A Short History of the Bahá'í Faith in Cornwall

DANIEL JENKYN

The earliest known record of a Bahá'í living in Cornwall was that of Daniel Jenkyn in 1910. This was quite unusual as there were very few Bahá'ís that were not Orientals at that time, with hardly any at all in this country. It was not until the Young Turks revolution of 1908 in the Middle East, that incidentally freed 'Abdu'l-Bahá (the son of Bahá'u'lláh) from confinement and thus enabling him to travel to the West, that numbers actually grew in the West.

Daniel had received the Bahá'í message from a Miss Dorothy Hodgson while he was on a trip to London. At this time he was just twenty-seven years old and lived in St. Ives, where he worked as a shipping clerk. (The details of his short life can be gleaned from letters written at that time).

He was very inspired by his new found Faith, and in a letter to a fellow believer he wrote, "This is a time of transition, don't you think so? We are passing out of one period and at the beginning of a new and better one. On the one hand, people are sick of the old and on the other hand they have not yet realised the glory of the new.... It is the Holy Spirit that alone can bring about the oneness of humanity... Apart from this spirit, I believe, that societies, however noble, or men however earnest, cannot do permanent good."

The following year his enthusiasm moved him to walk to Liverpool and share the Bahá'í Message with all those he met on the way who expressed an interest. On another occasion he became the first Bahá'í to visit Holland for the purpose of introducing the Message of Bahá'u'lláh to that country.

On the occasion of a visit by 'Abdu'l-Bahá to this country in 1911, Daniel was able to attend several of his meetings. Later on he received letters of encouragement from 'Abdu'l-Bahá.

Living a long way from other Bahá'ís, as well as by writing to them, he kept in touch with others in the Movement by visiting them and by their coming to see him in Cornwall. He must have felt at times very isolated, for he was so far from his fellow believers in a world, which was far less cosmopolitan than it is today. He wrote to a friend, "How fine it is to have someone so near with whom to share the precious truth! I wish I had, but no, my mother and sister care little for it and another whom I love very much does not see its beauty at all", and on another occasion, " I am looking forward very much to Mr. Hall's coming to Cornwall. I received a fine letter from him today. I wish you were coming as well, and I am sure we would have a delightful time together."

The above mentioned visit happened in the springtime of 1913 at Daniel's cottage in Bowling Green Terrace. Edward Hall wrote later of how the bedroom he was given the use of, "... overlooked the little harbour, the quaint roofs, and the blue-green water on which floated the fishing smacks."

There are letters describing how they walked daily by the harbour and through the local countryside, visiting local villages, discussing as they walked their new-found Faith, and how they could best touch the hearts of others with its vision of the oneness of humankind. One afternoon, after they had strolled from St. Ives to Lelant, they prayed there over the grave of the mother of another of the early British Bahá'ís, - Miss Ethel Rosenberg.

Several times they visited the home of a Mr. and Mrs. Wright, which had apparently become a regular haunt for visiting Bahá'ís. Daniel described Mr. Wright as a, " tall, slender, weather hardened, grey bearded fisherman," who in fact, previous to their first meeting, had already read about the early history of the Faith, and was keen to find out what had happened since the execution of the Báb, its initial founder.

The last evening of Edward's visit coincided with a Bahá'í Holy day commemorating the coming of the Divine Springtime. Together with Daniel and the Wrights this was celebrated at the house of a Mrs Vesal, a friend of the Faith. Edward described afterwards the "sweet reverence" of the evening in her drawing room, decorated as it was with flowers, " the sound of the sea and the pure fresh breeze coming in through the open window."

In the November after the outbreak of the first world war Daniel wrote, " I have had an attack of influenza from which I am quickly getting better and looking forward to being in much better working order than I have been of late... As you no doubt know, Miss Rosenburg is here in St. Ives, but I have not been able to see her yet."

Early in December, however, Daniel suffered a relapse from which he eventually died on the last day of 1914. His grave is in Barnoon cemetery, St. Ives.

BERNARD LEACH

The next record of a Bahá'í living in Cornwall was in the 1930's, again in St. Ives, when Bernard Leach the internationally known potter and others, endeavored to form, in his words, "a co-operative team of artist-craftsmen with a commonly felt sense of what is right... work which flows from the whole man, from the heart as well as from the head and hands."

Bernard Leach, C.H., C.B.E., was born in Hong Kong in 1887. After returning to England in 1897 to continue his schooling he then went on to study at the Slade School of Art in London. He later moved to Japan and learnt his pottery craft under the Sixth Kenzan. On his return from Japan in the 1920's with the help of Shoji Hamada, he started his pottery in St. Ives, to which students from all over the world have since come to work and learn their craft. He first met the Bahá'í Faith through the American artist Mark Tobey during his stay at Dartington Hall between 1932 and 1934. After leaving Dartington for the East, Bernard examine all that he had learnt from his friend Mark Tobey and felt compelled to declare his acceptance of the Bahá'í Faith.

The teachings of Bahá'u'lláh had a profound effect on Bernard , not only on his personal life, but also his understanding of the nature of art as an outward expression of the spiritual core of a person.

His work revolutionized pottery and enabled it to be given the distinction of being a true art form. He received during his lifetime the highest recognition for his work, both in this country and in Japan. He also influenced many artists with his synthesis of East and West, a theme of great importance to him that ran through all aspects of his life. In 1953 he wrote, " I don't know if I have justified my existence as a potter. I think I had a small genuine gift and a strange calling in a great cause - the meeting of East and West. But I have come, during the last year, to see that the meeting in art and craft is only a fragment of a far greater vision - Bahá'u'lláh's, of the unity and maturity of Mankind..."

"Beyond East and West", Bernard's last book and a fascinating overview of his life, would be a good starting point for anyone wishing to explore further his life and philosophy.

UP TO THE PRESENT DAY

Though there were many Bahá'í visitors to Bernard Leach, the next to live in the Duchy was Jan Mughrabi. Educated in Cornwall she met the Faith in America, returning to live in Polzeath in 1957.

During the early 1960's several Bahá'ís moved from South Devon, initially to St.Agnes and in the mid 1960's to St Austell, where a number of local people became members of the Bahá'í Faith.

Numbers steadily grew during the 1970's and in 1979 Pam and Mick Coombe moved to the Scilly Isles, where he was head chef at the Island Hotel on Tresco. - He also volunteered for a short while, to act as the island grave digger! Brought up from a fishing background he got on well with all of the local people and was later elected to the Isles of Scilly Council.

Up to the present day the Bahá'ís that live in Cornwall are scattered around the Duchy and have a wide variety of interests including music, meditation, pottery, flower arranging, painting, etching, spiritual healing, Tai-Chi and cycling. Their involvement in local affairs includes facilitating an inter-faith women's group, working with the local United Nations Association, being represented on the Cornish Standing Advisory Committee on Religious Education, and running an inter-faith family day.

Along with the new world order of Bahá'u'lláh, which is still being constructed, the history of the Bahá'ís in Cornwall is still being written....