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Shining Lights: Magic Lanterns and the Missionary Movement, 1839—1868

Comparing the Announcements

The description of Williams’ death in print represents a break-down of the typical flow of information from the periphery to the metropole. In most cases, letters written by missionaries to their society’s secretary offered the most robust information about their travels and activity. This news arrived in England by way of trade ships, mail packets, or even ships commissioned by the missionary societies. The fastest route between Australia and London required taking advantage of the “Roaring Forties,” the prevailing winds between 40 and 50 degrees south, to travel west around South America’s Cape Horn. Upon reaching England, the letters were read by their societies’ administrative branch and then turned over to the editors of the society’s periodical so that their contents could be published, often with a few judicious elisions.

News of Williams’ death took a very different trajectory in terms of its medium of transmission and its transoceanic voyage. Before penning a letter to the London Missionary Society, Captain Morgan shared his account of Williams’ and Harris’ deaths on Erramonga with local newspapers upon his arrival in Sydney. These included the The Sydney Herald (2 December 1839); The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (3 December 1839); The Colonist (4 December 1839). Why Captain Morgan took a full week to inform the LMS is unknown; the delay could have been caused by the hustle and hub of ship life for a captain upon reaching a major port, or perhaps he felt hesitant to break the news of one of the LMS’s most celebrated missionaries to the secretary. Whatever his reasons, the delay created an opportunity for newspapers to publish the first accounts of Williams’ and Harris’ death. Although not the first newspaper to break the news, The Australian managed to be among the first to reach other ports of call for British ships. The appearance of the article in The Bengal Hurkaru, a Kolkatta newspaper, indicates that the ship carrying The Australian did not follow the South American route west but instead traveled east to ports in the Indian Ocean. From there, the news could have by land over the Sinai peninsula or by sea around the Cape of Good Hope to reach England.[1]

Comparing The Australian, The Bengal Hurkaru, and The Chronicle reveals what kinds of modifications were made to the account over the course of its transoceanic journey through periodicals. To facilitate comparison, I have transcribed each of these articles and highlighted editorial changes using custom-designed HTML and CSS. (For an extended discussion of the typography of these transcriptions, click here.) The colors reflect the following editorial changes:

Passages in blue appear in the Australian, but were elided or edited in subsequent publications.
Passages in purple are additions (mostly punctuation) that were added in the Bengal Hurkaru.
Passages in green foregrounds text that only appears in The Chronicle.

Since the articles in The Australian and The Bengal Hurkaru were originally published without paragraph breaks, I have divided the text of all three articles to follow the divisions of the announcement in The Chronicle.

As you will see from the highlighting below, The Bengal Hurkaru is a direct quotation of the original piece in The Australian with minor changes in punctuation. The editors of The Chronicle preserved The Australian’s distinct spelling of “Arramonga,” indicating that the Hurkaru was the only source to have reached England in time for the May 1840 edition of The Chronicle.[2] The most notable changes are elisions made by The Chronicle’s editors. The announcement strict one-page form suggests that these omissions were designed to avoid reformatting the rest of the pages before the May issue went to print. However, the elided passages reveal details that may have been detrimental to Williams’ reputation and to the society’s cause. A more extended analysis of these changes follows the transcriptions of the articles.

