This society was set up in 1888 in order to support the Church Missionary Society Uganda mission. It was initially called the Eastern Equatorial Africa Working Party but subsequently was renamed the Uganda Ladies' Working Party. It was set up under the auspices of the CMS but was especially connected with the work of Reverend Robert P. Ashe, a CMS missionary from Blackburn. He served in Uganda and during a furlough in England in 1887, he reported on the missionaries' need for a boat to allow them to cross the Nyanza Victoria Lake. The proceeds of the first sale of work, which was promoted by Miss Ashe, Reverend Ashe's sister and the Misses Lewis, were devoted towards the purchase of a steamer. The Working Party met fortnightly and aimed to make things to be sold in aid of the Uganda mission. In 1926 it was reconstituted and the funds it raised were subsequently used for CMS medical mission work in the protectorate of Uganda and from this date it met monthly. In 1970 it became known as the Friends of the Uganda Working Party and it was dissolved in 1972.
Reference: Finding aid to the collection.
From the guide to the Papers of the Uganda Ladies' Working Party, Blackburn, Lancashire, 1888-1972, (Birmingham University Information Services, Special Collections Department)
