Models of the “John Williams” Missionary Ships

[Mark HamblyParticipant @markhambly59297]

I am interested in the seven ships of the London Missionary Society, each of which were named John Williams (after a C19th missionary of that name killed in the Pacific) and which, after the first one, were sequentially numbered II to VII.

I am aware of a model of IV in a museum in Australia and of VI at a church in Spalding, and am also aware of a model of VII having been built (and featured on a postcard) but I have no idea by whom or where it may now be.

Are any members of the Forum aware of any other models of any of the John Williams ships, or of the builder and/or current location of the known model of VII?

Any insights would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks,

Mark

[Mark HamblyParticipant @markhambly59297]

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Hi Mark and welcome to the forum.

I hate to see a post unanswered, however in this instance I detect that either someone who knows just hasn’t seen this, or it’s too niche for anyone to comment on.

Likely the latter.

Me included. sorry, Ashley

[Mark HamblyParticipant @markhambly59297]

Thanks Ashley,

Yes, a challenging one, but I'm sure I'll find the answer eventually, and will post it here when I do.

Cheers,

Mark

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Mark,

Maybe worth trying the World Ship Society I think possibly they would have a forum for fullsize ship info etc

They have a second hand bookshop at Chatham Dockyard, could spend a month in there

Best of Luck Ray

Edited By Ray Wood 2 on 25/03/2021 16:33:14

[geconParticipant @gecon]

There seems to be a lot of info on googling LMS and John Williams. Seems like info is available for all the ships.

See: School of Oriental and African studies. University of London.

George

Edited By gecon on 26/03/2021 11:45:02

[Mark HamblyParticipant @markhambly59297]

Thanks Ray and George,

Over the years I've collected lots of information on the ships themselves, especially IV to VII, and I am planning to go and look at the LMS "Ship Committee" records at SOAS once some sort of normality returns.

My particular query on this forum related specifically to a model of John Williams VII, of which I have a postcard. Unfortunately the card gives no information about the builder or where the model may have been displayed. The model looks to be the work of a skilled enthusiast, rather than a professional ship modeller of the type producing builders' and owners' display models. I'm intrigued to know whether it still exists and, if so, where it might be. If it does I'm guessing it may well either be with a church (most likely United Reformed or Congregational) somewhere in the UK or in a private collection.

Regards,

Mark

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