*The Australian*	*The Bengal Hurkaru*	*The Evangelical Magazine and Missionary Chronicle*
3 December 1839. Sydney, Australia. p 2-3.	12 February 1840. Kolkata, India. p 4.	May 1840. London, England. p 246.
Digital copy via Trove.	Microfiche copy via the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (FILM 079.54147 C144b)	Digital copy via Google Books.
“Ship News.”	"Melancholy Death of the Rev. John Williams."	"Mournful Death of the Rev. John Williams."
[Paragraph on the Sea Gull, an American schooner, believed lost in a Cape Horn gale]	[Paragraph on the Sea Gull, an American schooner, believed lost in a Cape Horn gale]	Extract of the Bengal Hurkaru, published at Calcutta, February 12th, copied from the Australian (Sydney Paper), of December 3rd.
The Missionary brig Camden arrived on Saturday, from the island of Arramanga, (South Seas). By her we regret to learn of the melancholy death by violence of the Rev. Mr. Williams, a missionary, and well known as the author of a work describing the progress of Christianity among the inhabitants of those islands, and of a Mr Harris.	The Missionary brig Camden arrived on Saturday, from the island of Arramanga, (South Sea). By her we regret to learn of the melancholy death, by violence, of the Rev. Mr. Williams, a missionary, and well known as the author of a work describing the progress of Christianity among the inhabitants of those islands, and of a Mr Harris.	The Missionary brig Camden arrived on Saturday, from the Island of Arromanga, (South Seas.) By her, we regret to learn the melancholy death, by violence, of the Rev. John Williams, and Mr. Harris.
The following are the particulars as furnished to our reporter:— On the 19th of last month, we had communication with the natives of Tanna, one of the New Hebrides Islands; finding the natives favourable to receive instruction from our teachers, we proceeded to the island of Arramanga, expecting a similar reception, but the result has fatally proved the reverse. We intended making the S.W. side of the island, but was late in the evening before we got up with Dillon's Bay, we therefore rounded the vessel in for the night ; in the morning we found ourselves a little to windward of Dillon's Bay, it was the only apparent place on the island where a landing could be effected, the whole of which island is, with this one exception a completely iron-bound coast, without the least appearance of culture; the natives are barbarous race quite different from those of the other islands; they are also a different species of being, approaching to the African negroes, but their hair, although curly, is not that of woolly description which the African negroes have, being long and strong; their are a dirty race of savages.	The following are the particulars as furnished to our reporter:— “On the 19th of last month, we had communication with the natives of Tanna, one of the New Hebrides Islands; finding the natives favourable to receive instruction from our teachers, we proceeded to the island of Arramanga, expecting a similar reception, but the result has fatally proved the reverse. We intended making the S.W. side of the island, but was late in the evening before we got up with Dillon's Bay, we therefore rounded the vessel in for the night ; in the morning we found ourselves a little to windward of Dillon's Bay, it was the only apparent place on the island where a landing could be effected, the whole of which island is, with this one exception a completely iron-bound coast, without the least appearance of culture; the natives are barbarous race quite different from those of the other islands; they are also a different species of being, approaching to the African negroes, but their hair, although curly, is not that of woolly description which the African negroes have, being long and strong; their are a dirty race of savages.	The following are the particulars:– “On the 19th of November, we had communication,” says our informant, “with the natives of Tanna, one of the New Hebrides. Finding them favourable to receive instruction from our teachers, we proceeded to the Island of Arromanga. The whole of the Island is, without one exception, a complete iron-bound coast, without the least appearance of culture. The natives are a barbarous race, quite different from those of other islands.
Wednesday morning, 20th November, sent the ship's boat ashore, containing Mr Williams, (missionary), Mr Cunningham, (Vice Consul for the South Sea Islands), Captain Morgan and Mr Harris. Mr Harris joined the Camden at Otahiti, for the purpose of proceeding to this port, to take his passage to England, with a view of arranging his affairs there previous to his returning to the Marquesa Islands as a missionary.	Wednesday morning, 20th November, sent the ship's boat ashore, containing Mr Williams, (missionary), Mr Cunningham, (Vice Consul for the South Sea Islands), Captain Morgan and Mr Harris. Mr Harris joined the Camden at Otahiti, for the purpose of proceeding to this port, to take his passage to England, with a view of arranging his affairs there previous to his returning to the Marquesa Islands as a missionary.	“Wednesday Morning, 20th of November.— We sent the ship's boat ashore, containing Mr. Williams (Missionary,) Mr. Cunningham (Vice-Consul for the South Sea Islands,) Captain Morgan, and Mr. Harris. Mr. Harris joined the Camden at Otaheite, for the purpose of proceeding to this port to take his passage to England, with the view of arranging his affairs there previously to returning to the Marquesas, as a missionary.
On the boat approaching the beach, we could distinctly see the natives were averse to holding any communication with us. Mr Williams made them presents of cloths, trinckets, &c., for the purpose of gaining their esteem, but without effect. Mr Williams now proposed giving up the idea of having any intercourse with the island, and had made up his mind to proceed for some other island where his services might be required. Mr Harris asked permission to leave the boat for the purpose of proceeding amongst the natives. Mr H. was followed at a short distance by Captain Morgan, Mr Cunningham, and Mr Williams; when Mr Cunningham reached the summit of the beach, he perceived Mr Harris running down towards the boat, followed by a large party of natives armed with spears, clubs, bows and arrows, and Mr Harris fell the first victim, for as soon as one knocked him down, the remainder of the party speared him through,	On the boat approaching the beach, we could distinctly see the natives were averse to holding any communication with us. Mr Williams made them presents of cloths, trinckets, &c., for the purpose of gaining their esteem, but without effect. Mr Williams now proposed giving up the idea of having any intercourse with the island, and had made up his mind to proceed for some other island where his services might be required. Mr Harris asked permission to leave the boat for the purpose of proceeding amongst the natives. Mr H. was followed at a short distance by Captain Morgan, Mr Cunningham, and Mr Williams; when Mr Cunningham reached the summit of the beach, he perceived Mr Harris running down towards the boat, followed by a large party of natives armed with spears, clubs, bows and arrows, and Mr Harris fell the first victim, for as soon as one knocked him down, the remainder of the party speared him through.	