Correspondence Secretary

Sister Agnes Beecher in Post-War Britain

Agnes Beecher

When Agnes Beecher arrived in Southampton, England, in January 1947 she was among some of the first American female Latter-day Saint missionaries to enter the country since the start of the Second World War. For fifteen months she served in the mission headquarters as a secretary working under the direction of British Mission President Selvoy Boyer.¹ As Correspondence Secretary Agnes had to write copious amounts of letters. She would inform missionaries of upcoming transfers and communicate other essential items of news and business.²

Before her mission, Agnes had served in the Church in various capacities including as a ‘Primary Teacher, M.I.A. Counsellor and Gleaner Leader in the Ivins Ward of Salt Lake City.’³ Her first assignment was to the Nottingham District where she served for two months. On 12 March 1947, Agnes was transferred from Nottingham to Birmingham, but it was a short stay because at the end of the month she was appointed to work in the mission’s office in London where she would spend the bulk of her mission.⁴

In post-war Britain, the British Mission was dealing with the effects of years of hardships, loss, and limitations. Many Saints had proven faithful during the war, but it was hard, and not everyone was able to see the course. Missionaries such as Agnes brought much-needed skills, experience, and enthusiasm to the work. Essential clerical tasks, such as letter writing, were required to ensure the work of proclaiming the gospel could take place. That infrastructure was vital for the mission to function and as such all things hinged on key individuals such as Agnes.

A Letter

Because missionaries such as Agnes wrote letters to their family and those relatives kept the letters we have great insights into the state of the Church around the world. Below is a transcription of one of Agnes’ letters from 75 years ago that gives a detailed account of her activities. You can get a good sense of her personality and the kind of experiences and perspectives that missionaries had at that time. She was a remarkable individual and one of the thousands who have contributed to making The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints what it is today.

149 Nightingale Lane

Balham, London, S.W. 12

July 6, 1947

Dearest Ones,

The evening meeting is just over so I will proceed to write a few lines. Realising I haven’t written for several days I will revert back to a week ago Saturday and quickly bring you up to date by saying I didn’t go anywhere that day because I had to speak in the South London Branch the next evening and therefore had to stay home and study. To you who love me I can say that the Branch President said to me afterward that I was the best lady speaker he had ever heard. All well and good and I was so relieved it was over as this is an especially difficult group to speak to, so you know what an empty feeling it gave me when the circuit came out for July and I am assigned to South London next Sunday. What I am going to use for a subject or material is still a part of the unknown. ----The girl from Canada----Mullinger----who is here in the office had had a girl from Canada drop in on her a few times. The girl had married a fellow from England during the war and came here to make xxxx her home. Her husband came in the other night to tell her that she had died very suddenly. The three of us went to the funeral with her Wednesday. It was held in the Church of England and an experience I will not soon forget. It is only the second funeral I have attended outside our Church. The other was a school child in Ketchum. Even though the sermon there gave me the creeps, the building was packed with people and there was nice music but this one----------There were thirty-three people in attendance in that huge ‘cold building. They bring the casket in on their shoulders, two men carry it. The preacher reads for fifteen minutes in that ‘chilling’ voice and they file out. We went to the cementary and in about three minutes time that was over----it was an hours drive out there however. There wasn’t a rough box in the grave. They just put the casket in and everyone [u]hurries[/u] away. her husband works with the air lines and he had the car from his place of work with him. It is the one we rode to the cemetery in. It is one of the most luxurious vehicles I have seen in England and certainly the best I have ridden in since coming here. It at one time belonged to the Duke of Windsor.------Now for a little gayer mood!!! We didn’t go down the Thames on the 4th of July as boats do not run on Friday, but we did have a wonderful time and a very appropriate one. We visited the seat of the government at the time we beat them way back in 1776. We went to Windsor Castle. We went out by bus an the trip was lovely. We drove through a part of London I didn’t know existed. All modern factories. And why? because it was Packard, Cotys, Cranes and all the others that came from the United States. It was like being in another country. Beyond this the residential district was the very nicest I have seen in England.------The furnishings and paintings in the castle were beautiful. To think they used them two-hundred and fifty years ago doesn’t make it seem too bad to have lived then. In the castle they have a doll house that was at one time presented to the elderly lady you see with royalty now, Queen Mary. It is on display and they charge a six pense to see it. It is complete from basement to the third floor, automobiles, wine cellar and very thing. In the living room tiny paintings of the king and queen above the mantel in exact duplicate to those in the palace and were only about two by three inches in size.------Then we had a most delicious picnic. President Boyer’s son and his companion had come down from Nottingham also, so there were ten of us. We had pork and beans, potato salad, the most delicious tomatoes we have had this year, sandwiches, cake, cookies and candy. Then the surprising thing happened, Princess Elizabeth herself was to come to the Palace. We could have touched the car as it drove by--------We said there wasn’t anything like some good Yanks to pay her honor on that day and let her know how happy we were to have gained our independence.-----------This week I filed the letters I had written during the month of June as I had been too busy to do it before. They number more than five hundred. The two days following this I wrote fifty-eight. I give you these figures so you will know that I do a few things besides have a good time. President Boyer goes to Sweden the 14th to the Mission President’s Conference. I have an invitation to go to Birmingham and Nottingham during his absence and he has given his consent but I am going to Birmingham. We are going to Nottingham later however. [End of page one] [Start of page two] The fellow who has been serving as Presiding Elder here-----the District President is a local man-------is being transferred to be the District President of the Scottish District. He leaves tomorrow so he and his companion had dinner with us today. He sings very well and had been singing afterward and President Boyer told him that was one of the things they needed most up there was music and that he would be looking forward to seeing what he had accomplished by the time his District Conference came. He said it takes an accompanist you know so you better transfer her too. President Boyer said she can come to Conference. It is scheduled for the 12th of October so I will be seeing ‘Bonnie Scotland’……at least I will remind him.-----My money came safely. Cheerio again. The mail man has been neglectful this week but I know why.

Loads of love,

Agnes

P.S. When President Boyer read this article to us I didn’t realise it was so poorly written. However, it was written just be a boy so perhaps you may enjoy it anyway.

Excuse errors I seem to be all thumbs tonight. [End of page two and letter]⁵

Drop me a comment below if you would like more letters and journal extracts to read. Each of these is an echo from a bygone era, a time that will increasingly feel alien and distant. Reading things such as this reminds us of what life was like for the generations who preceded us.

1. ‘London Office Staff Handover,’ The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Vol. 110, No. 9 (1948), p. 267.

2. ‘London Association Visits Mission Headquarters,’ The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Vol. 110, No. 1 (1948), p. 8; see also her letter dated 6 July 1947.

3. ‘British Mission Arrivals and Appointments,’ The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Vol. 109, No. 3 (1947), p. 84.

4. ‘Appointments and Transfers,’ The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Vol. 109, No. 4 (1947), p. 117.

5. Letter from Agnes Beecher to her family, 6 July 1947, Agnes Beecher papers, MS 32659, bx. 1, fd. 3, CHL.