In Memoriam 1992-1997/Dorothy Ferraby

DOROTHY FERRABY

1904“1994

orothy Ferraby (nee Cansdale) was

born in London in 1904. “My family was Church of England,” she wrote. “I was christened into it, but I refused to be confirmed. I more or less sorted things out for myself, trying to get to know about other religions such as Judaism and Islam, and sometimes having terrific arguments with people who said these were all heathen. So I suppose I was prepared for the Faith before I even met it.”

She became a Bahá’í in April 1934 and was immediately active in the London Youth Group. “From the beginning I had accepted the Faith almost instinctively, and afterward I read as many books as I could

find. Somehow I felt that I had to justify

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my instinctive belief, so I gradually acquired more knowledge and information.”

Professionally she was a high—powered secretary in the Lever organization, and it was as an effective, highly responsible secretary—the focal point ofAssembly, committee 0r board—that many will remember her. In 1937, together with Hasan Balyuzi, she became joint secretary of the London Spiritual Assembly, a joint secretaryship that continued for several years.

In 1941 she was elected to the British National Spiritual Assembly and became its secretary. Many of the friends in England have paid great tribute to the work of Dorothy Ferraby during the war years. However, she herself played it down.

During the war a few of us were still in London. Some were evacuatedwith their jobs or their families—but quite a few of us were still there. And we kept things going all through the war. The most significant thing about the Faith during the war was that the administration held, the administrative bodies functioned, in spite ofall the difficulties. During the Blitz the National Assembly went on meeting quite regularly outside London. Once it was clear that the Blitz was continuing (after the first shock or two, and one night we didn’t go home at all, and we had to stay together all night in London), we organized ourselves. We had Assembly meetings on Sunday mornings. We held Nineteen Day Feasts quite regularly on the nearest Saturday afternoon, as these were quiet times. And we kept going perfectly well—we even had a public meeting now and again. I went to the Bahá’í Centre on the way home from work every day—to make sure it was still there and to pick up mail etc.—but I couldn’t stay as I had to rush home

while there was still some transport to get home with. But after things calmed down in 1941, things became a lot easier—the Blitz didn’t go on all through the war . . . We even got a few declarations during the war—including my husband, John.

Dorothy served continuously as set:retary, treasurer, or recording secretary of the National Assembly for the next twenty years, only retiring when she accompanied her husband, the Hand of the Cause John Ferraby, when he became one of the Custodians elected from amongst the body of the Hands to serve at the World Centre after the beloved Guardian’s passing.

As the years went by and the Bahá’í’ Administrative Order took shape under the guiding hand ofShoghi Effendi, Dorothy’s service to the Faith extended, and her experience grew. She was a member of the National Spiritual Assembly in 1944 that, undeterred by the continuation of the war, had sent to Shoghi Effendi a proposal from Convention that the community embark on a Six Year Plan (1944—50). The Guardian’s response was, “WELCOME SPONTANEOUS DECISION ADVISE FORMATION NINETEEN SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES SPREAD OVER ENGLAND, WALES, SCOTLAND, NORTHERN IRELAND, AND HIRE PRAYING SIGNAL VICTORY SHOGHI RABBANI."

As there were only five Local Spiritual Assemblies in the British Isles at the time and they were all in England,82 this was to prove a tremendous undertaking, but through the power of Baha’u’llah, the energy of the whole of that tiny national Bahá’í community, and the wonderful support of friends from other countries, Riḍván 1950 saw everyone celebrating a

82 London, Bournemouth, Torquay, Manchester,

and Bradford.

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magnificent victory. So the foundation of the British Bahá’í community was laid, and the springboard for the beginning of its overseas activity established.

At Riḍván 1950 the Guardian announced an Africa Campaign (1951—53). Right away the National Assembly set up an “Africa Committee,” and John Ferraby became its first secretary. The friends wasted no time, and in December 1950 the first pioneer left for Africa, months before the Plan officially started.

In his message of February 25, 1951, Shoghi Effendi wrote about the Africa Campaign:

On the success of this enterprise, unprecedented in its scope, unique in its character and immense in its spiritual potentialities, must depend the initiation, at a later period in the Formative Age of the Faith, of undertakings embracing within their range all National Assemblies functioning throughout the Bahá’í World, undertakings constituting in themselves a prelude to the launching of world—wide enterprises destined to be embarked upon, in future epochs of that same Age, by the Universal House ofjustice, that will symbolise the unity and coordinate and unify the activities of these National Assemblies.83

Five National Communities (the United States, Iran, Egypt and the Sudan, India, and the British Isles) took part in the Africa Campaign that the British coordinated under the guidance of the beloved Guardian. In 1951 David Hofman became secretary of the Africa Committee, and in 1952 Dorothy was appointed to that office.

83 Unfolding Destiny: 7776 Menagerfiom the Guardian Oft/Je Bahzi't’ Frtit/y t0 #12 311/7117 Community ofr/Jr Britir/y [3135 (London: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1981), p. 261.