“On the boat approaching the beach, we could distinctly see the natives were averse to holding any communication with us. Mr. Williams attempted to make them presents of cloth, trinkets, &c., for the purpose of gaining their esteem, but without effect. He now proposed giving up the idea of having any intercourse with the Island, and Mr. Harris asked permission to leave the boat for the purpose of making another attempt. He was followed at a short distance by Captain Morgan, Mr. Cunningham, and Mr. Williams. When Mr. Cunningham reached the summit of the beach, he perceived Mr. Harris running down towards the boat, followed by a large party of natives, armed with spears, clubs, bows and arrows, and he fell the first victim. As soon as one knocked him down, the remainder of the party speared him through.
when Mr Cunningham saw him running, he turned and made for the boat, and calling to Mr Williams to run, for the natives had killed Mr Harris; but Mr Williams unfortunately stopped to look a moment for Mr Harris; he made afterwards for the boat, and reached the water, the boat laying off to keep her afloat, but in the hurry, stumbled and fell, when the natives immediately took advantage of the circumstance, and struck him (Mr Williams) four blows on the head with their clubs. By this time. Captain Morgan and Mr Cunningham had gained the boat, and pushed off; after Mr Williams had fallen, another party of natives, numbering between 15 and 20, speared him through, although our informant thinks that he was dead when they arrived. The children threw stones and missiles at the corpse. Neither of the bodies could be procured, though attempted, but the natives made an attack on the parties remaining in the boat, and part of one of their arrows now is to be seen stuck fast in the boat of the Camden. When Captain Morgan left the beach, the natives hauled Mr Williams' body up, and stripped it. Captain Morgan intended beating the vessel up to windward, and under her cover to attempt the rescue of the bodies, but on approaching the beach, we found the natives had carried away the body of Mr Williams. Mr Harris's body we saw nothing of. Captain Morgan, finding it useless to remain any longer, as no hopes were entertained of getting an interview with the natives, or of procuring the bodies of the unfortunate sufferers, immediately bore up for Sydney direct.	When Mr Cunningham saw him running, he turned and made for the boat, and calling to Mr Williams to run, for the natives had killed Mr Harris; but Mr Williams unfortunately stopped to look a moment for Mr Harris; he made afterwards for the boat, and reached the water, the boat laying off to keep her afloat, but in the hurry, stumbled and fell, when the natives immediately took advantage of the circumstance, and struck him (Mr Williams) four blows on the head with their clubs. By this time. Captain Morgan and Mr Cunningham had gained the boat, and pushed off; after Mr Williams had fallen, another party of natives, numbering between 15 and 20, speared him through, although our informant thinks that he was dead when they arrived. The children threw stones and missiles at the corpse. Neither of the bodies could be procured, though attempted, but the natives made an attack on the parties remaining in the boat, and part of one of their arrows now is to be seen stuck fast in the boat of the Camden. When Captain Morgan left the beach, the natives hauled Mr Williams' body up, and stripped it. Captain Morgan intended beating the vessel up to windward, and under her cover to attempt the rescue of the bodies, but on approaching the beach, we found the natives had carried away the body of Mr Williams. Mr Harris's body we saw nothing of. Captain Morgan, finding it useless to remain any longer, as no hopes were entertained of getting an interview with the natives, or of procuring the bodies of the unfortunate sufferers, immediately bore up for Sydney direct.	“When Mr. Cunningham came running to Mr. Williams, the latter turned and made for the boat, but unfortunately stopped to look a moment for Mr. Harris. He then made for the boat, and reached the water, but in the hurry stumbled and fell; when one of the natives immediately took advantage of the circumstance, and struck him four blows on the head with a club. By this time Captain Morgan and Mr. Cunningham had gained the boat, and pushed off. After Mr. Williams had fallen, another party of natives, numbering between fifteen and twenty, speared him through, although our informant thinks that he was dead when they arrived. The children threw stones and missiles at the corpse. Neither of the bodies could be procured, though every effort was made for that purpose; but the natives made an attack on the parties remaining in the boat, and part of one of their arrows is to be seen sticking fast in the boat of the Camden. Captain Morgan finding it useless to remain any longer, as no hopes were entertained of getting an interview with the natives, or of procuring the bodies of the sufferers, immediately bore for Sydney direct.
Had the Camden been provided with but a single musket, no doubt, but the life of Mr Williams would have been saved, as there was only one native followed him down to to the beach. That the mission has sustained a great loss in the death of Mr Williams there can be no doubt; but that God will carry on the great work of evangelizing the Islands of the Pacific, there cannot be the least question. Missionaries and their friends ought to be, and doubtless are, prepared for such catastrophes as these."	Had the Camden been provided with but a single musket, no doubt, but the life of Mr Williams would have been saved, as there was only one native followed him down to to the beach. That the mission has sustained a great loss in the death of Mr Williams there can be no doubt; but that God will carry on the great work of evangelizing the Islands of the Pacific, there cannot be the least question. Missionaries and their friends ought to be, and doubtless are, prepared for such catastrophes as these."	“That the Mission has sustained a great loss in the death of Mr. Williams there can be no doubt, but that God will carry on the great work of evangelizing the islands of the Pacific there cannot be the least question. The Missionaries and their friends ought to be, and doubtless are, prepared for catastrophes so mysterious as these.”
	—Australian, Dec. 3 [Followed by "Great news for gardeners--How to kill slugs" and other news from Sydney]

