Bahá'í Faith in England

The Bahá'í Faith in England started with the earliest mentions of the predecessor of the Bahá'í Faith, the Báb, in The Times on 1 November 1845, only a little over a year after the Báb first stated his mission. Today there are Bahá'í communities across the country from Carlisle to Cornwall.

History

The first person in England to become a Bahá'í, in 1898, was Mrs. Mary Thornburgh-Cropper (d. 1938), who lived in London though she was an American by birth. The first native person in the country to become a Bahá'í was Miss Ethel Rosenberg (d. 1930), who did so in 1899. An early, important figure was Thomas Breakwell, posthumously described by Shoghi Effendi, the head of the Bahá'í Faith in the first half of the 20th century, as one of "three luminaries of the Irish, English and Scottish Bahá'í communities". He was born in Woking and heard of the Baha'i Faith at the age of 29 during the summer of 1901 while on vacation in Paris from the United States where he was then working. After a pilgrimage to Acre, he remained in Paris at the request of `Abdu'l-Bahá, quitting his job in the cotton mills of the American South out of a sense of sin where child labour was still the norm. Breakwell died in 1902 of tuberculosis. Heartbroken at his death `Abdu'l-Bahá wrote a moving and inspiring tablet.

On a visit to Constantinople prior to the Young Turk Revolution in 1908 Wellesley Tudor Pole heard of `Abdu'l-Bahá and met and interviewed him over nine days in late November 1910 in Cairo and Alexandria. For the next several decades he was active in the Bahá'í Faith.

Other mentions of the Bahá'í Faith included the Archdeacon Wilberforce mentioning the religion in a sermon at the Church of St. John in Westminster in March 1911. Due to this mention, great interest was generated, and a Bahá'í reading room was opened. When `Abdu'l-Bahá traveled to the West, Tudor Pole spoke the English translation of his first talk on the evening of 10 September 1911.

In 1914, the Bahá'ís present in England had organised themselves into a committee, though it lapsed after February 1916. During World War I Tudor Pole served in the Directorate of Military Intelligence in the Middle East and was directly involved in addressing the concerns raised by the Ottoman threats against `Abdu'l-Bahá, which ultimately required General Allenby altering his plans for the prosecution of the war in the Palestine theatre. In 1921, while Tudor Pole was Secretary of the Local Spiritual Assembly in London, the telegram announcing the passing of `Abdu'l-Bahá by his sister, Bahíyyih Khánum, arrived at Tudor Pole's home in London, and it was there read by Shoghi Effendi. A Bahá'í Spiritual Assembly for England (also called All-England Bahá'í Council) was set up in May 1922 and held its first meeting in London on 17 June 1922, with the first Local Spiritual Assemblies being formed in London, Manchester and Bournemouth. Local Assemblies were founded in Bradford and Torquay in 1939.

Also in the 1930s a whole host of activities began - a Bahá'í theatre group was formed in London, the Bahá'í Journal was instituted, Bahá'í summer schools began, and the tradition of a winter Bahá'í conference was established. Local Spiritual Assemblies were formed in Bradford and Torquay in 1939, while the National Assembly achieved legal standing with its incorporation. John Ferraby became a Bahá'í in 1941 (later named as a Hand of the Cause in 1957).

File:Shoghi Effendi resting place.jpg

Monument over Shoghi Effendi's resting place

On 4 November 1957, Shoghi Effendi, then head of the Bahá'í Faith, died in London, and thus the city has become a centre to which Bahá'ís from all over the world come. His mortal remains lie in the New Southgate Cemetery in London. Directions to his resting place are posted online.

In 1963, the first Bahá'í World Congress was held in the Royal Albert Hall in London, and approximately 6,000 Bahá'ís from around the world gathered. It was called to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the declaration of Bahá'u'lláh, and announce and present the election of the first members of the Universal House of Justice with the participation of over 50 National Spiritual Assemblies' members.

In 1978 the Bahá’í Holy Days were recognised by local education authorities throughout the country.

National organisation

A National Spiritual Assembly of England came into being on 13 October 1923. However, this body became the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the British Isles in 1930, being registered as a charity under this name in 1967. In 1972, this single National Spiritual Assembly was reformed into two — one of the United Kingdom, and one of the Republic of Ireland. There are no plans, at present, to form separate National Spiritual Assemblies for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

List of Bahá'í Faith people in England

• Omid Djalili, comedian
• David Kelly, Welsh-born weapons expert whose death near his Oxfordshire home in 2003 led to the Hutton Inquiry
• Inder Manocha, comedian

See also

• Bahá'í Faith in Northern Ireland
• Bahá'í Faith in Scotland
• Bahá'í Faith in Wales
• Bahá'í Faith in the United Kingdom

External links

• Bahá'í Council of England official website
  • List of communities in England
  • Gedling
  • Keynsham
  • Northamptonshire
  • Nottingham
  • Nuneaton