In February 1953 the first of the four Intercontinental Conferences of the Holy Year that commemorated Baha’u’llah’s incarceration in the Siyah-Qhal and the Birth of the Bahá’í Revelation was held in Kampala, Uganda. There the Guardian’s Ten Year World Crusade was launched. Convened by the British National Assembly, Hasan Balyuzi, the Assembly’s chairman; John Ferraby, its secretary; and Dorothy Ferraby, a member of the National Assembly and secretary of the Africa Committee, attended that auspicious conference.

At Riḍván 1953 the Africa Campaign reached a triumphant conclusion. Outside of Egypt and the Sudan, only a few individual Bahá’ís had been strung out across the huge distances of that continent like a precious string of pearls in 1950. Now the whole African Continent had been opened to the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in little more than two short years. In 1953 Dorothy and John volunteered for overseas pioneering, but Shoghi Effendi wrote that, although he appreciated their desire to go out as pioneers, he felt, “it would weaken the work of the National Spiritual Assembly too much," and he advised them to remain in England. This showed Clearly how much the Guardian valued their work as administrators in the Cause.

In 1950 John became the first paid secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, a development approved by the Guardian. There is no doubt, however, that such a step for an individual, and even more for a family, becomes an act of faith. There is no career structure in the Bahá’í Faith, and elections of Assemblies and their officers take place annually. (No one knows better than its secretary that the National Assembly is always short of money for any purpose whatever.) The Ferrabys led the

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way in radiant acquiescence in the field of service.

While all these activities were progressing, another institution was developing in the British Isles that will always be associated with Dorothy—the summer school. She became the registrar/treasurer Of the 1939 summer school, and year by year it was Dorothy who encouraged, and often personally carried out, a nationwide search For premises suitable for a Bahá’í summer school. And year by year, as secretary of the summer school and often its Chairman, it was Dorothy who smoothed ruffled feathers and feelings and organized repairs if those premises were damaged by unruly behavior (such as the setting up ofa dartboard on precious oak panelingl). The programs of those summer schools contributed as nothing else could to deepening the understanding of the attending Bahá’ís, so many of whom were new believers.

In the winter of 1953 first John, and then Dorothy, went on pilgrimage, which in those days was a rarer event than it is today. They each had the privilege of coming into the presence ofShoghi Effendi.

In December 1954 the Ferraby family became the first Bahá’í residents in the newly acquired National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, at 27 Rutland Gate, London, SW7. It should not be overlooked that Dorothy was not only a splendid Bahá’í administrator, she was also a wife and mother eating in every way for her family; she could be seen during the lunch break of a weekend National Assembly meeting rapidly and expertly ironing her young daughters school blouse in readiness for the Monday morning.

In 1954 Dorothy was appointed by the European Hands of the Cause as one of the first Auxiliary Board members. She continued her service on the National Spiritual Assembly, which at that time was acceptable.

Dorothy went to Kampala, Uganda, again in January 1958 representing the British National Spiritual Assembly at the first conference in a second series of four Intercontinental Conferences.84 “The first Africa Conference was unique,” wrote Dorothy. “It was held in a tent!”

She continued:

The Guardian said it had to be held in Kampala, Uganda, which he said was the spiritual heart ofAfrica. A year before the conference there were an awful lot of declarations quite suddenly—a little bit of mass declaration out in the villages—and there were no suitable buildings in which to hold a conference. Someone in America found us an enormous tent, which we put up in the garden of the Hazira there, and it was very good because it was cool and had a roof, and it had walls with flaps of material so there were openings in it. It was very nice for the Africans because when they got tired and bored and didn’t want to pay attention any more, they could quietly slip out and sit on the grass and relax, and then they could come back in again when they felt like it. It suited that particular conference perfectly—it was a wonderful thing. That was the first Intercontinental Conference, and we and our pioneers out there organized it, and it was very exciting . . .

When I went to live in the Holy Land, four American Hands were there—Millie Collins, Leroy Ioas, Horace Holley, and Paul Haney. Paul was the mainstay of the Hands as he did

84 Although those four conferences had been called

by Shoghi Effendi, they actually took place after his death in London, in November 1957. The Kampala conference was the first attended by the Hand of the Cause Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum after the Guardian’s passing.

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most of the donkeywork and the office work. He was the most wonderful person. Horace Holley was fun, and he had a wonderful sense of humor. He would keep you amused for hours just telling you funny stories and keeping you laughing. When there were no Visitors we got into the habit ofgoing down to the kitchen at about ten o’clock at night and making ourselves a cup of coffee. His Wife, Doris, would come, and John would come, and we would all sit there at the kitchen table drinking coffee. It got to the stage when at about a quarter to ten every night Horace would put his head around the door and say, “Are you having coffee tonight?” And we would go and have coffee, and he would tell us some more stories!