The changes made by The Chronicle’s editors emphasize Williams’ effort and labor as a means to mitigate the fact that he was unable to lay the groundwork for sustained missionary activity on the island. From the account in The Australian, it appears that Williams was able to distribute gifts to the Erramongans, suggesting that there had been a moment of contact and exchange that preceded violence. The Chronicle increases the distance between Williams and the islanders by saying that he “attempted to make them presents,” implying that Williams was unable to contact or communicate with the Erramongans. This social distance is further emphasized by the description of Erramonga’s physical terrain. While The Australian and the Hurkaru present the harbor as the only exception in the island’s “completely iron-bound coast," The Chronicle represents the island surrounded by an impenetrable wall “without one exception.” Williams’ efforts to overcome these physical, cultural barriers and linguistic barriers; his despondency over the inefficacy of his gift-giving overtures; and his subsequent proposal of “giving up the idea of having any intercourse with the Island” is made more impersonal through the use of “he” in The Chronicle as opposed to “Mr. Williams” in the other newspapers. Though the article emphasizes Williams’ labor, his agency is overridden by forces outside of his control. The closing paragraphs describes catastrophes like Williams’ death as “so mysterious.” In this context, the mysteriousness ultimately stems from the inscrutability of God’s will that such a tragedy would befall a missionary who was carrying out work that God would presumably support. The impact of such news on the Christian community is further emphasized by the transition from “melancholy” to “mournful” in the article’s title, for Williams’ death would be mourned at subsequent meetings of the London Missionary Society.

