Chronology: Chronology: Date 1949

Chronology of the Bahá'í Faith

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Date 1949, sorted by events, ascending

date	event	tags	firsts
1949 30 Apr 194-	An Act to incorporate the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Canada was passed. The act established the name, named the officers as directors, stated the location of the headquarters, defined the objectives, gave it the right to manage the affairs of the Bahá'ís, to make by-laws and to hold property. It was used as a model for registration/incorporation in other states. The pdf for the Act can be found here. The National Spiritual Assembly members at that time were John Aldham Robarts, of the city of Toronto, province of Ontario, manager; Emeric Sala, of the city of St. Lambert, province of Quebec, manufacturer; Dame Laura Romney Davis, wife of Victor Davis of the city of Toronto, province of Ontario; Siegfried Schopflocher, of the city of Montreal, province of Quebec, manufacturer; Rowland Ardouin Estall, of the city of Montreal, province of Quebec, insurance broker; Ross Greig Woodman, of the city of Toronto, province of Ontario, lecturer; Lloyd George Gardner, of the city of Toronto, province of Ontario, wholesaler; and Dame Doris Cecilia Richardson, wife of J. P. Richardson, of the city of Toronto, province of Ontario; and Dame Rosemary Scott Sala, wife of the said Emeric Sala, of the city of St. Lambert, province Corporate of Quebec. See Shoghi Effendi's letter of 19 June, 1949 for his comments.	Canada; Firsts, other; National Spiritual Assembly; National Spiritual Assembly, incorporation; Recognition (legal)	first national spiritual assembly to be formally incorporated.
1949 (In the year) 194-	A Bahá'í in Kamshatti, near Calcutta, was martyred by a religious fanatic. [BW11:34]	- Persecution; - Persecution, Deaths; India; Kolkata, India; Persecution, India
1949 (In the year) 194-	Agnes Harrison (née Parent), an Athabascan, became a Bahá'í in Alaska, the first Native Alaskan to accept the Faith in the country.	- First Bahá'ís by country or area; Alaska, USA; United States (USA)	first Native Alaskan
1949 May 194-	Anwer Cadir was the first member of the Bahá'í Faith community in Sri Lanka. In May 1949, in Colombo he met a homeopathic doctor from India, Dr. Lukmani, who was a Bahá'í. He accepted this new Faith because he loved its fundamental principle: the oneness of mankind and because the Bahá'í Faith accepted that the spiritual teachings of all the great religions of the past are basically saying the same message. Then, it was Anwer Cadir who established the Bahá'í Faith in Thailand in 1952. He also often served as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly, the national governing body of the Bahá'ís of Sri Lanka, throughout much of the 1960s, 1970s until his sudden passing on February 5,1981. Anwer Cadir was one of Sri Lanka’s earliest civil engineers, who served under Lord Mountbatten in the Royal Engineering Corps at Peradeniya Gardens during World War II. After the war, he later worked for the Ceylon Public Works Department before traveling to Burma (Myanmar) to work as an engineer and there he married a Burmese lady. In Sri Lanka, he worked on the Gal Oya project and on the Norton Bridge Dam project. In Nigeria, he worked on the Niger River dam project, On February 9, 2025 was the day of the launch in Sri Lanka of the biography, The Lamp of the Company Above – the life story of Anwer Cadir of Dehiowita. The author, Ian Bayly, came from Australia for this special occasion after releasing his book in India, Myanmar, Thailand and Nigeria, which were also countries in which the late Anwer Cadir lived in and served their communities. The book launch was held at Hill House, Pirivena Road, Dehiowita, which was Mr. Anwer Cadir’s family home, where he was born and passed away. [Sunday Observer]	Anwer Cadir; Myanmar; Nigeria; Sri Lanka; Thailand	the first member of the Baha’i Faith community in Sri Lanka.
1949 4 - 9 Apr 194-	Bahá'í delegation to the United Nations International Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations consisted of Amin Banani, Mildred R. Mottahedeh, Hilda Yen and Matthew Bullock. [BIC History 1949}	Amin Banani; Bahá'í International Community; Hilda Yen; Lake Success, NY; Matthew Bullock; Mildred Mottahedeh
1949 (In the year) 194-	Construction began on the superstructure of the Shrine of the Báb. [BBD210] The architect, Sutherland Maxwell, fell desperately ill during the winter of 1949-1950. " He reached a point where he seemed to have no conscious mind left, could not recognize me, his only and idolized child, at all, and had no more control over himself than if he were six months old." [PP155] He was taken to Switzerland where he rapidly recovered. By 1951 his health was so frail he returned to his native Montreal. [PP156]	* Shoghi Effendi, Basic timeline; * Shoghi Effendi (chronology); - Bahá'í World Centre; - Basic timeline, Expanded; Báb, Shrine of (Haifa); Mount Carmel
1949 15 Apr 194-	Dr M. E. Lukmani, a homeopathic physician from India, arrived in Colombo, the first Bahá'í to settle in Ceylon (Sri Lanka).	Colombo, Sri Lanka; M. E. Lukmani	first Bahá’í to settle in Ceylon
1949 Summer 194-	Green Acre did not open for summer school this year or the next as an austerity measure so that funds could be directed to the completion of the Wilmette Temple. [SYH236]	Green Acre, Eliot, ME; Green Acre, Eliot, ME
