarkable ability to avoid being drawn into open debates. He was often heckled in their meetings but would insist in finishing his address and would answer questions privately at the end. He knew people wanted to draw him into an open debate about polygamy and he wisely avoided making a public spectacle. However, while Douglas struggled with Thomas, he found William Speakman to be easy to talk to and good company. Over the following weeks and months they developed a close friendship through regular interactions. While Douglas appreciated this, he felt that the depth of William’s interest in the gospel should be deeper than it appeared to be:

This evening [13 March 1876] we went up to Speakman’s, took tea & spent the evening; indeed we didn’t get home until 11 o’clock. He seems to have taken right hold of the doctrines & is I believe only waiting for someone to lead out & be baptized & he will follow. He is one of those people who accept a thing more on faith than reason, for he can’t reason. If asked why he was going to join us he would answer “because he believed the principles to be true” & that would be all the answer that could be got out of him. I prefer a man who can give a reason for the hope that is in him but I suppose it takes all sorts of people to make up a kingdom. His wife is a pretty smart little woman & those principles that she does understand she sticks to tenaciously. She gave us quite a lecture on “adult immersion” as opposed to “infant sprinkling” totally unmindful of the fact that our belief was precisely the same as her own & that there could be no discussion between us on that subject. They have a very nice looking family of 3 boys & 3 girls, the oldest being 13 years.

Thomas had lived and served in the Norwich branch and would visit those who had been disciplined or identified as needing extra help. That service, however, didn’t seem to educate or help him to handle his own ability to be impatient with others. The trigger of his long-term inactivity was soon discovered when Douglas visited him just outside of Hobart town centre:

We went up this evening [23 March 1876] to see Mr. Speakman, Sr. who lives at the Cascades about 2 miles from Town. We had quite a chat with him & his wife. We learned that he joined the Church at Norwich in England in the time of Orson Spencer who married a Miss Winkfield [Wingfield] whose father built a church for the Saints at that place where there were between 200 & 300 of the Saints at that time. Speakman afterwards went to Paisley in Scotland & in the beginning of the year 1854 when the revelation on Polygamy came out as a “New Years gift” he opposed it; in fact flew right off the handle & blanketed the town with hand bills calling a meeting in which he brought forward this revelation & compared it with book of Doctrine & Covenants and denounced the Church at large. He also called a second meeting at which the President of the Branch & several others of the saints were present & when he got up to speak he found that he could not say a word – that his lips were sealed. He afterwards confessed his fault & was received back again into the Church & soon after came out here. Still says he does not believe in Polygamy & never will. His son went up there with us & we had quite a talk on the way back home.

Norwich branch records show that in July 1848, a Thomas Speakman had had his membership suspended for “rebelling against the council.”6 A year later there was a similar case. in which he was described as manifesting a “wicked” and “accusing” manner against other Priesthood members. His membership was again suspended and people were assigned to minister to him.7 At the next council meeting in June 1849 he was formally cut off from the Church. At some later he point he seemingly returned to the Church. There was, however, a pattern of behaviour that seemed to be forming wherein he had difficulties working with and listening to others. His son, William, did not seem to have the same challenge.

By invitation we went to Mr. Speakman’s [William] took tea & spent the evening. We had a very nice social chat on general topics & I came down to the room & got all the photographs we had including that of President Young with which they were quite delighted. Speakman saw us home & on the way proposed that we have our photographs taken in a group, adding that we could send them home by the next mail & by that time we might have some news to send with them, meaning of course in regard to his baptism. He is finally on the brink of the water but I think he would like to have Thornhill come with him. We will see what the result will be, things look hopeful.

As Douglas and his companion met with William they sought to build bonds between the various individuals in their orbit. For example, in April 1876 they arranged to have a group photograph before again spending more time with the Speakmans.

Friday, April 14, 1876 Good Friday. The shops are all closed and it is a general holiday all over the town. There are services in all the principle churches. This morning by appointment we went with Mr. Speakman to Winters, the photographer’s on Elizabeth Street and had our photographs taken. We had them taken singly and afterwards in a group. Went up and took dinner with Mr. Speakman.

While a friendship and gospel connection was struck with William, Douglas was unable to make much progress with the rest of the Speakman family.

Saturday, April 29, 1876 I haven’t written any this week, the time has gone so fast. On Monday I read. On Tuesday I went out to Newtown and distributed tracts. On Wednesday evening I went up to Speakman’s I think. On Thursday evening we were at Tea at Mr. Cook’s. On Friday I have forgotten where we went and on Saturday night we took a walk with Mrs. Green and on the way home met Mr. Crisp. Mrs. Green has been feeling very well this week after having made up her mind in regard to the principles. Speakman has appointed next to be baptized.

Finally, William Speakman had made the decision to be baptised, which was scheduled for 3 May 1876 and would be performed by Elder Swan. The Domain is public recreation land that would have been likely quiet and far enough away to hold a baptismal service to avoid it becoming a spectacle.

This evening [Wednesday 3 May 1876] about 7 o’clock Charley, Mr. Thornhill, Mr. Speakman and myself went down to the shore of the river in the Domain and I baptized Mr. Speakman. This is our first baptism and I pray God that he will increase the number in his own due time so that those who are earnest may be gathered out.

The River referred to was the River Derwent .

The following Sunday the missionaries and William Jnr. gathered together for what appears to be the first sacrament meeting in Tasmania.

This morning [7 May 1876] Brother Speakman came down to our room and we had a little Sacrament Meeting, the first that we have had since we came here. We each of us spoke a little and together we had a good time.

Throughout Douglas’ journal it was a regular occurrence for him to record going to William’s for a meal, to look at photographs, and to spend time in conversation. The missionaries’ arrival had also come at an opportune time in which the Disciples of Christ congregation was undergoing some internal strife. While Douglas didn’t celebrate the news, he also hoped that it would aid them in their work, but still it was slow and hard work to preach the gospel in Tasmania.

In the evening we went up to Brother Speakman’s & we all called up for a few minutes at Mr. Thornhill’s but didn’t stay long there. It appears there is a sort of a bustup in the “Christian Church” owing to some partisanship; some of the influential ones having made arrangements to have their old pastor back and the others don’t like it. Mrs. Speakman among the rest declares she will not go there any more if he comes back. I don’t know what will be the outcome but I hope it will help our cause at any rate.

As the year wore on and without seeing much success the mission president decided to withdraw missionaries from Tasmania. Douglas and his companion, Charles Burton, had spent their entire time together. In a service on 8 October 1876, Douglas announced during their weekly service that the two missionaries were to conclude their mission in Tasmania and would be leaving soon. Elder Swan was instructed to return home and Elder Burton was to continue his labours in Sydney.8 A summary of their final meeting recorded Douglas as saying that they:

…had met with much kindness whilst in Tasmania from some persons, and were exceedingly thankful to them. He concluded by hoping that the word preached by them and the doctrines incalcated might not all be lost.9

While the mission was not what had necessarily been expected, they had managed to baptise a number of local people and helped some who had formerly belonged to the Church to re-establish a connection to it and to call them to repentance. Their interactions with Thomas Speakman might have been frustrating and challenging, it brought them into contact with William Speakman and as a result bring him into the waters of baptism.

In the 1851 census, Eliza was recorded as living with her mother, Mary, and a relative, Georgina Maddison, who was described as Mary’s granddaughter. On the night of the census James was away from home staying at Buckingham Palace for his work. Eliza was unmarried and described as a “teacher of music” who had been born in Windsor.

In 1856 James died which left the family in a state of disarray. His death was noted in several newspapers:

“James Merrick, one of the oldest servants of the Royal Household, died at Windsor last week, aged 77. He had served during four reigns, and was pensioned off two or three years ago on £40 per annum. Distressing to say, he has left a wife of his own age totally blind, and a daughter a cripple, both wholly unprovided for. He was a well known inhabitant of Windsor.”1

There is further evidence to confirm that Mary Merrick was blind. In December 1857 it was publicly announced that she was to receive an annual pension of £10 from a donation gifted by a charity that sought to help the “Aged Blind”.2 In 1856 the only unmarried daughter who would have been living at home was Eliza, who according to some reports was presumably limited in her mobility to some extent.

Latter-day Saint Membership

Family records suggest that Mary Merrick had nineteen pregnancies of which only 7 of the children survived to adulthood. One of her daughters, Maria, met missionaries and was baptised in London on 17 July 1848, after which she became a member of the Somerstown branch. At some point news of the restored gospel spread to other members of the Merrick family. Eliza was baptised on 8 April 1849 by William Booth, an early Latter-day Saint convert who laboured in the London Conference as a missionary. He recorded that she had “heard the gospel preached only twice” before she joined the Church.3 Eliza became one of only two Latter-day Saints in the town, but others were soon to follow.

A Latter-day Saint congregation was established in Windsor, Berkshire, on 20 August 1850 after Elder George Margetts, a missionary in the London Conference, was stationed in the Windsor and Maidenhead area. When the boundaries were drawn Eliza became one of the thirty or so founding members who had previously been in various other branches, but she was not the only member of her family to join the new church in Windsor.

Georgina Maddison

Georgina was born on 14 March 1841 in Adelaide Square, New Windsor. She was nine years old when on 17 June 1850 she was one of the first Latter-day Saints baptised in Windsor by George Margetts. At the time she was a student, but at some point, she moved to the Paddington branch. Census data and the utilisation of the Maddison surname raise the question: who were Georgina Maddison's parents?

Fortunately, being born in 1841 meant that the birth was legally required to be registered, but there was no Georgina Maddison registered in 1841. There was, however, a Georgina Merrick registered that year. After recently acquiring a copy of the birth registration it becomes clear that Georgina was Eliza’s daughter. No father was listed on the birth registration, but the family lived in Adelaide Square, New Windsor. It could be inferred that Maddison was the surname of her unnamed father, and there is a strong candidate. Still, given the spurious nature of such identifications and the inability to verify such claims, I will leave this discovery where it lies. The reason for its inclusion will become clear as the story goes on.

When Georgina emigrated from Liverpool in April 1855 onboard the Chimborazo at age 14 she would never see her mother again. Although unaccompanied by family members she travelled with other members of the Paddington branch to Utah where she had her Aunt Maria and cousins who had emigrated in 1851. In Salt Lake City two years later she married Francis Hawes on 25 April 1857 when she was just 16 years old. A daughter, also called Georgina, was born in September 1858 but lived only for a couple of weeks before she died of convulsions. Tragically, on 8 January 1859, Georgina followed her in death with her cause of death listed as consumption. Her life, which appears to have had several health challenges, was sadly cut short.

Healing

In 1849, Eliza was a recent convert and she communicated with Elder Booth through letters. In one such communication, she sent him an account of an experience she had with faith healing:

Dear Brother Booth, I feel it to be my duty to inform you of the power of healing which has been manifested unto us during the past week. A youthful member of our family, whom you know very well, was taken exceedingly ill on the 30th of last month with her old complaint (inflammation on the chest) which came on more rapidly than it had ever done before. She was obliged to be put to bed and I anointed her chest with the oil you consecrated, and also gave her some inwardly. That was about four o’clock in the afternoon. She continued very ill all the evening: her breath very short, and the fever very high. I again anointed her chest in the name of the Lord, and asked his blessing; he was graciously pleased to hear me, and in the course of twenty-four hours she was as well as if nothing had been the matter. I wish I could personally testify of the Lord’s goodness, but as I cannot I have written to you. Though I have been but a short time in the church, I have received many blessings, and I hope soon to be able to stand up and testify of the same in Windsor.

For the present farewell. I am, dear Brother Booth, yours in the everlasting covenants, Eliza Jane Merrick.4

The blessing presumably took place in the Merrick home at 2 Gloucester Place, which was a modest yet not grandiose building. During this time it was common for Latter-day Saint men and women to perform healing blessings in the name of Jesus Christ. They would often lay hands on the affected part of the body and ask for healing without invoking priesthood authority. Eliza used oil that had been consecrated and given to her by Elder Booth and was acting with the understanding of blessings that she had been given. One question though is why did Elder Booth give her some consecrated oil? Her health challenges, her mother’s blindness, and the maladies of a child might have been the motivation. Perhaps it was seen as an authorised extension of the Priesthood. While such practices are not followed today there was certainly more variability in the past.

