Kenya Mission Council, Kikuyu, Kenya, August 1926

Kenya Mission Council. Mr Cromack, Dr Brown. Mr Barlow. Mr Dickson. Mr Grieve. Rev Dr Philp. Dr Irvine (chairman). Rev W.B. Stevenson (convener FMC). Rev Dr Arthur (Secretary). Miss McMurtrie." Group portrait of missionaries at the site of Kikuyu. Rev Dr Arthur, who is pictured, sat on various councils and served, from 1924-1926, as a representative of African interests on the Legislative Council of Kenya and from 1928-1929 on the Kenyan Executive Council. Arthur was particularly concerned with problems of education, land ownership and labour reforms, and was involved in debates over the practice of female circumcision.The Kikuyu Mission had been founded on a temporary site by the Imperial British East Africa Company in 1891, before moving to Kikuyu territory in 1898, under the Rev. Thomas Watson. Located on the ‘lower shamba’, the site stands 12 miles from Nairobi, at a distance of approximately 342 miles away from the coast. The Church of Scotland assumed control of the Mission in 1901. The Hunter Memorial Hospital was opened in January 1908, making it the first permanent building erected at Kikuyu and by the 6th of January, patients were beginning to be admitted. Smallpox and cases of famine were the most common illnesses. The mission church was built as a memorial to Dr Ruffelle Scott who originally began the building of a mission church as a memorial to the Reverend Thomas Watson, who died in 1900. In April of the same year, the first day-school was opened for children. By March 1926, The Alliance High School for older boys was established, principled by Mr G.A. Grieve. ❧ "A Series of Photos illustrating Life and Work at Kikuyu. August 1926. Rev W.B. Stevenson.