The tweaks that shift the focus to Williams juxtapose the changes that pool around the representation of the Erramongans. The Chronicle maintains The Australian’s statement that the islanders were a “barbarous race,” but the missionary periodical elides the extended ethnographic aside that compared Erramongans’ physical features to those of Africans. This passage in all three articles is animated by the same racist logic, but the force of the ethnographic comparison and reaffirmation of the Erramongans as “a dirty race of savages” that appeared in the Australian and the Hurkaru is mitigated by The Chronicle through its omission of these statements. Without this description of the Erramongan’s appearance, The Chronicle presents a blank canvas onto which the reader can imagine a racialized “other.” Though The Chronicle includes details of the missionaries’ gruesome deaths, the editors omitted the speculative violence committed by the captain of the Camden towards the Erramongans in the closing paragraph of the article. Both The Australian and the Hurkaru entertain the idea that the missionaries’ deaths could have been averted if the landing party carried firearms. The absence of the hypothetical musket in the Chronicle’s account throws the spears and clubs of the Erramongans into sharper focus.

[1]The Hurkaru’s path to London requires further investigation, for it may have been quoted in other newspapers published along British shipping routes. Two South African newspapers, The Cape Town Gazette and African Advertiser and The Grahamstown Journal, present the most likely conveyors of shipping news. While runs of both newspapers have been microfiched and digitized, these issues fall outside the date range that the news John William’s death would have been published. It is possible that other newspapers took the route traveling west, stopping in Rio de Janiero. However, the Brazilian National Archive, the most likely holder of English language newspapers published in Brazil, does not contain copies of newspapers in English published between 1839 and 1840.

[2] Other Australian newspapers, including the The Sydney Herald, The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, and The Colonist, spell Erramonga with an initial E.

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Publishing Williams' Life and Death The material archive through which to study Williams’ lantern shows exposes the networks responsible for circulating British-manufactured goods globally. The description of specific images in his account points to Carpenter and Westley’s lecture set as the most likely version of the scriptural slides that Williams used in his lantern show. Whereas a material-oriented approach to the lantern show reveals the outward flow of goods from England, the textual archive speaks to the flow of information from the periphery to the metropole. In this section, I will discuss published representations of Williams’ life, death, and lantern shows.

A Martyr’s Death

Williams death on the island of Erramongo would be printed long before an account of his lantern shows. In a way, Williams desire to obtain martyrological material for his lantern shows foreshadowed his own death as a missionary. Eager to expand the influence of missionaries, Williams set his sites on Erramongo in the Vanatu island chain. On the morning of November 20th, 1839, Williams rowed ashore along with James Harris (Williams’ secretary), Robert Clark Morgan (the Captain of the Camden), and Mr. Cunningham (a crew member).[1] Williams was initially frustrated by the islander’s apparent lack of interest in communication, for only a few could be lured into conversation with the trade goods that Williams brought with him. Unbeknownst to Williams, this hesitancy was caused by a string of violent encounters with European traders, Hawaiians, and Tongans who had tried to extract the island’s sandalwood. In the weeks prior to Williams’ landing, a group of European sandalwood traders had kidnapped and killed several Erromongans. Harris attempted to improve communication by going with a group of islanders further inland. Just as Williams proposed leaving the island, Harris reappeared running down the beach being chased by Erramongons. Harris was knocked down and speared through while Williams watched in shock. These few moments of hesitation would give the Erramongans enough time to catch Williams while he was wading toward the boat. Williams was clubbed to death before he could reach it.[2]

Word of Williams’ death would reach London Missionary Society supporters in England through the May 1840 issue of the Chronicle. The magazine’s editors noted that

Although the Directors have not yet received any direct of official intelligence as to this most painful event, they are unable to entertain any doubt of its general accuracy. But as soon as any fresh and authentic information is received, the friends of the Society may depend on receiving the earliest possible intimation of so mournful and mysterious a dispensation[3]

The Director’s caution stemmed from the fact that their source was several steps removed from an eyewitness. Captain Morgan had made it safely back to the Camden. Upon returning to Sydney, his testimony was published in several Australian newspapers.[4] Of these, The Australian made its way to Kolkata, where it was reprinted in the Bengal Hurkaru. The Kolkata newspaper then reached the secretaries of the LMS.[5] A letter to the LMS from Morgan, written a week after the Australian newspapers published announcements of Williams’ death, confirmed the sequence of events described in published sources.

“The most revolting calumnies”

While the LMS mourned Williams' death in England, news of missionary work in the South Pacific traveled through Catholic circles to France. One Congregationalist missionary in Paris, Mark Wilks, was so shocked by the rumors of a magic lantern show that he assumed it was slander.