Unfortunately, little is heard of Eliza again. She moved to London and chose not to emigrate. Her activity in the Church is unclear, but in 1865 she married Alfred Thompson. There are no known children born to the couple and ten years later she died. Similarly, there are no known photographs of Eliza Merrick or Georgina Merrick Maddison, but there is one of Maria Merrick which is probably the closest we will get to knowing what Eliza looked like.

So yes, there are questions about her life I’d like to ask, but from looking at her life certain inferences can be made. Eliza was educated and accomplished in music. She had some family support, but social pressures at the time meant she might have had to publicly present a different relationship to her daughter, Georgina. She was able to marry and seemingly lived a life of relative comfort. She embraced her Latter-day Saint faith at least for a time, and in a period of flux and experimentation, had an unusual experience in which she was able to heal her biological daughter.

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Things were going well in the German-Austrian mission despite ongoing political developments. In September 1933 he wrote a letter to missionaries who had concluded their service.

“All organizations in the “Buro” are fully organized with a president, counselors, and a secretary, all of whom, except three, are German brothers and sisters. It is wonderful how they acquit themselves in whatever they undertake to do. About 82 percent of the branches are now in the hands of the local brethren, and they are, generally speaking, doing a fine work. It will be remembered that in this mission, and while you were here, we all agreed to give close attention to the training of Priesthood holders. The fruits of our labors are now being realized far beyond what you or I were able to judge at the time. Thanks to you brethren for your faithfulness and efforts in this direction.”1

Sixty-one-year-old Oliver was sitting at his thick wooden desk early one September morning when a “well dressed gentleman” entered his office. After confirming President Budge’s identity the man began speaking:

“I am the Chief of Secret Service. I cannot give you my name, but my station number is II-E, Room 218. For our information, permit me to ask you the following questions. What are you expecting to accomplish in this country? How are you expecting to accomplish it? What are you teaching the people? How do you meet your expenses? What is your attitude toward the government?”2

Oliver was a lifelong member of the Church born to a Scottish father who converted to the faith and an American mother who was raised in it. With a lifetime of gospel service and learning behind him he was able to answer the questions satisfactorily. According to Budge the officer was impressed and remarked “If everyone could hear your message it would be most desirable.” After that Oliver presented him with a copy of the Book of Mormon and some other literature. As he was leaving the officer asked Oliver if he would write a brief letter listing what they had discussed, which he agreed to do.

Oliver wrote the letter and sent it the next day, but it is unclear if he ever received a reply. Declassified Gestapo records indicate that other faiths were investigated in a similar manner during 1933.

Who was the well-dressed man?

In June 1933 and January 1934, the Gestapo published two “business distribution plans”, which outlined the department structures and room allocations in the secret police headquarters in Berlin. In 1933 the head of the Gestapo was Rudolf Diels who functioned from April 1933 until April 1934 when he was replaced by Heinrich Himmler. Diels organised the Gestapo into ten departments and the January 1934 distribution plan reveals that Department II-E was a division dedicated to cultural and social policy, aviation, film and radio matters, and religious associations. The head of the department, Karl Wittich, was based in Room 215, with three other employees listed: Police Chief Secretary Starck, Police Secretary Roggon (Room 217), and Criminal District Secretary Jessel (Room 219). Room 218 is not specifically mentioned in the plan.

In August 1933, Karl Wittich, a German civil servant and recently registered member of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi), was appointed to the Secret State Police Office to manage Department II E 2, which oversaw cultural and social policies in Germany. Karl had attended school in Wiesbaden along with his classmate and future boss, Rudolf Diels.

It is difficult to confirm the details of President Budge’s encounter, but several other sources note a secret police visit to the Mission Office on 7 September 1933. Declassified Gestapo records show that they preserved the letter he sent them on 8 September 1933.3 The letter was reconsulted some years later when working out what to do with the Church as the Nazis solidified their control of the country.

The well-dressed man appears to have been Karl Wittich. Dr Claudia Steur of the Topography of Terror Museum in Berlin thinks Room 218 may have been a secretaries office or anteroom. Regardless of who the officer was it is clear that the Gestapo ‘Cultural and social policy, aviation, film and radio matters, and religious associations’ division was trying to work out what the Church believed, how it functioned, and what its views about and relationship to the new government was going to be.

President Budge’s Statement

In his report at the end of 1933, Oliver wrote a statement about some of the implications of the Nazi’s rise to power:

I desire to make the following statement regarding the political situation as affecting us as a Church:

Naturally, because of the unsettled political condition of this country and the strong effort they are making to readjust themselves, almost all religious organizations have been affected more or less, including the Catholic and Evangelical churches, the latter being at present divided within itself. Because of the above named conditions we have naturally been interfered with .in a small way. The interference up to date has not come from the government, however, but has been augmented by the ministers of the leading churches.

For instance, upon different occasions members of the new party have felt a self-responsibility, and, without appointment, have either directed or taken some of our missionaries to the police station. This was especially true in the city of Dresden, the missionaries being Elder Reuben A. Ward and Elder Hampton H. Trayner. In Aschersleben Elder J. Walden Hughes, accompanied by Robert S. Budge, was taken into custody by appointed police officers and marched through the streets to the police station, with many citizens following behind them. In both of the above cases the brethren were able to defend themselves by a proper explanation of their work.

In a town near Landsberg a/w, Elder Chancey O. Rowe and Elder Milton L. Fullmer were attached by a preacher who surrounded himself with villagers who were willing and did run these brethren out of the town after abusing them as far as it was possible to do so by word of mouth.

In the city of Hindenburg while Elders P. Blair Ellsworth and Preston C. Allen were giving out tracts from door to door m the usual way, they were attacked by a member of the Nazi party, who, as evidence, wore the regular brown suit. The Nazi man without demanding or permitting an explanation, took his leather belt from his waist, which belt had attached to it a large buckle. With this belt he proceeded to hit Elder Ellsworth over the head, creating rather bad lacerations. Since this Nazi party had taken the responsibility upon himself to fight the brethren and then to take them to the police station, a request was made of the police officers of that city to make an explanation as well as an agreeable settlement in writing to the brethren, but they refused to have anything to do with it.

A few other small things have happened, of which I have not attempted to keep track.

In conclusion I desire to say that so far as the government itself is concerned, we have been treated with courtesy and with full freedom to proselyte, preach and practice our religion.4

Most opposition, therefore, was seemingly coming from other religious groups rather than state-sponsored persecution. This is something that other religious minorities in Germany have alleged for this period. The Nazis, still coming to terms with their rise to power, had to work out where the loyalties of many of these minority groups lay.

Opposition

Still, there had been some persecution and conditions became more difficult. It was not long after the Nazi rise to power in January 1933 that there were localised incidents involving Latter-day Saints. On 3 April 1933 two missionaries, Preston C. Allen and P. Blair Ellsworth, were attacked and beaten by a uniformed Nazi while serving in Hindenburg. The missionaries were out distributing materials when a lady who they had interacted with misrepresented what they were doing to a Nazi official. The man, without any inquiry first, hit Elder Ellsworth over the head with the buckle end of his belt which cut his head. The missionaries were taken to police headquarters where an investigation took place. Elder Ellsworth was given the opportunity to levy charges against the attacker but declined to do so to avoid arousing more trouble for the missionaries.5 Still, conditions were not bad for the Church as a whole. On 19 June 1933 permission was secured from the city of Berlin to hold open-air meetings in the city which led to an increase in people attending meetings.

Things began turning for the worse for Latter-day Saints in early 1934 as Nazi officials began to oppose certain Latter-day Saint teachings, practices, and publications. In January 1934 the missionary tract “Divine Authority” was confiscated by the government and banned from being circulated. A similar step was taken a few weeks later with a tract entitled “Signs of the Great Apostasy.” Oliver Budge felt that the mysterious and unnamed visitor remained “very friendly to us”, but nonetheless some restrictions were being enforced. The Saints pursued a path of loyal yet independent action. After tracts were ceased Oliver asked for an invitation from the government to talk the matter over and to arrive at a favourable conclusion.6

Other incidents demonstrate a Latter-day Saint tendency to comply with laws to the limit in which they needed to occur. For example, at one point a secret police officer visited Wilhelm Meister, President of the Berlin-Ost Branch, and inquired about various matters relating to the Church. The officer had pictures of several missionaries of the Church and he asked Wilhelm to identify them, which he did. A similar incident took place in Eberswalde. A police officer visited the branch president and inquired about the headquarters of the Church and wanted to know where the meetings were held. The precise information was given, as requested, but no more. Nothing nefarious came from the meetings, but it demonstrates how local leaders sought to maintain the peace and avoid creating undue hardships for the Saints.7

Occasionally leaders pushed back. One such case occurred in January 1933 when two police officers visited the mission office to seize copies of, “Signs of the Great Apostasy.” The officers took what was in the office and Oliver assured them that the remaining tracts would be called in from the field. The officers asked to see the storeroom and other materials. Oliver Budge objected mildly with the statement that if they desired to investigate anything beyond the tract, it would only seem right that they produce written authority. The Nazi officials claimed that their uniform was sufficient authority, but he disagreed. At that precise moment, as the men were about to make their way to the storeroom, the telephone rang. On the line was the chief of the department, most likely Karl Wittich, who in a very pleasant and polite manner, informed President Budge that he might expect a call from an officer. Oliver told him that two officers were already present in the office. Karl asked to speak with one. At the end of the conversation between the officers, the one in the office who did the speaking apologized for being a little bit forward. He assured President Budge that they meant no offence. During the conversation between the officers on the telephone it was noted by Karl that the Saints “were honorable and dependable”. Karl also clarified that it would not be necessary for them to do anything but bring the confiscated tract with them.8

Another such instance occurred in late March 1933, when a baptism took place in Grunau, near Berlin. A “keen” observer reported the proceedings to the police and an investigation was opened. Members and friends of the Church were taken to the police office and interrogated. When another baptism was to take place the Saints discovered police officers in position who announced that baptisms could not be held in that location anymore.9

Around that time Church meetings were being held in homes in the village of Leest, near Berlin. Leaders of the village discovered the meetings and banned them from taking place. Elder Herbert Klopfer, from the Mission Office, travelled to the village and asked officials for an explanation for the action. He was told that local religious ministers had discovered that children were forced to attend meetings and that the officials had sought a stop to such practices. After Elder Klopfer explained that no such practice had ever been implemented the mayor promised to report to his superiors. A letter was written to county officials explaining what happened at the meetings. Permission to hold the meetings was once again granted to the Saints.10

Summary

The ensuing years saw an increasingly restrictive environment within which the Church could operate. Although the Church complied with every restriction meted out against it other faiths cried afoul and to ensure equal treatment the Church had additional privileges and opportunities removed by Nazi officials. Certain pieces of literature were banned and many members, missionaries, and leaders were pulled into police stations for interrogation about their activities. Sometimes membership lists were demanded with political affiliations listed for each member.

Oliver Budge’s interaction with Karl Wittich appears to have framed relationships between the new Nazi government and the Church positively. Karl, for the time he was in post at least, provided a measure of protection for the Church and categorised it as an organisation that could be trusted. Although the Church was subject to the whims of Nazi Germany it escaped the brunt of anti-religious oppression that accompanied national socialism. Amidst the uncertainty, leaders sought a path of peaceful coexistence without jeopardising the safety of members or missionaries.

Oliver Budge’s response to the unexpected visit from the well-dressed gentleman had an impact on other Latter-day Saints that he probably did not appreciate at the time. Gestapo reports show that many Nazi officials wanted to shut down The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany. However, it seems Oliver’s efforts brought about a degree of tolerance for the Saints from some of the high-ranking officials he had interacted with, which proved a blessing in an age characterised by intolerance and hatred for others.

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In 1937, Richard R. Lyman, a native of Utah, USA, was living in London and serving as President of the Europe Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The sixty-six-year-old had been called as an Apostle in 1918 and in London he served alongside his wife, Amy Brown Lyman, who was a prominent figure in Utah who was an author, community leader, elected official, and a leader in the Relief Society organisation.

Richard, in his capacity as a prominent Latter-day Saint leader, was invited to participate in the World Fellowship by George Lansbury, a Member of Parliament and president of the British National Council of the World Fellowship of Faiths.1 The invitation read:

"We very heartily invite you to define your own subject for a 25 minute address under the general theme: "Helps and Hindrances to Peace and Progress Through World Fellowship.”

