The Unfolding Destiny of the British Bahai Community Part 119

6 March 1955

As regards the questions you have asked, as Baha'u'llah says categorically that G.o.d commanded Abraham to offer up Isma'il, as far as we are concerned, it is Isma'il who was the intended sacrifice.

In view of the great antiquity of Genesis, it is quite possible that at some period the names were changed, and the error was propagated.

Whatever happened, we Baha'is must follow the words in our own Scriptures as being the most authentic.

In the Tablet of the Holy Mariner, the Youth means Baha'u'llah, Himself.

Letter of 12 January 1957

12 January 1957

In the Baha'i Teachings it is made quite clear that when one is ill, one should seek the best available medical advice. This naturally leaves a person free to choose what they consider good in medical opinion. If you and ... feel that she is improving under the care of your own doctor, and ... is willing to wait and be patient and see if she goes on making progress, there can surely be no objection to her doing this. There are a great many as you know mental diseases and troubles at present, and the one thing Baha'is must not do is take a defeatist att.i.tude toward them.

The power in the Faith is such that it can sustain us on a much higher level in spite of whatever our ailments might be than other people who are denied it. This however does not mean that we should ignore medical opinion and treatment. On the contrary, we should do our best to procure the opinion of specialists and competent doctors.

Letter of 15 August 1957

15 August 1957

You should not allow the remarks made by the Baha'is to hurt or depress you, but should forget the personalities, and arise to do all you can, yourself, to teach the Faith.

Baha'u'llah enjoins work on all. No one need ever be ashamed of his job.

"THEIR DAILY SUSTENANCE"

In his last message to the British Baha'i community as a whole the Guardian wrote:

May they, as they forge ahead along the high road leading to ultimate, total and complete victory, receive as their daily sustenance, a still fuller measure of the abounding grace, promised to the believers of an earlier generation by the Centre of the Covenant, the Author of the Divine Plan, Himself, on the occasion of His twice-repeated visit to their sh.o.r.es, and which has been unfailingly vouchsafed to themselves, in the course of over three decades, since the birth of the Formative Age of the Faith and the rise of its Administrative Order in their homeland.

Shoghi

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

BIOGRAPHIES

These biographies appear strictly in the order the names first appear in the text of the book. Where a fuller report is published elsewhere, a summary only is given together with a reference to the other material.

*NAME*

Dr. John E. Esslemont Edward T. Hall Mrs. Thornburgh-Cropper George P. Simpson Miss Ethel J. Rosenberg Dia'u'llah As_gh_arzadih Lady Blomfield Rev. George Townshend Mrs. Isobel Slade Mrs. Louise Ginman Miss Florence Pinchon Mrs. Claudia Coles Sister Grace Challis David Hofman Mrs. Lilian Stevens Miss Evelyn Baxter ?asan M. Balyuzi Frank Hurst Mrs. Mary Basil-Hall Albert and Jeff Joseph Dr. R. St. Barbe Baker Miss Jessica Young Lady Kathleen Hornell Mrs. Ursula Samandari Mrs. Marion Hofman Miss Una Townshend Joseph Lee Mrs. Dorothy Ferraby Philip Hainsworth Walter Wilkins Mrs. Alma C. Gregory Robert Cheek Mrs. Joan Giddings Hugh and Violet McKinley Dr. Lutfullah Hakim Fred Stahler Mrs. Prudence George John L. Marshall Mrs. M. Olga K. Mills Alfred and Lucy Sugar Charles N. Dunning Miss Claire Gung Mrs. Lizzie F. Hainsworth Miss Margaret Sullivan Cyril and Margaret Jenkerson Richard H. Backwell Miss Ada Williams Mrs. Constance Langdon-Davies George K. Marshall Mrs. Marguerite Preston Bernard Leach, CH, OBE Samuel Scott John Ferraby Mrs. Florence "Mother" George Musa Banani 'Ali Na_kh_javani ?a.s.san and Isobel Sabri Arthur Norton Eric Manton Dr. Abbas and _Sh_omais Afnan Edmund Cardell Dr. John G. Mitch.e.l.l Miss Irene Bennett Miss Dorothy Wigington Ernest W. Gregory Dr. Ernest S. Miller Ian Semple Miss Jean Campbell John Craven

DR. JOHN E. ESSLEMONT, Hand of the Cause of G.o.d

Born in 1874 and accepted the Faith in early 1915, Dr. Esslemont was elevated to the rank of Hand of the Cause of G.o.d after his pa.s.sing on 22 November 1925 and linked by the Guardian with George Townshend and Thomas Breakwell, on the pa.s.sing of George Townshend, as "One of three luminaries shedding brilliant l.u.s.tre annals Irish, English, Scottish Baha'i communities". He was "Vice-President" of the first National a.s.sembly from October 1923 until November 1924. For fuller details of his life and works read "Dr. J. E. Esslemont" by Dr. Moojan Momen. (Baha'i Publis.h.i.+ng Trust, 1975-B130.)

EDWARD THEODORE HALL

First heard of the Faith in 1910 in the Salford, Lancas.h.i.+re area and with his wife Rebecca, her brother John Charles and his wife Hester Ann Craven, made contact with Sarah Ann Ridgway, one of the earliest British Baha'is, and later established the second Baha'i Group in the British Isles. In 1912 Mr. Hall and Mr. Craven went to Liverpool and met 'Abdu'l-Baha at the boat. Five Tablets from the Master were received. In 1922 the first Spiritual a.s.sembly was formed in Manchester with E. T. Hall as Secretary.

He also "represented" Manchester on the first National Spiritual Council in 1922, and was a member of the National a.s.sembly until 1928. He was entrusted by Shoghi Effendi with part of his early diaries and later maintained a close correspondence with the Guardian for many years. His book, "The Baha'i Dawn; Manchester" paints a vivid picture of the early days of the Faith in Lancas.h.i.+re. Through Mr. Hall's correspondence with the Editor of the 'John O'Groats Journal' (Mr. R. J. G. Millar) frequent reviews and letters were published for nineteen years until the Editor's retirement. He pa.s.sed away on 5 December 1962 aged 82.

MRS. THORNBURGH-CROPPER

One of the first Baha'is of the West and possibly the first Baha'i resident in England. Her early Baha'i life is described in "The Chosen Highway" and in "The Baha'i World", Vol. VIII, pp. 64951. She was a member of the National Spiritual a.s.sembly for its first two years and it was in her house in Westminster that the first meeting of the "All-England Baha'i Council" was held on 6 June 1922. She pa.s.sed away on 15 March 1938.

GEORGE PALGRAVE SIMPSON

Was a.s.sociated with the Administration of the Faith in the British Isles from its earliest days. Elected as Chairman of the first "Spiritual Council" and President of the "National Spiritual a.s.sembly" in 1923. He also served as the a.s.sistant Secretary and the Treasurer for some years.

All the early letters from the Guardian were addressed to him and the file copies of his letters to the Holy Land, some to the Guardian and others to the various secretaries, as well as the Minutes in his handwriting, give us our closest insight into the conditions obtaining in the 1920's. At one stage he felt obliged to resign from the National a.s.sembly but was still called upon to remain as its Treasurer and attend the meetings! He served the Cause with great distinction until his death on 31 August 1934. (See letter 30 September 1934.)