A consul [of Catholic Priests] is established at Tahiti, who has published in France the most revolting calumnies against the Protestant missionaries of England, and their native converts. The priests even are encouraged to write to the directors of the association for the propagation of the faith for publication in France, that the English missionaries assemble the people in their chapel, and, instead of preaching, exhibit by a magic lantern, the Pope and the Catholic priests burning the Protestants in a furnace. Little did the founders of the London Missionary Society imagine that these groups of islands, which they hoped to rescue from paganism, were to be so soon invaded by missionaries from those “other unenlightened countries,” contemplated among the objects of the Society’s efforts, and embraced by their Christian charity.[6]

As the son of one of the founding members of the LMS, Wilks had more latitude than most to imagine the founder’s response to French competition. Wilks inherited his missionary zeal from his father, Rev. Matthew Wilks, who was pastor at Moorefields Tabernacle in London. The elder Wilks knew John Williams personally. According to Richard Lovett, Matthew Wilks encouraged Williams to pursue missionary work and prepared him for life in the ministry.[7] Williams seems to have followed his training insofar as he preached in addition to giving a lantern show. However, the allegation that lantern shows had replaced sermons was enough to make Wilks coil defensively. Wilks could not imagine a situation in which a British, Protestant missionary would resort to a lantern, let alone give it greater precedence than a sermon, so he pinned the rumor on the directors of Catholic Missionary Society, even though the details of the account align with Williams' own account.

Williams’ Posthumous Biography

The timing of Wilks' letter to the LMS suggests that he had not yet seen the official account published in Williams’ posthumous biography, which was edited by Ebenezer Prout and printed in 1843.[8] The table below visualizes the editorial changes made by Prout to Williams letter to his son.[9] Phrases in blue appear only in Williams’ letter whereas phrases in green are only found in Prout’s published version.[10]

Letter to Samuel Williams	*Memoirs of the life of the Rev. John Williams, missionary to Polynesia*

Thousands of the people can read, but I must tell you a little about Rarotonga; before however I do this, I must inform you of the prodigious interest the exhibition of the magic lantern produces. [extra space] At the Natural History slides, exhibiting birds, beasts, &c. they were highly delighted. The Kings of England afforded them still greater pleasure, but the scripture pieces are those which excite the deepest interest. The first time [page break] I exhibited, it was at Mr. Murray's station, and then the birth of Christ, Simeon taking Christ in his arms, and the flight into Egypt, and indeed all that had reference to the Saviour excited prodigious interest: but when the plate of the Crucifixion was shown, there was a general sobbing; their feelings were overcome, and they gave vent to them by weeping. I took care to inform them that it was only a representation. This is a very valuable present and I shall ever feel obliged to good Mr. Walker for it. The plates of the Martyrs have given the people a dread of Popery. You will be sorry to hear there are a great many priests about trying to get a footing in the different Islands. I hope and pray they may not succeed.	The following reference, in a letter to his son, will show the use which Mr. Williams made of this valuable preset, with the results. “I may here inform you of the prodigious interest the exhibition of the magic lantern produces. At the natural history slides they are delighted; the kings of England afforded them still greater pleasure; but the Scripture pieces are those which excite the deepest interest. The first time I exhibited it was at Mr. Murray’s station; and then the birth of Christ, Simeon taking the Saviour in his arms, and the flight into Egypt, [page 149] indeed, all that had a reference to the Savior, exited prodigious interest; but when the plate of the crucifixion was exhibited, there was a general sobbing, their feelings were overcome, and they gave vent to them in tears. This is a very valuable present, and I shall ever feel obliged to good Mr. Walker for it.

Aside from minor changes in punctuation, the differences between the accounts are mainly omissions. The published version of Williams’ account downplays the theological risks of using a lantern for evangelistic purposes. Prout excised Williams’ assertion that the image of Christ was “only a representation” and left no clues that there were portions of the letter that had been erased. The editor also moderated the audience’s emotion by changing “by weeping” to “in tears.” By moving quickly from the audience’s response to Williams’ vociferous praise of Mr. Walker, Prout celebrates the effect produced by the lantern and the immersive viewing experience it structured. The letter in its manuscript and published form speaks to the tensions between immediacy, hypermediacy, representation, and presence that other missionaries would also have to negotiate.