Richard accepted the invitation and soon received a letter from a friend, Charles Weller, who was also the general secretary of the fellowship:

Dear Friend and Colleague,

We are all of us delighted by your letter accepting Mr. Lansbury's invitation to you to address our convention.

Of the two subjects which you kindly suggest I should myself be inclined to prefer the second. I think that there will be a large general interest in your discussion of "The Missionary System of the Mormon Church as a Factor in the Peace of the World and International Understanding."

It seems to me that your Church's enlistment and development of young people is one of the finest things which I have seen anywhere, in religious organizations or elsewhere. Your effective development of responsibility and leadership in ordinary men and women, as distinguished from an employed Priesthood, is a nobly inspired, and very efficient force for righteousness and progress.

From my slight, but very highly valued acquaintance with your honoured father, and from my cherished acquaintance with you since we were classmates in the University of Michigan, from my deep appreciation of your own spirit and leadership, locally, nationally and internationally, I am especially glad that you are to take part in our London Convention.

Fraternally yours,

Charles F. Weller

The World Fellowship of Faith was a movement dedicated to increasing understanding of religions and building bridges between organisations through interfaith work. At the time it was described as an “international, inter-racial, non-political, spiritual movement for the realisation of peace and brotherhood through understanding.”2 In 1928 three separate organisations had merged to form the “Threefold Movement — Union of East and West, League of Neighbours, Fellowship of Faiths.” A year later it rebranded as the World Fellowship of Faiths and the first parliament of religions took place in Chicago in 1933. B. H. Roberts, then a President of the First Quorum of the Seventy, gave two talks. Franklin Harris, president of Brigham Young University, also addressed the conference. Subsequent interfaith conferences were held with Latter-day Saint leaders and scholars invited to participate, which included Joseph F. Merrill and J. Reuben Clark.3

These events offered Latter-day Saints the opportunity to listen as well as be listened to. In recent years there had been a significant reversal in publicity with more favourable views of the Church being represented in some media outlets. Crucially, the interfaith conferences invited not just different Christian denominations but different world faiths, including Buddhists, Confucians, Hindus, Jains, Jews, Muslims, Zoroastrians, and others.

Richard Lyman settled on the topic of the Church’s missionary system as a means of promoting peace in the world. In many ways it was a smart choice as it presented a view of missionaries that others were unlikely to be aware of, including the sacrifices being made for them to preach the gospel. The thrust of Richard’s presentation was that a mission taught a missionary to love the different cultures they are embedded into and to be friends and representatives to them as they moved into professional careers in their home countries. Richard makes some connections to the growing fear of a war in Europe and presents Germany as a misunderstood entity and he overstates, I believe, the influence that Latter-day Saint returned missionaries would have on a society at war.

The conference was not without controversy. One of the speakers, Bishop Alma White, the first American female bishop, left the conference before it began in protest to the fact that many of those due to present expressed pacifist views and a desire for disarmament. Alma was militant in her views and felt peace was better achieved through rearmament.4

President Lyman’s Remarks

Richard Lyman spoke in the final session of the ‘International Assembly of the World Fellowship of Faiths, which was held at the Whitefield’s Institute in London. Meetings began on the 7th of July 1937 and ran through to the 17th of July. Heber J. Grant had also been invited to speak but was unable to accept the invitation.5 Richard was one of more than 50 speakers to address the assembly which was organised around the theme of “peace and progress”. Here is his talk:

As a contribution to international understanding and as a factor in the promotion of the peace of the world I regard the missionary system of the Mormon Church as an outstandingly helpful influence.

The ambition and ideal of practically all the young men and many of the young women in the Mormon Church is to become qualified and worthy and finally to serve as missionaries for the Church. And the ambition of these young folks is perhaps only exceeded in intensity by that of the parents to have their sons or daughters participate in this unselfish service.

Before taking up our subject proper let us consider briefly two of the factors which contribute to the missionary system of the Mormon Church and its success. Time will not permit discussing here the . great spiritual urge for spreading the Gospel nor the co-operation and unselfishness of parents and Mormon Church members generally who are so willing to sacrifice and to co-operate in order to make this great movement successful.

First I name the training and activities provided in the Priesthood quorums for men and boys. And next the training provided by the auxiliary organizations of the Church for both boys and girls and men and women. This training aids tremendously in the development of personality and leadership.

It is the right of every boy at the age of twelve to be given the Priesthood. Rarely in the Mormon Church is a boy at that age found unworthy and therefore few indeed at that age do not receive it.

The Church thus holds out unusual opportunities for development and for self expression. Both little children and young people in Priesthood activities, Sunday Schools and other auxiliary work are taught not only to pray at home but to sing, speak, pray and otherwise exercise their natural abilities and inclinations in large as well as small public assemblies.

The Mormon missionary service takes young folks at their most critical age, say from nineteen to thirty years old, and starts them walking, as it were, hand in hand with Jesus the Son of God. They themselves or their parents or their friends furnish whatever money is necessary to bring them into the mission field and to maintain them while they are away-while they study the Gospel of Jesus Christ; while they struggle to live in accordance with His teachings and His examples. What richer experience, yea, what richer blessings could come into the lives of young folks during these their critical years than for them to study carefully such a life and to struggle to follow such an example!

As a result of this experience together with the opportunity of travel and of making world-wide contacts they are able to take on responsibilities and leadership unusual for average individuals of the same age and to play an important part in influencing public opinion. Two-thirds of these are college graduates or under-graduates and after completing this voluntary service they return to their studies, their professions or other occupations in many parts of America.

These missionaries are unselfish ambassadors of goodwill and understanding from and to the various countries and peoples where they labour. They carry with them to their fields of labour a spirit of goodwill and fairness, and carry back with them to their homes in America a true and friendly understanding of the peoples among whom they have served. For the people whom they have learned to know and love they have a deep and abiding affection. This is but an indication· of that glorious and greatly desirable bond of sympathy and affection which exists between the 30,000 Church members ·here in the fourteen nations included in the European Mission and the multitude of Church members who are living in America.

Every missionary seems to have within himself what might properly perhaps be called a prejudice in favour of the people with whom he labours. Spencer J. Klomp who had served in England as a missionary for two years recently wrote from his home in Ogden, Utah: "My first impression of the continent was that I wished that I was back in England. Never before was the peaceful condition and the feeling of security of England so apparent as it was after a few weeks travelling in other countries." This missionary makes observations about Paris, about France generally, about Italy and about Germany and then concludes: "To visit England again and meet the fine friends I left in Burnley is the height of my ambition."

Alden E. Coffin, a missionary from Idaho, U.S.A., who had just completed two and a half years in Germany and who was starting on a trip around the world said: "My heart was touched when as I left Germany many of our faithful and devoted Church members appealed to me to be sure to carry to other members of the Church in other lands and in other nations their very best wishes and kindest regards. For their fellow church members everywhere these good German people have only a feeling of genuine affection. They are hoping and praying constantly that mutual confidence will come among the nations and that war will be done away with forever.

My work took me into the homes of the German people every day. I am glad to express the high regard I have for those wonderful German people with whom I have lived and laboured for more than two and one-half years. I have been thoroughly acquainted and intimately associated with hundreds of those fine people in every walk of life. I have lived in their homes, I have eaten at their tables, I have slept in their beds, I have had great pleasure in enjoying their hospitality. I feel as if I am in a better position to render a fair judgment of the situation in Germany than is the average writer or journalist, the student or the tourist who, wilfully or otherwise, either sees these people through eyes of prejudice or else wilfully ignores facts.

I would be both unkind and unfair if I were otherwise than their steadfast friend. What they did or what they thought concerning political matters gave me little concern.

In Germany the morals are high, the people are inherently honest, physically they are clean, they are keen analytic thinkers, they live virtuous lives, and they are most friendly and hospitable. Germany certainly stands foremost in her effort to improve the standard of living for those who labour. It is a real desire of these people, peacefully if possible, to bear the burdens which have been so ruthlessiy and unkindly thrust upon them.

I have been astonished since leaving Germany at the falsehoods which are circulated about these good folks. And what makes it tragic is that honest thinking people appear to believe these falsehoods.''

This tells you something of the stirring experiences which these missionaries have and of their positive impressions. We must acknowledge that, living as these missionaries do in intimate contact with the inner lives of the people, their views concerning actual conditions deserve and are sure to secure attention. I have presented the views of but two young missionaries, one from England, the other from Germany. With from 250 to 400 such returning annually from the European Mission to various parts of the United States their influence is a powerful factor for helping to advance the peace of the world, their efforts an outstanding contribution to international understanding and goodwill!

The quotations I have given are from young men. Give consideration for a moment to the words and expressions of Charles R. Mabey, soldier, officer, and hero of two wars and Governor of the State of Utah from 1921 to 1925. His letter is dated March 30th, 1937: "Let me express my appreciation for the efforts that have been made and are being made in the interest of world peace and brotherhood by Mormon missionaries.

For upwards of fifty years I have seen these missionaries by the thousands leave their homes. They have served in every country of the eastern hemisphere; they have laboured in the lands of the two Americas and on the islands of the sea. They have learned to know the culture of the Old World capitals, they have walked along the green plains of Britain, Holland and Scandinavia, France and Germany. Wherever they have gone because of their lofty ideals they have very naturally picked up and taken back with them to their homes only the very best the world has to give. They have reached the dweller in the city and the peasant in the field and have thus lived· closer to them than as if they had lived a lifetime in the renowned universities of Europe. They know the real life of the real people in the countries where they labour and they have learned to respect and to · love them. I have never known a Mormon missionary that did not praise the people with whom he laboured.

This great Mormon missionary system wields a powerful influence for good. Almost immediately after their arrival at home these young men take the front rank in civic, educational and religious affairs. They become the mayors of our cities, the governors of our states, the judges on the bench and influential and powerful national congressmen and senators. They hold professorships in our seats of learning and became distinguished men of science.

To-day returned missionaries are scattered in every large city of America and in every state of the Union. Wherever they are they are ambassadors of goodwill from the nations where, in their youth, they become so intimately acquainted with the people."

The actions of the people of Utah show that the missionary influences have created impressions for good. Seldom has Utah's Legislature enacted hysterical legislation against foreigners, not even against the Germans and Austrians who happened to be living in Utah during the Great War. When, in some western states agitation against the Japanese people took the shape of laws against people already established in the United States; and against allowing the children of such persons to attend the public schools, Utah did not enact such legislation.

The seeds of friendship planted in the hearts of the people of Utah by Mormon missionaries from Japan thus bore fruit. Interest in the work of the Far East both in the University of Utah and the Brigham Young University may be partly credited to the zeal of returned Mormon missionaries.

The “Round the World Club” of Utah, composed largely of Mormon missionaries, is active in furthering better understanding throughout the State regarding the aims, ideals and purposes of peoples in the various parts of the world. If war comes it will be found that the spirit of the returned Mormon missionaries, wherever they are, will temper the attitude of the people as was the case during the late World Encounter. Whole-heartedly the Mormon missionaries are ready and willing to cooperate with the International Assembly of World Fellowship of Faiths in an effort to bring about everywhere peace, blessing and prosperity to all the world through world fellowship.

From his diary, it seems that Richard was pleased with the diverse audience at the conference.6 After the conference, Richard published his talk in The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, where he expanded on it for his Latter-day Saint audience.7 He added some of the following to his published paper:

I have just returned from Flanders Field. That part of Belgium is soaked with the blood of our relatives. Practically all the people of the Christian world participated in the great world conflict and all for nothing in the way of economic gain. Everybody lost. It brought upon us only new problems.

I shuddered, my tears flowed as I stood there and imagined the fierceness of that terrible fight and fire faced by our beloved dead now buried in that sacred soil. Into that conflict we put not only our gold and silver, but our fathers, brothers, sons. The body of my own younger brother lies there with those noble warriors. We paid this costly price because we had been persuaded that we were fighting a war to end war.

Are we so blinded to fundamental truth that we have forgotten that nearly 2,000 years ago "the angel of the Lord came and said, I bring you good tidings of great joy"? And have we forgotten that "suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good will toward men"? (Luke 2: 8-14)

The greatest heritage we can leave to posterity is a definite assurance that all future international differences will be adjusted without resort to force. What greater blessing could come to humanity than the assurance that armed conflicts, with all their attendant evils, will be done away with forever.

