Collier family photograph album
between 1900 and 1920
Scenes from a missionary expedition to the Congo in 1901, including a baptism at Bolonge
This family photograph album belonged to H.V. Collier of the Reading brick-making family, S. & E. Collier Ltd. Collier’s Grovelands brickworks operated from 1870 until 1966. Their family home, Westgrove, in Grovelands Road was located next to the brickworks. The album contains photographs of Westgrove, the brickworks, family members and their holidays in Essex. However, more unsually it contains many images of Africa.
These African images reflect the family’s involvement with Baptist Christian missionaries in west Africa. The missionary images include the steamer ‘Goodwill’ arriving at Bolobo, the building of the Congo Railway and a river baptism at Bolonge, Congo. The album also includes locally taken images such as a photograph of the 1905 Reading School cricket team, Brock Barracks, the Kings Road Baptist Chapel (now the Abbey Baptist Church) during the harvest thanksgiving service, Grovelands Baptist Church and another family home called Elmside in Coley.
Amongst the photographs is an image of the prominent Baptist missionary William Forfeitt with his wife Anne Marie Collier. Forfeitt was local to Reading and a former employee at Suttons Seeds, while Anne was the daughter of Samuel Jeremiah Collier, the brickworks founder. These images highlight the personal connection of this influential Reading families to foreign missionary work.
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