In July 1960 after I got there Horace became very ill. He suddenly got worse, and one evening his wife put her head round out sitting room door and said, “Will you come and help—I—Iorace has gone out in the corridor, and he has fallen down.” We rushed out and Doris went to phone for the doctor. I knelt down beside him, and his head was on my knee. John and Paul went and got a mattress, which they wanted to roll him onto, and get him back to his bed. But a little While after his head was lying on my lap, he gave a big sigh, and he just died there on the floor. He was buried in the Bahá’í cemetery in Haifa at the foot of Mount Carmel.

Residing in Haifa in the early 19605, Dorothy was appointed as the Holy Lands liaison member to the British—based World Congress Committee, and so she came more often to London. That committee was responsible for the organization of the Most Great Jubilee celebrations held in the Royal Albert Hall in London immediately

THE BAHA’I’ WORLD

after the election of the Universal House of Justice at Riḍván 1963.

I never actually attended anything at the World Congress—I was too busy with the organization side—but I attended the last session. There was a box at one side (a permanent fixture) where the address system is attached with the loudspeakers, and I usually had some announcements to make, and I used to get there about ten minutes before the end of the session, but people were already trying to come out. My Chief memory of that congress is pushing my way against hordes of people going one way and just me trying to go the other, trying to get to my little box and finally getting there! The session being over, everybody would start talking, and there was me shrieking at them, “Will you please be quiet and listen.” I never knew I could shout till then—bawling away all over the Albert Hall at them. But on the whole, everything went very nicely, despite hiccups along the way!

Returning with her husband to the British Isles after the election of the Universal House of Justice, Dorothy became an Executive Board member. That was a development in the institution of the Auxiliary Boards that would lead the way toward the appointment of the Continental Boards of Counsellors by the Universal House ofjustice in 1968; Executive Board members do not exist today. Dorothy was appointed by the House ofjustice as one of the first three members of the Continental Board of Counsellors for Europe. She traveled throughout Western Europe, and for many years she was the Board’s secretary, serving it until 1985.

To recapture some of the highlights of Dorothy’s life is to retrace the development of the Bahá’í Faith through most of the

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action—paeked years of this first part of the Formative Age. The history of the Cause was woven into the life of this outstanding and dedicated servant of Bahá’u’lláh.

And strangely enough, her health, especially during the last years ofher service as a Counsellor, was not good. When on a visit to Holland Dorothy fractured her hip, making a major operation necessary. As the years went by this gave her trouble, and another operation became necessary. In addition a vital operation had to be done on her eyes. Undeterred she pressed on, continuing for a long time to travel to Holland and to Denmark by the least costly route, the overnight ferry as she had always done; eventually she was persuaded to start her travels in Europe by flying from the East Midlands Airport, which was closer to where she lived.

When John died in 1973, Dorothy moved from Cambridge to Nottingham, and then in September she went to live in an apartment attached to the house of her daughter, Bridget Beales, and she spent the last years of her life in the loving companionship Of Bridget, her husband, and three grandchildren in a village in Nottinghamshire. She died there on March 22, 1994, and is buried in the village cemetery.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s blessed words seem to apply most especially to Dorothy Ferraby, “And then, with flying flags, and to the beat of drums, let us pass into the realm of the All—Glorious, and join the Company on high. Well is it with the doers of great deeds.”85

The Universal House of Justice wrote on March 24:

85 Selenium from t/M’ Wiring: Of flkdu’l—Ba/m’ (Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1996, 7.009 printing), 5210.5 and 3210.6.

HEARTS GRIEVED PASSING DEARLY LOVED STALWART MAIDSERVANT BAHA’U’LLAH DOROTHY FERRABY WHOSE DISTINGUISHED SERVICES CAUSE GOD EXTENDED OVER MORETHAN HALF A CENTURY. SHE CONTRIBUTED SIGNIFICANTLY ADMINISTRATION FAITH AS MEMBER NATIONAL ASSEMBLY BRITISH ISLES AND FIRST AUXILIARY BOARD EUROPE, PLAYED VITAL PART HISTORIC AFRICA CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED BY SHOGHI EFFENDI, SERVED WORLD CENTRE DURING CUSTODIANSHIP HANDS CAUSE, AND LATER As MEMBER CONTINENTAL BOARD OF COUNSELLORS EUROPE. THESE SERVICES, AS WELL AS HER [NDEFATIGABLE LABOURS AND STERLING QUALITIES, HER TENACITY, PERSEVERENCE AND UNFLINCHING LOYALTY HAVE ENRICHED THE ANNALS FAITH BRITISH ISLES AND SET WORTHY EXAMPLE.

ARDENTLY PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HER NOBLE SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. ADVISE HOLD MEMORIAL GATHERINGS COMMUNITIES UNITED KINGDOM. REQUESTING NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF GERMANY HOLD A MEMORIAL SERVICE MOTHER TEMPLE EUROPE. ALSO ADVISING EUROPEAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES HOLD COMMEMORATIVE GATHERINGS COMMUNITIES THEIR COUNTRIES.

CONVEY OUR LOVING SYMPATHY HER BELOVED DAUGHTER, OTHER MEMBERS HER FAMILY.

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Betty Reed and Philip Haimwort};