All will agree that if the common people of the various nations understand one another, if they actually know one another's hearts, feelings, ambitions, and desires, they will have no wish to fight; they will refuse to go to war.

The view has been held that if the young people of the various nations could visit their foreign friends and for a time live among them, they would naturally acquire a sympathetic international understanding of such importance that it would be a mighty step in the direction of permanent peace. Much has been accomplished in this direction by some universities. These institutions have not only arranged for an exchange of professors but for an exchange of students also. The international jamborees of the Boy Scouts of the world have accomplished much in this direction. At the one to be held in Holland next month, boys from all nations will meet and clasp hands in true and sympathetic brotherhood. They will understand one another.

The Mormon Church has for more than a hundred years sent many of its young men and women into practically all nations to preach the Gospel of peace. For this purpose the Church maintains a standing group, 2,000 strong, whose members move continuously among the common people of the world. These > missionaries do not merely visit schools, churches, camps; they actually live in the homes of the people. For a period of two or more years each missionary, in a way, becomes a citizen of another nation. The personnel of this army of peace is constantly changing.

Veterans return to their homes where they champion the cause of their newly-found and newlymade friends, while new recruits buckle on the armour of neighbourliness and become international guests on this great scale.

Imagine the blow that is thus struck at the gods of war. War is conceived in misunderstanding, it is born in hate, it is suckled by malice, by envy, and by greed and it takes as its costly toll millions of the manhood of the nations.

Richard was evidently at home with the other speakers who also sought world peace at a time of ratcheting tensions. The loss of his younger brother in the First World War appears to have been a factor in his pacifist tendencies.

While in London Richard gave other talks, including one to the Royal Society of Arts about the “Naming and numbering of London streets.”8 Presentations to Latter-day Saint leaders and members also took place in conferences and other gatherings. In January 1938 he spoke at an Orthodox Christian Christmas celebration which was sponsored by the World Fellowship of Faiths.9 In many of his talks Richard pointed to Jesus Christ as a source of world peace.10

During the Second World War, which materialised despite the conference’s ambition, Richard Lyman was excommunicated from the Church. In 1954 he was rebaptised and remained an active member of the Church until he died in 1963. Richard’s legacy is complicated by some of his actions, but he also did a remarkable amount of good for the Church through his service and in particular through building bridges with other faiths.

In 2001 R. Lanier Britsch published an article on the history of the 1851-1856 Latter-day Saint mission to India. Within the text he noted: 

“The history of the sixty-one Saints who remained in India when the mission closed in 1856 is, with one or two exceptions, unknown.”

This book is filling this gap. I have been amazed at the material that has been discovered and the stories that have come out. Stay tuned for more developments over the coming months!

Over the next few years, he worked and had nothing to do with his brother. Then, when passing through Köln he decided to visit his brother again. Ludwig discovered, to his horror, that Leonhardt had joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after receiving a missionary tract in the town of Heiligenwald. Ludwig refused to allow his brother to talk to him about the Church, which he despised, for reasons unknown today. The two brothers quarrelled and Ludwig left vowing never to see Leonhardt again.

Soon after, in June 1895, Ludwig arrived in Bielefeld, near Hanover, where he began working for a Jewish man. That first evening after work Ludwig had dinner with his employer and other employees. As they ate they discussed religion. He listened to the other men explain their religious beliefs. Being the newest employee he went last. His employer asked him what his views were on religion.

“I do not know. I am a Lutheran, but something in my heart tells me that none of us are right; that in Western America, the Church of Jesus Christ has the truth,” he replied.

Ludwig surprised himself as much as anyone else. That evening, for the first time in his adult life, he knelt in prayer and asked why he had felt prompted to defend a church he knew nothing about.

Early the next morning, while talking with one of the other men, Ludwig had a vision. The light filled the room and a Heavenly person dressed in a white robe came in through the door and stood in the air about a foot from the ground. Scared, the Heavenly messenger spoke to him and encouraged him to continue on the path that he was on. The messenger then disappeared.

That same day Ludwig wrote to his brother asking him to send missionaries and to instruct him about the gospel. A few months later Ludwig was baptised in the River Leine in Hanover by Rudolph Gygi and immediately began sharing his newfound faith.

Soon after Ludwig met a young woman, Auguste Spilker, in a kitchen where he worked. He began speaking to her about the church and she accepted an invitation to meet with him to discuss it further. Due to opposition to the church they met in a forest where they were free to meet and talk. In July 1896, convinced of the gospel’s truthfulness, Auguste was baptised. Over time they fell in love and despite some family resistance, they were married in 1897. The below photograph was taken soon after their marriage.

The Rueckerts were committed Latter-day Saints. Missionaries assigned to Bielefeld ate at their home every day. They also opened up their home for meetings to be held in. In 1898 Ludwig and Auguste received some money from family and began making plans to emigrate. In September 1898 they were gathering supplies for their trip while continuing to host the missionaries.1

The couple arrived in Salt Lake City with their daughter Babette, who sadly died the following year. Six other children followed and the couple made their home in Salt Lake City. In 1905 Ludwig was called to serve a mission in Germany which he completed faithfully. In September 1914 he went on another mission. Initially, he was called to serve in Germany and Switzerland but this was changed to the Northern States Mission due to the outbreak of the First World War.

The Rueckerts remained faithful to each other and their faith throughout their lives. Many of their descendants remained faithful to the gospel with some of them serving as missionaries and mission presidents in Germany. That relationship and the early formation of the church in Bielefeld can be traced back to Ludwig and Auguste Rueckert whose fateful meeting in a kitchen brought about so many positives for the Church in Germany and their descendants.

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In August 1879 Lord Salisbury was the Secretary of State when the British government was approached by the United States government with a request to try and limit the Church’s functions in Great Briatin. Letters were also sent to other countries with considerable numbers of Latter-day Saint emigrants. In essence, the US government wanted foreign governments to restrict Latter-day Saint activities and to stop emigration to Utah.

Some scholars have described Lord Salisbury as an introvert who was fearful of change. In most cases that crossed his desk as Secretary of State Lord Salisbury adopted a non-interventionist approach. He had little interest in involving the government in people’s personal matters. In a later case involving unscrupulous emigration agents encouraging people to emigrate to Argentina he remarked that “If you warn them against dishonest emigrations, why not against dishonest promotion of companies - or dishonest vendors of medicine?” And in a private letter he revealed to a peer his views on the role of the government: “On general grounds I object to Parliament trying to regulate private morality in matters which only affects the person who commits the offence.”1 Lord Salisbury was no fan of Latter-day Saints, but he also felt the government had no right to interfere in the lives of the people whether for better or worse. In his mind the Saints were probably foolish and unwise, but he did not feel as if the government was right to intervene and they only had themselves to blame if it did not go to plan.

The full letter to Lord Salisbury requesting his help largely fixated on the practice of plural marriage or polygamy as it was often called. Foreign Latter-day Saint immigrants were seen as a potential threat to the integrity of the United States as they would undoubtedly “swell the numbers of the law-defying Mormons of Utah…”

Letter from W. J. Hoppin to Lord Salisbury, 25 August 1879

My Lord: The annual statistics of immigration into the United States show that large number of emigrants come to that country every year, from the various nations of Europe, for the avowed purpose of joining the Mormon community at Salt Lake, in the Territory of Utah, under the auspices and guidance of the emissaries and agents of that community in foreign parts. This representation of the interests of Mormonism abroad, which has been carried on for years, is understood to have developed unusual activity of late, especially in Great Britain among other countries where it has unfortunately obtained a greater or less foothold.

The system of polygamy, which is prevalent in the community of Utah, is largely based upon and promoted by these accessions from Europe, drawn mainly from the ignorant classes, who are easily influenced by the double appeal to their passions and their poverty held out in the flattering picture of a home in the fertile and prosperous region where Mormonism has established its material seat.

Inasmuch as the practice of polygamy is based upon a form of marriage, by which additional wives are “sealed” to the men of that community, these so-called “marriages” are pronounced by the laws of the United States to be crimes against the statutes of the country, and punishable as such.

On the 1st of July, 1862, the Congress of the United States passed an act, chapter cxxvi, expressly designed, as appears from the title, “to punish and prevent the practice of polygamy in the Territories of the United States, and other places,” &c., That act remains the law of the land as to its continuing provisions, which, in the revision of the statutes of the United States, made in 1874, reads as follows:

“Sec. 5352. Every person having a husband or wife living, who marries another, whether married or single, in a Territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, is guilty of bigamy, and shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, and by imprisonment for a term of not more than five years; but this section shall not extend to any person, by reason of any former marriage, whose husband or wife by such marriage is absent for five successive years, and is not known to such to be living; nor to any person by reason of any former marriage which has been dissolved by decree of a competent court; nor to any person by reason of any former marriage which has been pronounced void by decree of a competent court on the ground of nullity of the marriage contract.”

Whatever doubt, if any, has heretofore existed as to the efficiency of the law above cited, and the intent of the general government to enforce it, has now been terminated by the recent decision of the Supreme Court, the highest judicial tribunal of the land, sustaining the constitutionality of this legislation, and affirming the conviction and punishment of offenders against that law.

Under whatever specious guise the subject may be presented by those engaged in instigating the European movement to swell the numbers of the law-defying Mormons of Utah, the bands and organizations which are got together in foreign lands as recruits cannot be regarded as otherwise than a deliberate and systematic attempt to bring persons to the United States with the intent of violating their laws and committing crimes expressly punishable under the statute as penitentiary offenses.

No friendly power will, of course, knowingly lend its aid, even indirectly, to attempts made within its borders against the laws and government of a country wherewith it is at peace, with established terms of amity and reciprocal relations of treaty between them; while, even were there no question involved of open penal infraction of the laws of the land, every consideration of comity should prevail to prevent the territory of a friendly State from becoming a resort or refuge for the crowds of misguided men and women whose offences against morality and decency would be intolerable in the land from whence they came.

Mr. Evarts, in his instruction to Mr. Welsh upon this subject (which has arrived since Mr. Welsh’s departure), after mentioning the above-recited facts and conclusions, further states that it is not doubted, when the subject is brought to its attention, that the Government of Great Britain will take such steps as may be compatible with its laws and usages to check the organization of these criminal enterprises by agents who are thus operating beyond the reach of the law of the United States, and to prevent the departure of those proposing to go thither as violators of the law by engaging in such criminal enterprises, by whomsoever instigated.

Mr. Welsh was, therefore, instructed, and I have the honor, as the chargé d’affairs of the United States ad interim, to present the matter to the Government of Great Britain through your lordship, and to urge earnest attention to it, in the interest, not merely of a faithful execution of the laws of the United States, but of the peace, good order, and morality which are cultivated and sought to be promoted by all civilized countries.

I may, probably, have the honor, in some future communications, to fortify my representations on this subject, by citing such facts and details as may come to my notice concerning emigration of this character from Great Britain, and I beg to bespeak for them your lordship’s careful attention.

I have, &c.,

W. J. HOPPIN.

Some time later, after taking legal advice, Lord Salisbury responded that the British government had no legal recourse to stop Latter-day Saint emigrants from leaving the country. The British government was not willing to use American laws and experiences as a means of limiting British subjects from making their own decisions. Still, they agreed to publish notices warning people about emigrating to the United States and how participating in plural marriage in Utah was a crime. Here is the reply in full:

Sir: I referred to Her Majesty’s secretary of state for the home department your letter of the 25th of August, conveying to me the wish of your government that steps should be taken by Her Majesty’s Government to prevent the adoption of the doctrines of Mormonism by persons in this country, and the emigration to the United States of persons emigrating for the purpose of joining the Mormon community at Salt Lake, in the Territory of Utah; and I have the honor to acquaint you that a reply has been received, stating that Her Majesty’s Government have no authority to place any restraint on emigration or to interfere with regard to the opinions which may be held by British subjects on questions of religion or morality so long as no act is committed which is a breach of the law of England, and that they are therefore powerless to carry out the measures suggested by you.

I have to add, however, that Mr. Cross will cause a notice to be inserted in the newspapers, cautioning persons against being deceived by Mormonite emissaries, and making generally known the law of the United States affecting polygamy, as set forth in your letter, and the penalties attaching to infringement thereof.

I have, &c.,

SALISBURY.

