Chronology of the Bahá'í Faith

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Date 1949-0, descending — sort earliest first

date event tags firsts refs
1949 16 Aug 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
    		• In Memoriam; Lilian Barron McNeill; Angus McNeill; House of Bahá'u'lláh (Mazraih); Cemeteries and graves; Queen Marie of Romania; Anita Graves; Mazraih, Iran; Akka, Israel; Cyprus
    1949 5 – 7 Aug The second European Teaching Conference was held in Brussels. [BW11:52] Conferences, Teaching; Conferences, Bahá'í; - Conferences, International; - Conferences; Brussels, Belgium; Belgium; Europe
    1949 Summer 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 30 Apr 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.
    		•  National Spiritual Assembly, incorporation; National Spiritual Assembly; Firsts, other; Recognition (legal); Canada first national spiritual assembly to be formally incorporated.
    1949 24 Apr 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]
    		•  House of Bahá'u'lláh (Baghdad); In Memoriam; Edward Granville Browne; Births and deaths; Covenant-breakers; United States; Baghdad, Iraq; Iraq
    1949 21 Apr The first local spiritual assembly of Denmark was established in Copenhagen.
  • During the years 1948 to 1951 thirty-eight people became Bahá'ís. [SBBR14p243]
    		•  Local Spiritual Assembly; Copenhagen first Local Spiritual Assembly in Denmark
    1949 20 Apr The first local spiritual assembly in Portugal was established in Lisbon. Local Spiritual Assembly; Lisbon first Local Spiritual Assembly in Portugal
    1949 15 Apr Dr M. E. Lukmani, a homeopathic physician from India, arrived in Colombo, the first Bahá'í to settle in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). M. E. Lukmani; Colombo first Bahá’í to settle in Ceylon
    1949 4 - 9 Apr 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} BIC; Bahá'í International Community; Amin Banani; Mildred Mottahedeh; Hilda Yen; Matthew Bullock; Lake Success, NY
    1949 4 Feb 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] - Sháh; Persecution, Iran; Tehran, Iran; Iran
    1949 21 Jan Shoghi Effendi had a private interview with Prime Minister Ben Gurion of Israel. [GBF136; PP174–5, 289] Shoghi Effendi, Life of; Ben Gurion; - Prime Ministers; Prominent visitors; Israel
    1949 (In the year) 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]

    		Misaghieh Hospital; Abdolmisagh Misaghieh; Tehran, Iran; Iran
    1949 (In the year) 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 first Native Alaskan
    1949 (In the year) A Bahá'í in Kamshatti, near Calcutta, was martyred by a religious fanatic. [BW11:34] Persecution, India; Persecution, Deaths; Persecution; Kolkata (Calcutta); India
    1949 (In the year) 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]
    		•  Báb, Shrine of; Shoghi Effendi, Life of; Shoghi Effendi, Basic timeline; - Basic timeline, Expanded; - Bahá'í World Centre; Mount Carmel, Israel
    1949 (In the year) 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] George Townshend; Christianity; - Interfaith dialogue; Proclamation; Ireland; United Kingdom

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    try also the Chronology Canada — 1949-0 or 1949 or 194

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