Williams’ legacy

Following Williams’ example, other missionaries would write to the LMS in order to obtain lantern material. The account of Williams’ lantern show in Prout’s biography eventually reached Kovai, India. Inspired by this account, William Addis, a fellow London Missionary Society missionary, wrote to the foreign secretary requesting “a superior magic lantern, something of the sort Mr. Williams procured for his use in the South Seas.”[11] His letter then requests scripture slides produced by Carpenter. Later correspondence reveals that Addis balked at the expense of the equipment; the advertisement that Addis saw must have been old because the equipment cost more than he expected. The total would have been £4 12s after a small subsidy from the Society. In the end, Addis requested that the secretary not send him a lantern, “altho I much regret it, as it would have been useful not merely to the juvenile parts of the congregation.”[12] Addis’ request reveals a significant factor in the global circulation of Carpenter and Westley’s slides. Although Williams’ use of the lantern was praised in his posthumous biography, the Society was hesitant to formally support the use of projection apparati. Instead, Williams (and subsequent LMS missionaries who used lantern equipment) would have to obtain lantern material through para-missionary society friendships.

Despite the risks, the lantern would leave a lasting impression. W.G. Lawes, an LMS missionary who visited Samoa almost forty years after Williams, recounted how

Some of our Samoan teachers saw a magic-lantern which the Rev. J. Williams exhibited not long before he was killed. They have not forgotten it, but often talk about it, and could describe what they saw now, even though so many years have passed since they saw it.[13]

I would argue that these memories of visual material cannot be solely attributed to the lantern’s status as a technological novelty, but they also could be by-products of the immersive viewing practices fostered by a pitch black performance space and selectively illuminated images. Though there are no accounts of conversion as a result of Williams’ lantern show, Lawes account suggests that the scriptural lecture would become part of the audience’s spiritual life. The Samoans who were most eager to share their memories of Williams' lantern show had continued to support the Christian community by becoming teachers for the LMS.

[1] The Camden had been chartered by the LMS to transport missionaries from England to the South Pacific and to provide inter-island travel for the missionaries.

[2] Anthropologist James L. Flexner offers a material history of the island and of Williams’ death. See “Erromango: Archaeology and the Martyr Isle.” An Archaeology of Early Christianity in Vanuatu: Kastom and Religious Change on Tanna and Erromango, 1839–1920, by James L. Flexner, vol. 44, ANU Press, Australia, 2016, pp. 17–58. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1q1crx5.10. pp. 22-24.

[3] “Mournful Death of John Williams.” The Evangelical Magazine and Missionary Chronicle. vol. 18, no. 5, May 1840. p. 246.

[4] These include the The Sydney Herald, The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, and The Colonist.

[5] For an extended analysis of the announcement as it appeared in The Australian, The Bengal Hurkaru, and the Chronicle, click here.

[6] “General Chronicle.” The Evangelical Magazine and Missionary Chronicle. vol. 21, no. 3, 1843. pp. 189-192. Accessed via Googlebooks. 8 April 2019. p. 192. Wilks continues his rant by referencing the hostile take-over of the LMS’s ship, the Duff, by French privateers in 1799.

[7] The History of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895. London: Henry Frowde, 1899. pp. 239-240.

[8] Memoirs of the life of the Rev. John Williams, missionary to Polynesia. Second edition. London: John Snow, 1843. pp. 537-538.

[9] John Williams. Letter to Samuel Williams, 7 February 1839. CWM/LMS/Personal Papers/ South Seas Personal/Box 2. Council for World Mission Archive, School of Oriental and African Studies Library, London, England. 30 June 2016.

[10] I discuss the rationale behind this color-coding strategy here.

[11] Letter to Arthur Tidman from William Addis. February 7th, 1848. CWM/LMS/10/02/04/032. Council for World Mission Archive, School of Oriental and African Studies Library, London, England. 30 June 2016. Tidman added notes in the margin about the price of the lantern. The society would offset the total cost by “25 cent,” leaving Addis with the rest of the 4l 12s bill.

[12] Letter to Arthur Tidman from William Addis, December 6th, 1848. CMS/LMS/10/02/04/032. Council for World Mission Archive, School of Oriental and African Studies Library, London, England. 30 June 2016. The association between children and magic lantern shows stems in part from their use in Britain as part of Sunday School Christmas parties.

[13] W.G. Lawes Report from Savage Island, 1864. Printed in the Juvenile Missionary Magazine. vol. 21, no. 1, January 1865. pp. 14-19. Accessed via Google Books. 20 June 2016. p. 16.