Lord Salisbury was true to his word and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police issued a notice to “emigrants and emigration agents” warning them that “a system of solicitation extensively prevails to induce persons to emigrate from Great Britain to the United States for the purpose of joining the Mormon community at Salt Lake…” The notice, such as the one below, was soon after published in various newspapers.

In January 1880 Lord Salisbury appears to have drawn a line under the whole matter and communications on the matter ended.

The Americans recognised the British position but still wanted to restrict Latter-day Saint emigraiton. In an internal letter within the Department of State it was noted that the British “…can do no more than give notice to the public of the illegal character of Mormon marriages according to the law of the United States, and that such notice has accordingly been given.”2 No further pressure appears to have been exerted on the British government to stop Latter-day Saints and instead they relied on the notices provided in the newspapers to discourage would be emigrants. As a group prepared to leave Liverpool in April 1880 the American authorities, knowing the government could not intervene, contacted the local British police to encourage them to “repeat the warning”. If it happened there appears to have been no effect and the group left as planned.3

The British government had no obligation and no power to restrict or limit Latter-day Saints or those interested in the faith from participating in the denomination or not. They also could not stop them from leaving the country. Various American officials sought different ways of limiting foreign-born Latter-day Saints from immigrating to the United States, but despite their efforts they were unable to halt “The Gathering”. Lord Salisbury likely paid very little attention to the Latter-day Saints, but his commitment to upholding British law, which was generally tolerant of divergent beliefs and practices, worked out well for the interests of the Saints.

Meanwhile, Danish leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were busy preparing the final touches for a conference of leaders and members from across Denmark. A week-long series of meetings was being held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith. The Saints in Copenhagen had agreed to host those from other parts of the country to enable them to be in attendance at the conference.1

In 1944 the Church in Denmark was small. Years of emigration had drained the country of many strong members and the withdrawal of missionaries in 1939 had shocked the Saints. Still, they persevered. Local members were called as missionaries and native Danes were fully responsible for the branches. Orson West, a 34-year-old Danish Latter-day Saint, was serving as the mission president. He had been born to Latter-day Saint parents in Aalborg, Denmark, but was not baptised until May 1929 when he was an adult. He was unmarried but was fiercely faithful to the gospel. Soon after his baptism he had served a full-time mission in Denmark. After the missionaries were withdrawn in 1939 he was made president of the mission. From 1939-1946 the Danish Saints weathered World War 2 under his capable leadership.

The conference began under the ominous shadow of public unrest. The first session was a Priesthood session on Sunday 24 June with more than 50 Elders from across the country in attendance. The event was described as being “uplifting to the highest degree.” As the day progressed bonfires burnt in the street as public resentment of the Germans began to boil over. The Saints, however, chose to focus on things of spiritual value. They sang hymns, listened to talks, and discussed spiritual matters. The conference had been organised by the mission in conjunction with the MIA. It was to include plays, services, the revealing of a memorial plaque, excursions, and much more. Despite the restrictions being introduced due to the unrest they managed to succeed in following much of the programme.

Over the following days things grew more serious. On 30 June armoured German cars were patrolling nearby streets and some accounts report Germans firing on protesting Danes.2 Fires burned, bullets were fired, and barricades were erected as Danes sought to oppose their overlords. Perhaps some members were involved, or maybe they were not. Most, however, sought refuge, spiritually and physically, in gathering together in worship and remembrance.

The Play

On Sunday evening, 24 June, Latter-day Saint leaders became aware that a new curfew was coming into effect the next day. It had been anticipated that two performances would be held of a specially commissioned play depicting the life of Joseph Smith. They planned to hold the performances on Thursday 28 June, but the curfew meant only one could take place. Despite the tumult around them, the Saints were keen to make it happen. Costumes were procured by Richard Gregersen, a Danish member, who also played an adult Joseph Smith. Out of necessity the chapel decorations were simple, but they worked well for the performance. Richard’s wife, Eva, provided the necessary instruction and artistic guidance for all involved, which included the many extras that portrayed the mob that killed Hyrum and Joseph. The play told the story of Joseph Smith’s life through to his martyrdom. The play had been written by President Orson West who was described as having a “well-known sense of cutting through all that is unimportant and penetrating to what matters.” The show was, by all accounts, a beautiful and moving scene performance.

Despite being in the middle of a World War they made tremendous sacrifices to gather from around the country.

Despite the clashes, bonfires, and barricades around the city they made the effort to come together.

Despite many other pressing concerns, they clung to their identity as Latter-day Saints.

Despite the limiting factors of the war, they did what they could to support and sustain one another.

Commemoration & Consecration

The play and other conference events garnered considerable public attention despite what was going on around them. On 27 June Danish Radio issued several announcements concerning the Church’s celebrations. Newspapers also carried articles about the Church and its beliefs, as well as information about Joseph Smith. Later President Orson West commented:

“…the General Conference, in addition to bringing us spiritual enrichment, was the occasion for a unique information campaign which was happily a great success. Now let’s take advantage of the ground that has been laid!”3

Some of the publicity had announced that Danish members of the Church were holding a conference to celebrate the prophet’s contributions and remember his martyrdom. A memorial plaque was also unveiled at the Copenhagen Chapel. Saints from across the country who donated to the memorial had their names recorded on a piece of vellum which was later stored behind the plaque.4 Some members were unable to travel to the conference and on 27 June services were held in Aalborg with more than 60 people in attendance.

Some of the members in attendance had made sacrifices to be in attendance, and the journey home was not easy either. Frank Sandberg was born in 1927 to a Latter-day Saint family. His father, Emil, was a Swedish man who moved to Utah during the First World War and joined the Church. There he met a Dane and fellow Latter-day Saint, Thora, and they married in 1918. A few years later they returned to Denmark where Frank was born. They had faced some hardships from the Germans, but they retained their faith in the gospel. After the conference, Frank and Emil, along with two other Latter-day Saint men were headed to the Jutland peninsula. Their journey, however, was to be long and difficult.

Initially, they made their way to the train station only to find around 1,000 people sitting around. The General Strike and accompanying German crackdown had disrupted transport and people were left isolated and stuck. Eventually, after seeking lifts, walking, and some waiting, the father and son arrived in Roskilde. Here they found no accommodation and no food. It wasn’t long before Emil’s health began to fail him.

Tired and sweaty the two men took time to rest. They were exhausted from the travelling, the confusion, and the unclear route home. Thankfully, Emil struck up a conversation with an elderly lady who welcomed them into her home for the night and fed them. After a couple more days of travelling, filled with false leads and disappointments, they arrived home in Aalborg. The spiritually rich experience had come at a high price in time, energy, health, and finances, but they remained faithful. Frank emigrated to Utah after the war. There he took out his endowments, as did many other Danes who looked to build a new life in America.

Nearly all of those involved in the play emigrated to Utah to participate in sacred temple ordinances. Today, in a bizarre twist of fate, the very building they performed in is now a House of the Lord.

In 1933 the Boy Scouts of America sought permission to model a new scouting programme for older youth on the Vanguard model, which the Church consented to. This became known as the “Explorer” programme. Two years later the Church adopted the same name and the Vanguard branding, per se, was mothballed.

In the early 1960s, Scouting began to be encouraged in the various international missions of the Church. In due time, the “Vanguard” programme was resurrected and placed under the direction of the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association. The new programme was designed for young men aged 12 to 14. There was a missionary dimension to the endeavour and it appears to have been designed to inspire, motivate, and lead to self-development. The ideal result, it would seem, was to have participants choose to serve as missionaries.

Vanguards received a badge and as they progressed through the ranks of membership. I recently purchased a badge, which was intended for new members of the programme. It was known as the ‘Membership badge’ and had one point of a spindle protruding from it. Mine is a little worn, but in good shape considering it is about 60 years old.

The programme had five ranks or stages that participants were expected to work their way through. Each had a corresponding badge or ribbon:

1. Membership badge has 1 point

2. Apprentice badge has 2 points

3. Explorer badge has 3 points

4. Master badge has four points

5. The Liahona badge has 4 points and is suspended from a ribbon

Crucially the programme was presented as a combination of organised activities as well as a guide for personal living through its established standards.

Here is the Vanguard Standard

I will always be alert and determined to:

Maintain and strengthen my body, my mind, and my spirit;

Carry out my responsibilities to my Heavenly Fathers;

Discharge my obligations as a citizen of my country;

Help my fellow men as I can.

In the British Mission, which is where this pin was most likely awarded, Vanguard Scouting groups were organised across the country in the 1960s. In the summer of 1967, a group of ‘Vanguard boys’ and their leaders from the St Alban’s Ward, which included Bishop Thomas Hill, camped at a farm in East Grinstead.

Everyone participated in the various duties including pitching tents, preparing a pot of stew, and playing games. At 4 a.m. the lads were up playing football and the day began. After breakfast the group departed for the London temple where “a considerable amount of baptismal work was performed by the boys.” After some time in the temple they made their way back to their camp, ate, packed away the tents, and arrived back in St Albans at 9.45pm ‘tired, grubby, but looking forward to doing the same thing again another time.’1

In 1967 several young men received their Vanguard pins with one of them, Paul Nicholas, receiving a membership pin just like the one I recently collected.2 Interestingly the Church History Department had some of the badges but not all of them.

There were different accounts of Vanguard Scouting events held in 1967, which seems to have been a busy year for the movement. Here’s another activity:

Six " Vanguard " boys of the Loughborough Branch Cadre held a week's camp at Over Haddon in the Peak District during August. They fulfilled various Vanguard requirements, like map reading exercises, hiking, cooking over open fires and swimming. The boys' spiritual welfare wasn't neglected either, for they held a Sacrament Meeting the day after their arrival which Brother H. I. Simpson conducted. The Cadre looks forward to camping next year with other Cadres in a competitive spirit, and to receiving their badges. Now they’re planning a winter programme that will include preparation for next summer’s boatbuilding project.3

While traditional scouting activities such as hiking and fire starting appear to have been common, others, including sports, also took place. In March 1968 Yeovil Vanguards formed part of a football team that played a team from Weston-Super-Mare. They played on Weston’s sandy beach and Yeovil won!4

At some point, the Vanguard programme and Scouting generally wound down in the British Isles. There are many programmes, initiatives, and other aspects of Latter-day Saint history that have been lost to time. As I continue to explore Church History I discover that there is still so much about the Latter-day Saint experience to be gathered, preserved, and shared.

Joseph and George were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had been born and raised in London, England. The Catten family had joined the Church in 1907 and served faithfully thereafter with their father holding street meetings and their mother serving as a Relief Society President for many years.

There were two other Latter-day Saints aboard the Hesperian, Marie Andersen (57) and her daughter, Maren (28), who were converts to the Church from Denmark. All of Marie’s children who reached adulthood emigrated to North America and she determined to join her daughter Christiane in Magrath, Alberta, Canada.

The Sinking of the Hesperian

In September 1915, war not only stalked the bloody trenches of France but also the dark and mysterious waters of the Atlantic Ocean.1 In the months previous various military and civilian vessels had been attacked and sunk by German submarines, known as U-boats, which had agreed to only attack legitimate military targets. War, however, is complicated and the definition of “legitimate military targets” seems to have been hazy for some. It was further complicated as British merchantmen installed hidden guns to surprise and attack U-boats that might surface and in so doing German officers began undertaking unrestricted submarine warfare.

At 8.30 pm, Joseph and George were sitting on their beds partly dressed and preparing for bed when there was a terrible explosion. The ship shook, rocked, and tilted starboard side before righting itself. Both of them were thrown around the room.

The ship was immediately stopped but it was apparent to the two boys what had happened. The explosion had caused panic among the passengers. The brothers had to work their way through the crowded hallways to make it onto the top deck. On top George realised that he had forgotten their lifejackets and he headed back to retrieve them. Meanwhile, lifeboats were being lowered into the ocean.2

Joseph and George saw a boat being lowered and they clambered onto the rail to jump in but they were told it was too full, so they clambered back onto the deck and searched for another boat. Further along, they found a boat with only three men in it. As it was being lowered the pulleys jammed on one side but the other side continued to lower. George grabbed hold of Joseph and held on tightly to his seat. Another boat, not realising what was going on, was being lowered above them and crashed into their boat which in the panic did not have its plug re-inserted. Suddenly, Joseph and George found themselves in the freezing ocean waters separated from one another.

Terror must have surged through their hearts and minds. Both boys drifted about in their lifejackets in the darkness. Fortunately, both were picked up by other lifeboats.