1949 21 Jan 194-	Shoghi Effendi had a private interview with Prime Minister Ben Gurion of Israel. [GBF136; PP174–5, 289]	* Shoghi Effendi (chronology); - Prime Ministers; Ben Gurion; Israel; Prominent visitors
1949 26 Mar 194-	Susam Mckechnie (b. 4 May 1901, d. 2 May 1994) became the first Glaswegian to accept the Faith. [BW In Memoriam 92-97 p150-151]	- First Bahá'ís by country or area; Glasgow, Scotland	The first Glaswegian to accept the Faith.
1949 9 Nov 194-	The Bahá'í International Community, in a letter addressed to Mr Trygve Lie, the Secretary-General of the United Nation, informed the United Nations of the spiritual nature of the Bahá'í Faith. [BW12p598-600] Also included was a prayer card. See as well Bahá'í Relationship with United Nations.	Bahá'í International Community; New York City, NY; United States (USA)
1949 20 Apr 194-	The first local spiritual assembly in Portugal was established in Lisbon.	Lisbon, Portugal; Local Spiritual Assembly	first Local Spiritual Assembly in Portugal
1949 21 Apr 194-	The first local spiritual assembly of Denmark was established in Copenhagen. During the years 1948 to 1951 thirty-eight people became Bahá'ís. [SBBR14p243]	Copenhagen, Denmark; Local Spiritual Assembly	first Local Spiritual Assembly in Denmark
1949 (In the year) 194-	The Misaghieh Hospital was gifted to the Bahá'í community in 1949 by a Bahá'í named Abdolmisagh Misaghieh and was managed by the Bahá'í community. After the Islamic Revolution, the Mostazafan Foundation – in English, the Foundation for the Oppressed – confiscated properties belonging to members of the Bahá'í community. The Misaghieh Hospital was among these properties. After its confiscation, the hospital's name was changed to Shahid Mostafa Khomeini Hospital. [Iran Wire]	Abdolmisagh Misaghieh; Iran; Misaghieh Hospital, Tehran; Tehran, Iran
1949 (In the year) 194-	The pamphlet written by by George Townshend to all Christians under the title The Old Churches and the New World Faith was sent out to 10,000 "responsible people" in the British Isles on the occasion of his resignation from the church. [UD470]	- Christianity; George Townshend; Interfaith dialogue; Ireland; Proclamation; United Kingdom
1949 16 Aug 194-	The passing of Lilian Vaughan McNeill (b.1 December, 1879). In May, 1931 she and her husband, Brigadier General Angus McNeill had taken a lease on the abandoned property at Mazra'ih where they lived until her passing. They had restored the house and property respecting the fact that Bahá'u'lláh and His family had lived there from June 1877 until September, 1879. In 1981 the staff at the Bahá'í World Centre discovered her simple grave in the Commonwealth Cemetery in Haifa and, with the permission of her family, erected a befitting and dignified memorial. She had been a childhood friend of Marie Alexandra Victoria (Queen Marie of Romania). During her latter years at Mazra'ih she wrote a series of short stories, some of which were published in the local English-language newspaper. [BW19p779-782] Brigadier General Angus McNeill died in Cyprus in June 1950, nearly one year after Lilian's passing, and was buried on 21 June 1950 in Wayne's Keep, the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery now located in the buffer zone, under the control of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP). Anita Graves, archivist for the Cypriot community, discovered he grave in 1994. [from a message from Anita Graves dated November, 2019] iiiii	- Biography; - In Memoriam; Akka, Israel; Angus McNeill; Anita Graves; Cemeteries and graves; Cyprus; House of Bahá'u'lláh (Mazraih); Lilian Barron McNeill; Mazraih, Israel; Queen Marie of Romania
1949 24 Apr 194-	The passing of Montfort Mills. He had been a believer since 1906 and by 1909 he had made two pilgrimages to 'Akká as well as a third in early 1921. In 1922 he and Roy Wilhelm were invited to Haifa to discuss the possibility of calling for the formation of the Universal House of Justice. He was the first chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada when it first formed in 1922 and was elected to that body seven times between 1922 and 1937 and was responsible for the final draft of the Declaration of Trust and By-Laws adopted in 1927. One of his most outstanding achievements was his role in the case of the appeal for possession of the House of Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdád. He made two trips to Baghdad and had audiences with King Feisal. During one of these trips he was brutally assaulted and suffered the effects for many years. He met with Professor E. G. Browne and, after hearing Mr. Mills explanation of the evolution of the Faith and of the Covenant, Mr. Browne realized he had been veiled by conflicting claims and disturbances following the martyrdom of the Báb and expressed a desire to translate later Bahá'í works but died before this contribution could be made. [BW11p509-511]	- Biography; - Births and deaths; - In Memoriam; Baghdad, Iraq; Covenant-breaking; E. G. Browne; House of Bahá'u'lláh (Baghdad); Iraq; United States (USA)
1949 5 – 7 Aug 194-	The second European Teaching Conference was held in Brussels. [BW11:52]	- Conferences; - Conferences, International; - Europe; Belgium; Brussels, Belgium; Conferences, Bahá'í; Conferences, Teaching
1949 4 Feb 194-	There was an attempt on the life of the Shah during a ceremony commemorating the founding of Tehran University. The enemies of the Faith took advantage of the instability to launch attacks against the Bahá'ís throughout Iran. [SCF107]	* Persecution, Iran; - Sháh; Iran; Tehran, Iran


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