Joseph was pulled into a lifeboat that was already beyond capacity. There was again no plug installed in the boat with people likely having to continue to bail the water. There was also only one oar and the ocean’s waves would cause people to lift up off their seats as they went over the crest. Another woman was rescued after Joseph and laid across his legs. She was badly injured and died before they could be rescued. Eventually, at 2 a.m., a British sub-chaser came along and rescued Joseph and his fellow survivors. Tears fell as Joseph, overwhelmed by the experience, feared for his brother.

Later that day the two brothers discovered that they had been picked up by the same ship and were joyfully reunited, grateful that the other had made it. After a few days in Ireland, the brothers were taken to Liverpool. There they met with some missionaries and eventually President and Sister Smith who took them shopping to replace some of their belongings.

Joseph recalled the following:

“…we were treated as though we were members of the family. Sister Smith hugged me and took care of us as if we were her own children - which brought tears to my eyes. Sister Smith made quite an impression on me, for she was the same build as my mother and I really appreciated her concern for us. We had supper and also spent the evening with them.”3

After the ordeal, Joseph was hesitant to continue the journey and to sail across the ocean again. Yet George prevailed and after encouraging his brother they decided to try again. After a nine-day trip, they arrived uneventfully in Quebec, Canada, where they continued their journey to Utah. The Andersens also survived the sinking and were rescued. They continued their journey to Canada and also arrived safely.

The Care of Mission Leaders

At the time the British Mission was presided over by Hyrum Mack Smith and Ida Bowman Smith who served as the Mission Relief Society President. Hyrum, the son of Prophet and President Joseph F. Smith, was also an Apostle in the Church and held a great love for the Saints in Europe and harboured hopes that many of them would be able to gather to Utah.

The Smiths were in Ireland when news of the Hesperian reached them and were immediately concerned for the Andersens, who they knew were on the ship. They returned to Liverpool a couple of days later and were soon reunited with them. At the time the Smiths were unaware of the Catten boys. The following diary entries outline the Smiths’ response to the sinking and the steps they took for the Latter-day Saints caught up in it (original spellings preserved).

5 September

This morning we got the news that the Hisperian had been torpedoed but was still afloat. She had been torpedoed after dark Saturday night without warning. Some are reported lost. We have been greatly concerned because our Sisters Anderson were on the ship. We can only hope they are among the survivors.4

6 September

“Report has it that the SS. Hispernian sank this morning at 6.45 a.m. Most of the passengers and crew being saved. About 20 lives are reported lost. No details yet published.5

7 September

We reached Liverpool at 3 p.m. and found all well at home. The survivors of the Hespernian will reach here late this evening. We have word that our sisters are among them. For this we are very gratified.6

8 September

Found the sisters Anderson at the Lord Nelson Hotel this morning. They are feeling very well considering there awful experience. They are bereft of everything. They had retired when the ship was struck had not time to dress. They were taken off in a boat and later picked up by a ship.7

9 September

Ida and Bro Godall went with the younger sister Anderson and purchased them under and outer clothing and fixed them up comfortably. They were exceedingly gratiful. They depart again tomorrow…We received a letter yesterday from a sister Catton of London stating that she had two sons on board the Hisperian and she asked us to look them up and help them if we could. The boys were aged 17 and 11 years. Their names were George and Joseph. Bro Southwick found them. They too had lost every thing and had been given some cheap clothing by the Co. Sister Smith took them down town and fitted them out. Both boys had been thrown in the water but had been rescued. The story of our folks was exciting and pathetic.8

10 September

The ship Corsican sailed to day with our sisters and brethren on board. May God bless them and preserve them from the murderous and savage Germans and take them home in safety.9

That same day, the 10th of September, a cablegram also arrived from the First Presidency explaining that emigrants sailing on belligerent ships had to assume personal responsibility. The notice conflicted Hyrum. He wanted to ensure the safety of the Saints but also to continue the work of gathering the Saints to Zion, which in his estimation was among the Latter-day Saints in North America. News of the sinking angered and frustrated Hyrum who blamed the conflict firmly on the Germans. He expressed a complete abhorrence for the incident which he considered immoral. The Smiths continued to serve the Saints in Europe until August 1916 when they returned home to Utah (uneventfully).

Walther Schwieger

The U-boat commander who sunk the Hesperian was Walther Schiweger, a thirty year old naval officer from Berlin. Just days before the attack on the Hesperian Count Johann Bernstorff, the German Ambassador to the United States assured the United States government that “Liners will not be sunk by our submarines without warning and without safety of the lives of non-combatants, provided that the liners do not try to escape or offer resistance.”10

The sinking came just weeks after the loss of another British passenger liner, the Arabic (which also had a Latter-day Saint missionary onboard), and American officials were becoming irate with German attacks on civilian vessels despite the assurances that they would stop.

In Germany Schwieger returned to base and was treated with disgust and anger for violating the agreement. The Prussian Secret Police arrested Walther and beat him for attacking another passenger liner. German officials first tried to deny involvement in the sinking, but others, such as Ambassador Bernstorff, pointed out that there had been a cannon on the deck of the Hesperian and that as a result it did not fall under their recent agreement.

Schwieger was allowed to resume his commission and continued as a commander on the U-boats until he died on 5 September 1917, almost two years after the attack on the Hesperian. His U-boat hit a British mine off the coast of the Netherlands and was sunk with all lives lost.

War

The Cattens and Andersens escaped death and were fortunate to be rescued. This is not the only story of Latter-day Saints surviving ship wrecks during the First World War. The main takeaway, however, is that Church officials and members continued to love and serve those suffering from the effects of war. Although primary efforts centred on helping members of the church, there were efforts to help people of all backgrounds and circumstances. That is a message that can, should, and does continue today.

George was a polygamist and was involved in various political and economic matters in Utah. He also wrote about different aspects of Latter-day Saint history, including his own experiences in Hawaii. Following his conversion he remained a committed member and ardent believer of his faith until he died in 1901.

On 5 January 1864, he presided over a meeting of missionaries in the British Mission which was being held in Birmingham, England. George’s remarks ranged widely but he touched on a topic that has become more relevant to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since Russell M. Nelson became president of the Church in 2018:

Another thing I will refer to; I should be pleased to hear the use of the word “Mormon,” or “Mormonism,” when applied to ourselves and the Gospel, discontinued, as far as possible, among the Elders and the Saints. This subject was alluded to at the last General Conference of the Elders held in this place. The term “Mormon” is not a proper one to be applied to the Saints of God; and we should refrain from its use as much as we possibly can. We are not “Mormons,”—we are Latter-day Saints. Our religions is not “Mormonism,”—it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we take our rightful name through obedience to the commandments that He has revealed. We have become members of the Church of Jesus Christ. We are not followers of Mormon. We are just as much followers of Nephi, Lehi, Elijah, or any of the ancient Prophets of God. We are as properly Brighamites, Josephites, Smithites, or any other sites, as we are “Mormons” or “Mormonites.” When I use the term “Mormon,” I feel as though I was condescending to the use and acknowledgement of an epithet applied to us by our enemies.

In other personal writings, George occasionally makes mention of the word “Mormon” but it is typically in quotes and about an external factor, e.g. relating what a newspaper article says, or recording an advertisement:

Friday, Sept. 11th, 1863. Very stormy to-day. An advertisement appeared in one of the <morning> papers, inserted by some person of whom we had no knowledge, informing the public that there was to be a Ball given this evening to the two Mission Prophets who were in the city at the Mormon [Mormon] Palace (the house of one of the brethren named Jacobsen was called thus derisively and known as such among the people) to the two Mormon Prophets who were in the City and calling upon the inhabitants to illuminate their houses in honor of the event.

His journals, which are largely made available in transcription format online, show a remarkable aversion to the use of “Mormon” both before and after his 1864 denunciation of it while serving as mission president. The 52 volumes provide immense insight into the Church, Utah, and Latter-day Saint lifestyles. There were times, however, when George had to accept the fact that “Mormon” or “Mormonism” were convenient ways of referring to the Church and its teachings. For example:

[7 April 1897] At 7:30 there was a large congregation gathered in the Tabernacle to listen to a lecture or an address which it had been announced I would deliver, the subject being The Relationship of Mormonism to the Christian World. This is the last of a series of ten lectures which have been delivered on various subjects under the auspices of the Mutual Improvement Association.

While George had to tolerate and sometimes use the terms, he had a clear preference for not using the terms and they are generally used very infrequently in his personal writings. In 1862 he noted how Amasa Lyman presented a similar view:

Brother Lyman made a few remarks suggesting that we no longer say “Mormonism” when we mean the Gospel.

Despite a desire to steer away from the terms, convenience and shorthand won out over formality and proper nouns. Culturally the term “Mormon” became increasingly accepted. There have been other times where efforts have been undertaken to change the usage of the words, but they were unsuccessful in changing behaviour. In more recent years there has been a renewed desire and consistent messaging to use the full name of the Church publicly and privately. Below is the current style guide:

The official name of the Church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The full name was given by revelation from God to Joseph Smith in 1838.

• In the first reference, the full name of the Church is preferred: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

• When a shortened reference is needed, the terms “the Church” or the “Church of Jesus Christ” are encouraged. The “restored Church of Jesus Christ” is also accurate and encouraged.

• While the term “Mormon Church” has long been publicly applied to the Church as a nickname, it is not an authorized title, and the Church discourages its use. Thus, please avoid using the abbreviation “LDS” or the nickname “Mormon” as substitutes for the name of the Church, as in “Mormon Church,” “LDS Church,” or “Church of the Latter-day Saints.”

• When referring to Church members, the terms “members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” “Latter-day Saints,” “members of the Church of Jesus Christ” and “members of the restored Church of Jesus Christ” are preferred. We ask that the term “Mormons” and “LDS” not be used.

• “Mormon” is correctly used in proper names such as the Book of Mormon or when used as an adjective in such historical expressions as “Mormon Trail.”

• The term “Mormonism” is inaccurate and should not be used. When describing the combination of doctrine, culture and lifestyle unique to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the term “the restored gospel of Jesus Christ” is accurate and preferred.

• When referring to people or organizations that practice polygamy, it should be stated that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not affiliated with polygamous groups.

George is one of many Latter-day Saint leaders who implored for the Church to be known by its proper name. Here are some other examples from about a century later:

• “Don’t let the Lord down by calling this the Mormon Church. He didn’t call it the Mormon Church.” (President George Albert Smith, April 1948)

• “Members of the Church do not resent being referred to as Mormons, nor does the Church resent being referred to as the Mormon church. As we have said, however, it is not the correct name of the Church. Its correct name is, as we have already explained, “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” (D&C 115:4).” (President Marion G. Romney, April 1979)

• “Note carefully the language of the Lord. He did not say, “Thus shall my church be named.” He said, “Thus shall my church be called.” Years ago, its members were cautioned by the Brethren who wrote: “We feel that some may be misled by the too frequent use of the term ‘Mormon Church.’” (Elder Russell M. Nelson, April 1990)

• “I suppose that regardless of our efforts, we may never convert the world to general use of the full and correct name of the Church. Because of the shortness of the word Mormon and the ease with which it is spoken and written, they will continue to call us the Mormons, the Mormon church, and so forth. They could do worse. More than fifty years ago, when I was a missionary in England, I said to one of my associates, “How can we get people, including our own members, to speak of the Church by its proper name?” He replied, “You can’t. The word Mormon is too deeply ingrained and too easy to say.” He went on, “I’ve quit trying. While I’m thankful for the privilege of being a follower of Jesus Christ and a member of the Church which bears His name, I am not ashamed of the nickname Mormon.” President Gordon B. Hinckley, October 1990)

Filson and his literary contemporaries agitated for Latter-day Saint missionaries to be banned from the country and they would have welcomed the faith’s demise. Of specific interest in the article is the opening paragraph which notes:

“We are having a great deal about the Mormons just now, and it is well that people’s minds should be clear on the subject of this particular bogey.”1

Before long, “Mormons” would become one of the newspaper’s favourite groups to target.

In the same issue there was an article relating a Baptist Pastor’s call for action. The final line concluded in an ominous tone: “No woman who went to Salt Lake City ever came back.”2 Other articles in the same issue also addressed the church.

“We would utter a warning to our family readers to put their womenfolk on guard against specious Mormon missionaries now over here, and who usually call at people’s houses in the quiet hours of the daytime when the head of the family is away at business.”3

The tone and intensity of attention expended on the Church by Filson and other writers for the Sunday Illustrated betrays their desire for sensationalist content at the expense of minority communities. The temerity of Filson and others was borne from a “shoot first, ask questions later” mentality in which a balanced approach to the story was rarely pursued.

Sunday Illustrated

The first issue of Sunday Illustrated was published on Sunday 3 July 1921. The editor of the freshly launched newspaper, Horatio Bottomley, was an independent Member of Parliament who had been an important national figure during the First World War. Horatio was a polarising figure who had a rags-to-riches story. Despite the odds he survived numerous court cases and allegations of fraud and malpractice for many years.

Horatio was best known for his editorship of John Bull, a nationalistic and combative magazine that he used to promote his populist views and helped cement himself into the national political landscape from 1906 to 1920. Eventually, Horatio was forced out of the paper following a failed libel case which is when he launched the Sunday Illustrated.

The first article about Latter-day Saints was published a month after the paper’s founding when a reporter used the subtitle “Pretty Girls Employed as Missionaries.” The article focused on Nottingham where “Lady Missionaries” shared the gospel with others.4 The short article only noted the occurrence without expressing an opinion on the matter, but it soon took an increasingly condescending and aggressive tone towards the faith.

Before long most of the church’s most prominent critics had been featured in the Sunday Illustrated in some way or another. Lulu Loveland Shepard, also known as the “Silver-tongued Orator of the Rockies,” appeared in the paper when she visited England in 1922 as part of an “anti-Mormon campaign.”5 Lulu railed against the missionaries and shared information about temple rites and clothing. Some dubious stories and claims were made that sought to generate outrage and shock the public, which was precisely what the Sunday Illustrated was after.

Some Latter-day Saints, however, tried to push back on the allegations published in the paper. Elder James Western was a 22-year-old missionary in Cardiff who met with a Sunday Illustrated reporter in an interview. The interview was printed in an editorialised manner in which the missionary’s words were matched with comments of disbelief or criticism.

Still, the newspaper began publishing notices seeking information about the missionaries and their efforts to share their faith. Requests for information, such as the following, were seeking to dredge up dirt:

The newspaper, however, was interested in more than just Latter-day Saints with various remedies promoted, and other items advertised for sale. Profitability in a fiscally challenging period brought added complexities for Bottomley and given his financial controversies all means of increasing profits were pursued.

Sensational headlines were utilised to stir interest and to warn of the “menace of Mormonism.” Articles exaggerated the growth of the Church and presented the missionaries and the teachings they shared as dangerous to British society. Taking a page from the American Muckrakers of the time, the Sunday Illustrated brazenly undertook a campaign against the church

Some correspondents also drew comparisons between Latter-day Saints and other groups and communities that were looked down upon by Western society:

Even the debased position held by women in Eastern lands compares favourably with that of the Mormon women, whose homes can be invaded by the Mormon officials at any time. Should she refuse any information about her most intimate life, she is “dealt with” in the temple.

Such stories were typically lacking in details and were unverified. Not that that was important to the paper.

The ‘Nottingham Raid’

The 12 November 1922 turned out to be a rather exciting Sunday if you were attending the Latter-day Saint conference at the city’s Corn Exchange. There was a large crowd gathered for the conference which had attracted leaders such as William A. Morton who had travelled from the Church’s offices in Liverpool. Earlier that year at the previous annual conference it was reported that:

“…the anti-Mormon agitation of the past few months had attracted hundreds of people to the meetings of the Saints, and many were earnestly investigating the doctrines of the Church.”6

Now, some six months later, they would see whether things had continued in the same direction. The press had been working overtime to whip up public opinion against the Church and the missionaries. On the same day of the conference the Sunday Illustrated advertised the Latter-day Saint conference but “in three paragraphs told as many lies concerning it.”7 It also published a truly sensationalist piece about William Jarman who was a well-known antagonist. Tales of trapped girls being taken to Utah. They published a photograph of him wearing temple clothing which was bound to further inflame tensions.8 An ominous message was included:

If these meetings pass off without incident I shall be surprised. I fancy Nottingham will want to know what these gentle missionaries are doing in the town. and why they are being allowed complete freedom. They think a lot of their women and girls here.

A. Walter Stevenson, a native of Ogden, Utah, was serving as a missionary in the British Mission. He had begun missionary service in May 1921 and by November 1922 he was serving as the Conference clerk. He recorded an account of what happened next in his journal:

"Sunday Illustrated" lies about our Conference. They got special posters out and sell the papers to the people at both ends of Thurland street. Bro. Morton, Elders Geddes, Mathis and I spoke this morning. In the afternoon Elders Pingree & Morton were the speakers. Just as Elder Morton was beginning in walked Rev. Barling and about seven others. They tramped around the hall and the speaker waited for them to take their seats. Barling shouted out: "Go on mister, Never mind us." Bro. Morton said: "This is a licensed hall. We are holding a religious meeting. Gentlemen will keep order, others must." "The religion of Joseph Smith." Bro. Morton said: "Will some one inform an office that we have some work for him." Elder Curtis got up and went out and Barling shut up. Then Bro. Morton preached a sermon right to him. Every seat was taken at the evening meeting. Pres. Jeffery, Elder Smith, & Elder Morton were the speakers. The American consul was there and like the rest of them, enjoyed Bro. Morton immensely. After the meeting Barling shouted a little but was booed out.”9

False accounts of what happened were quickly circulated. But those not belonging to the Church rose to its defence and condemned Barling’s behaviour.10

The next morning Walter and the other missionaries went and had their pictures taken. The newspapers had been taken in by Reverend Barling and various papers refused to print the Elder’s refutations or corrections.11 There were still some issues that prevailed. Elders were sometimes accosted at their street meetings and permission to rent premises for baptisms was constantly being denied. Bad news, hostile news, could have tangible results and it certainly played a role in missionaries being assaulted in different parts of the country.

The Fall of Horatio Bottomley and the End of the Sunday Illustrated

Horatio’s crimes eventually caught up with him and in 1922 he was sentenced to a seven-year prison sentence. In a letter resigning from the House of Commons (to avoid the further disgrace of expulsion), Bottomley bemoaned the hardship of his situation but accepted responsibility for it:

“In the meantime, I must submit to the cruel fate which has overtaken me, and of which to-day's action of the House is by far the most painful part. To me, Sir, expulsion from the House of Commons is a punishment greater and more enduring than any sentence which a Court of Law could decree. It is the very refinement, the apotheosis of torture, and, added to the strain and suffering of prison life, equals any torment any man has ever been called upon to endure. But, Sir, as I have said, I have but myself to blame, and all I can do is to ask hon. Members to judge of me as they knew me. Then perhaps some of them may give a kindly thought to an old colleague, who never played them false, and endeavoured to act up to the best traditions of the House.”

The newspaper did not last long after Bottomley’s incarceration and there was seemingly a tone adjustment. Regardless, in February 1923 mission president and Latter-day Saint Apostle David O. McKay wrote to fellow Apostle Rudger Clawson in which he reported, “Regarding the work here, it is moving along slowly and encouragingly. Even the Sunday Illustrated...is leaving us alone.”12 Slowly, the tide of interest in salacious stories was turning and Latter-day Saints could begin to enjoy somewhat of a break in the constant stream of attacks.

The last issue appeared in print later that year on 25 November 1923, about a year after the ‘Nottingham Raid.’13 It isn’t difficult to imagine the sigh of relief that must have come from Latter-day Saint leaders and missionaries on hearing about the paper’s demise. The Sunday Illustrated, like many other antagonistic papers before it, had been unable to stop the cause of truth professed by the Latter-day Saints.

In the opening years of the twentieth century, political forces were pushing for increased economic productivity and sought to socially engineer greater co-operation in society. In 1906 the Social Education Association proclaimed that the goals of the nation should be geared towards “creating a new Japanese people”.2

The inward consideration of what it meant to be Japanese came on the back of several major regional events. In 1905 Japan won the Russo-Japanese War and in 1910 it annexed Korea which had been a protectorate of Japan since 1897. The imperial ambitions of Japan were moving apace, but there were concerns about domestic stability. Modernisation and industrialisation were in full flow and there was an eagerness to become akin to Western countries.

In the Meiji period, education became increasingly important to the commoner class. It was in 1886 that elementary education became compulsory and over the following twenty years the number of years of compulsory education increased.3 Jonathan Wilson notes that education was only one part of the equation:

The Meiji period saw Japan rush headlong to adopt Western technology, ideas, and institutions in an attempt to create a strong nation able to avoid colonization after centuries of isolation.4

It was during the Meiji period in 1872 that freedom of religion was established in Japan with Christian missionaries permitted to preach their faith.5 Japan’s reverse course opened the way for Protestant and Catholic missionaries to enter the country. The Bible was translated into Japanese in the 1880s and Christianity developed a presence, albeit gradually.

Since the 1870s there had been conversations between Latter-day Saint leaders and Japanese officials about missionary work in Japan.6 Later, in 1895, the Japanese Consul in San Francisco asked a Church official whether they had any plans to send Latter-day Saint missionaries to Japan. When missionaries arrived in 1901 other Christian groups already had an established presence in Japanese society.7 Nonetheless, there were some Japanese Latter-day Saints who had emigrated to the United States of America and joined the Church there before the opening of the mission.8

The Japanese Mission

The Japanese mission had a rocky start and in many ways the first four missionaries were unsuited for a mission as none of them spoke the language or knew anything about the country. Issues surrounding polygamy marred their arrival in the country and religious discrimination from existing Christians made things difficult, but soon enough they gained some traction.9

Latter-day Saint missionaries were first assigned to Sapporo, Japan, on 23 June 1905, some four years after missionary work began in the country. The first baptism in Sapporo didn’t come until more than a year later when Kawanaka, Aritatsu, was baptised on 3 August 1906. It was also at the Sapporo Normal School that the Church’s Brief History of the Church was translated into Japanese. Brother Kawanaka, along with other Japanese converts, helped to translate portions of the Book of Mormon.10

Sapporo was the principal headquarters of the Church for the northern island of Hokkaido. Missionaries worked in the city, but there were regular forays to smaller settlements to hold Sunday Schools and visit with interested persons. In many contexts Christian proselyting was accompanied or preceded by education.11 Westernisation was often seen as a necessary step before the adoption of Christianity could occur and so religion utilised education in its outreach efforts. This was convenient as there was mutual interest from some Japanese to receive a Western education.12 Religious schools provided interaction with Westerners and their ideas, but that did not mean the Japanese students wanted to adopt a Western religion, although some did.

Thousands of pamphlets were handed out by Latter-day Saint missionaries in Japan but few quality gospel conversations followed. Attendances at the Sunday Schools often far exceeded those willing to attend sacrament meetings. The situation in Sapporo was modest yet sufficient and a nucleus was formed.

English and Japanese study classes were an important aspect of Latter-day Saint missionary efforts and were often used to begin missionary work in an area. In 1910 there were three missionaries stationed in Sapporo and there were at least nine different classes held in the city and in surrounding areas during the week to invite people to. However, despite the efforts of full-time missionaries and members, the work was slow. At the end of 1910, there were 41 members of the Church in Japan across three districts, with only 16 members in Sapporo.

William Ellis

William Ellis was one of the four missionaries assigned to Sapporo and in due time he became Confce President. Japan was his first mission and he ultimately served from October 1908 until May 1913. In a letter to his half-brother, William noted the indifference he experienced in Japan concerning religion:

While in Japan I have always been busy and have tried to use every opportunity to defend the Gospel. But we don't have many attackers so there is not much defending to do. The enemy we have to deal with is indifference. The people don’t seem to think or care about the future life. Heaven and Hell is all the same to them.13

William was heavily involved in running Sunday Schools in and around Sapporo. The Teine Sunday School was in operation around this time and William and his companion would travel to the settlement to hold a Sunday School and a Book of Mormon class. The students in Teine enjoyed meeting with the elders. On one occasion William noted that one Monday the missionaries met with the Sunday School students for games.

From Elder Ellis’ account, there appears to be minimal if any pressure on those attending meetings to accept the gospel or be baptised. Day-to-day activities included attending Sunday School and Book of Mormon classes, handing out tracts, visiting Saints and friends, and general social interactions with people. There were gospel conversations, but no overwhelming sense of a desire to mass baptise people.

Kiyo

Many of those who attended Latter-day Saint Sunday Schools were children. In April 1912, Elder Ellis visited the Hosoda family in Sapporo. There he spoke to the mother of Hosoda, Kiyo, a regular Sunday School attendee. She was twelve years old and had been attending a Latter-day Saint Sunday School for the last five years or so.

Kiyo impressed Elder Ellis. In April 1912 he decided to write a letter to the Juvenile Instructor concerning the work in Sapporo and the positive example that she was. He noted that the missionaries used the Juvenile Instructor in the lessons as content. In the letter he noted that two sisters, Kato, Yuki, and Kato, Hana, had joined the Church through the Sunday School. Then he noted the following details about Kiyo:

There is also in this school the best Sunday School girl in Japan, and perhaps the most diligent in all the world. She is Hosoda Kiyo, age twelve years. About five years ago she came to this school for the first time, and has not been absent once since. Preparation and punctuality are as important to her as attendance. Although a child, her faith is strong. One Saturday evening she became quite ill, and was no better the next morning. They sent for a doctor, but as he was too slow in coming, her father went to call him the second time. During his absence Kiyosan got up and came to Sunday School. No amount of persuasion could get her to return until Sunday School was out. And when she did return she was well. While talking with her classmates she tells those who say they are busy, that she also has work at home, but that is no excuse for staying away from Sunday School. Rather than miss a Sunday when Sunday School and Public School parties conflict, she has come extra early to see if it couldn't be possible to hold an extra session.14

Latter-day Saint missionary work continued in Sapporo until the closure of the Japanese Mission in 1924 on account of new legislation in the United States excluding Japanese people, minimal growth, and logistical issues.15 For years after, members in the city communicated with each other and Church officials, such as Fujiyara Nara and Takeo Fujiwara, despite their isolation.16 The few remaining members in Japan held on and some were able to welcome the Church back after the Second World War.

Latter-day Saint Sunday Schools were an important part of missionary daily life in Japan during the Meiji period, and although few people joined the Church it was part of a wider cultural phenomenon whereby Christian groups sought to use education to instruct, attract, and recruit new members to their faith. Today Christianity is still a minority religion, but there were likely hundreds of boys and girls who attended a Latter-day Saint Sunday School and were introduced to at least some of the doctrines.

As far as we know, Kiyo never did join the Church and we don’t know to what extent she accepted the Restored Gospel. Yet, for several years at the end of Meiji Japan, at least one Latter-day Saint missionary considered her to be an excellent Sunday School student and “perhaps the most diligent in the world”.

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But this is where, as a historian of minority groups, things get even more interesting for me. This album was put together by a Latter-day Saint who documented social activities, trips, missionaries, leaders, and conferences during the 1930s. There are some identified individuals and families, labelled buildings, and group trips with captions and dates.

This album, however, is so much more significant and global than just “a German photo album.” Identification of each individual - matching them up to membership and genealogical records - is going to take some time, but I will share a few initial findings here.

Whose album was it?

I was unable to source any details regarding the provenance of the album, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t clues as to who kept the album. Most photographs are of missionaries, groups, and buildings from around Berlin in a narrow period of time: 1928, and April 1931-July 1932. There are also some from Chemnitz featuring Arthur Geath and a couple of others from around the period taken elsewhere and seemingly presented to the owner of the album.

My hypothesis right now is that the album was kept by a young German sister missionary who served a mission in the mission office in the early 1930s, possibly for a short time. The photographs from this period are largely of missionary gatherings, missionaries, and the mission president and family. There is one sister missionary who appears frequently, but I will say more about her another time.

The album was purchased in Germany which indicates it was likely owned by a German Latter-day Saint who had no living Latter-day Saint descendants as it is difficult for me to see how any children would have let such a treasure go out of the family.

Missionarsversammlung

The first photograph in the album is a black-and-white photograph of a group of missionaries. On the reverse is a stamp indicating the photograph was printed at Fritz Klinke, which was a photography business in Berlin. Fritz Klinke or one of his associates may have taken the photograph, but it is at least where it was printed. Each photograph is held in place with corner anchors allowing it to be easily removed and re-inserted. The album pages are made of thick black card with thin acid-free pages in between.

There is a caption under the photograph written in white ink: Missionarsversammlung in Berlin Anflang August 1932. My online translator informs me that it says: “Missionary meeting in Berlin at the beginning of August 1932.” Of course, I wanted and needed to know more about this event.

After some searching, I found that the Der Stern, the German equivalent of the Millennial Star, featured the photograph in its issue printed on 1st September 1932.1 The caption in the Der Stern issue was as follows:

Missionaries of the Berlin district and the surrounding districts in a missionary meeting on July 26, 1932. In the middle of the first row president Oliver Budge and president John M. Widtsoe with their wives.

There was a slight difference in the dates listed in the album (August 1932) and in Der Stern (26 July 1932), which would suggest the album was compiled at some later time, or at least not at the moment of occurrence.

In the same issue of Der Stern, I parsed the text looking for the dates and names of Oliver Budge and John Widtsoe. I was in luck, a short write-up was provided. With my trusty translator, I made out the following:

On July 26, a missionary meeting was held for the missionaries of the Berlin and surrounding districts at the Berlin Center Church, where President Widstoe and wife and President Budge gave important teachings. The meetings were concluded with a testimony meeting, in which the fifty-four unpaid missionaries gave their testimonies and which will be unforgettable for all participants.

As expected there were 54 people in the photograph including the Widtsoes and Budges. The missionary meeting where the photograph was taken was one of a series of public and private meetings held in conjunction with Elder John A. Widtsoe, a Latter-day Saint Apostle, who was touring European missions. Oliver Budge had been president of the German-Austrian Mission since 1930.

At the time Berlin was in the German-Austrian Mission. Not only was Oliver Budge the president of that mission, but I have been able to confirm it is that mission by identifying several missionaries in the above photograph with other existing photographs.

Ultimately, I was confident in my conclusion as it was the right place, right people, and right time. I could not find the photograph online so I will now be able to tag missionaries and allow descendants of the missionaries to see another photograph of their relative. I don’t know why, exactly, but I find this to be one of the most satisfying and rewarding parts of my historical research. It might be because I like ensuring records are not lost and I would love to have someone do something like this for me.

Anyway, the search continues! This is just 1 of the 100 photographs in the album so join me over the following months as I try to unpick the who, what, where, and when of this album.

1. Follow an Old Recipe

Eva Collard was a missionary in the British Mission from late 1949 until 1951. During her mission she served in Bristol, Nottingham, and for much of her time in England she was stationed in the British Mission Headquarters. The Idaho native regularly wrote for the Millennial Star and shared housekeeping tips, recipes, and more. The following is her recipe for a Fruit Salad published in 1950. Does your family have an old recipe you could try making? Or perhaps you might look for some ideas for meals that your ancestors might have eaten.

Cut up into a large bowl 2 medium-sized apples, 2 oranges, 1 cup grapes, and 1 cup pears. Add ½ cup dates, cut finely, and ½ cup walnuts. Mix together and add Fruit Sauce. Serve on a large lettuce leaf.

Fruit Sauce:

¼ cup pineapple juice

¼ cup lemon juice

¼ cup orange juice

¼ cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornflour

1 cup canned cream, well chilled

Heat pineapple juice, lemon juice and orange juice together. Add sugar. Thicken with cornflour moistened with juice. Cool and add to canned cream which has been beaten until stiff and frothy.1

2. Arrange a Harvest Festival

In 1934, Joseph Merrill was serving as an Apostle and President of the European Mission. That year, while living in England, he attended a Harvest Festival which impressed him. The festival was part of a religious service in which the area around the pulpit was adorned with grains, fruits, vegetables, flowers, and various other foods. The service itself was based on gratitude and recognising the hand of the Lord which he was eager for Latter-day Saints to also implement. “…harvest festivals or similar affairs,” he noted in an editorial, “are certainly productive of much good…We heartily commend these affairs to every congregation.”2

For a long time, Harvest Festivals were a staple in Latter-day Saint calendars, at least in the British Isles, but in the 1960s they began to diminish. When I was called as a branch president in 2021 I decided to begin holding them and they are now one of the most looked forward to and best attended meetings. We collect items for the local foodbank and share home-grown or home-produced items with others, including neighbours, friends, and family.

You could run a Harvest Festival-themed family home evening with family or friends or you could speak to your Bishop or Branch President about the idea and offer to help if they run one. There are lots of great readings, poems, songs, and more that can be used.

3. Hold a Cottage Meeting

For generations, Latter-day Saints held small additional meetings in their home to which missionaries, friends, neighbours, and family were also invited. Writing in 1904, Nephi Anderson penned a description that I think captures them well:

COTTAGE MEETINGS.

This is the season when good work may be done by the means of small cottage meetings. During the long, cold evenings many people will readily join the family circle in such meetings, and listen to the songs and testimonies of the Elders. There is a freedom, also, in the cottage meeting which is not found in the larger gatherings, the Elders may become personally acquainted with the visitors, shake them by the hand, and chat kindly with them. Thus acquaintences are made which lead to the friendship necessary to a proper presentation of the Gospel.

The Saints may greatly aid the Elders in this work in opening their houses for cottage meetings, and inviting in their friends and neighbors. Let none be timid because they have not large or fine rooms. The poorest may be clean and tidy, and in such a place, the Spirit of the Lord will be pleased to visit, and that, after all, is the important requisite. Some of the best meetings are held in the cottages of the Saints, meetings long to be remembered by those who participate in them. As the holding of street meetings is now impracticable, it is urged that a special effort be made to hold cottage meetings both among Saints and strangers.

There should be no cessation of work because winter is here. When the cold is without, the work should be continued by the cosy fire within.

Back in the early 2010s (ha!), I served as a Ward Mission Leader and we instituted monthly Cottage Meetings to great success. We would sing a song, say a prayer, have a short lesson, an activity, and then a closing prayer before having some refreshments. They are simple, low-pressure, and a great way to engage with the gospel and share it with others. Our ward had a lot of success with them and we continue to run them once a month in our branch today which has been great for our new and returning members in particular.

So why not look to the past as you prepare for the future. andconnect with those who have gone before you in some way or another.

My paper is entitled: ‘A Marginal Society on the Margins of the British Empire: Latter-day Saints in Karachi, 1903–1915’. It charts the development of the Karachi branch from its organisation in 1903 by John H. Cooper up until its dissolution in 1915 amid World War 1. It is a great story involving Elder Cooper rescuing a man thrown overboard during a storm, an epic five-day journey across India, scorpions, and much more. The research is part of a book I am writing about Latter-day Saints and the British Raj starting with what I call “the event of 1857” and concluding with Indian independence in 1947. Believe it or not, but there were active believing Latter-day Saints in the British Raj for the entirety of its existence. My book project tells their story.

Craig Harline, professor of history at Brigham Young University, will be a keynote speaker at the event, which also might interest some people.

You can find the registration form for the conference here. To book your place for the conference, please email the completed EHS Winter Meeting 2024 booking form to Angela Platt by 5 January 2024 at ehsconferences@gmail.com. The event is online only and costs £10. More details can be found on the society’s website.

So whether you are a free or paid subscriber, thank you for your support! With the funds raised through this website I have been able to purchase some of the following items for use in projects here in the UK:

• A 1906 edition of the Book of Mormon printed in Liverpool

• Other copies of the Book of Mormon printed in Europe and the USA

• New Light anti-Mormon pamphlets from 1967

• Missionary letters from Germany in the 1960s

• Charles R. Savage photographs from the 19th century

• Many various used European, Utah, and church postcards from across the world (RPPC, printed, etc)

• Official missionary Bible from the late 1970s

• A 1970s Plan of Salvation pamphlet

• A cookbook of the Cambridge Ward from 2007

• Various other missionary pamphlets including one by B. H. Robert’s from the 1930s

• A 1922 theatre programme from London for “The Mormon and His Wives”

• A set of missionary photographs from the 1920s from various places in Northern England

• And much more!

If, like me, you still need to get some presents why not consider purchasing and gifting a subscription to Echoes of the Past? For £20, which is about $25, you can give someone a year-long gift to enjoy. Use the link below to easily gift a family member, friend, neighbour, or ward member a year’s subscription.

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A very Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones.

James