Eric Manton

Eric Manton
Born	December 17, 1911
Died	December 12, 1984
NSA member	South Central Africa 1964 - 1967 Zambia 1967 - 1976 ???? - 1982
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Eric Manton (December 17, 1911 - December 12, 1984) was a British Bahá'í who pioneered to Africa where he served the Bahá'í Faith for many years, serving on the National Spiritual Assembly of South Central Africa and National Assembly of Zambia. In his career he was an electrician.

Biography

Eric served in the British Army in WWII during which he lost his left eye. He was introduced to the Faith by a talk given by Marion Hofman at a Bahá'í public meeting in the Library of Northampton and he declared in 1946 and was elected to the first Local Spiritual Assembly of Northampton. He then pioneered to Edinburgh where he helped establish, and was elected to, the first Local Spiritual Assembly in 1948.

In 1950 Shoghi Effendi announced that there would be an Africa Teaching Campaign beginning in one year, and Eric wrote to him to express his plans to pioneer to Africa and received a letter written on his behalf. He aimed to pioneer to Lusaka in Northern Rhodesia and traveled to Dar es Salaam in what is now Tanzania with his son Terrence via the Mediterranean and Suez Canal arriving on January 24, 1952. The National Spiritual Assembly of Iran had been assigned responsibility for the region by Shoghi Effendi, so Manton was under their jurisdiction, despite pioneering from Britain. He then traveled by rail to Livingstone then Lusaka opening the country to the Faith, and he took seven lessons per week in Chinyanza shortly after arriving so that he would be able to speak to the locals. He worked for the Government Public Works Department in Livingstone, and later moved to Kitwe to work for the Department travelling throughout the Copperbelt training workers.

In 1955 Eric met Jessie Frankson, a nurse working in Luanshya, and they were married in October that year. In 1956 they moved to Fisenge and began operating a small farm, selling goods in Luanshya, while Eric continued to work as an electrician. Jessie had an adopted daughter and they lived as a family with Eric and his son. In 1956 the Manton's helped the local Baháʼís of Fisenge to construct the first Haziratu'l-Quds in Zambia in their village.

In 1962 the Mantons visited the North Western Province of Northern Rhodesia, and they advised the National Spiritual Assembly of South and West Africa that there was receptivity in the area, resulting in teaching in the area taking place which resulted in one thousand Baháʼís in the region by 1963, with the Mantons doing much of the teaching work. In 1964 Eric was elected to the inaugural National Spiritual Assembly of South Central Africa, and he served on the body until 1967 when the independent National Spiritual Assembly of Zambia was formed which he was elected to, and he served on that body until 1976. He was also re-elected to the body intermittently up until 1982. In 1973 he became a Zambian citizen.

In 1984 Eric passed in his sleep. The Universal House of Justice conveyed the following message after his passing:

DEEPLY GRIEVED PASSING FAITHFUL SERVANT DEDICATED PROMOTER FAITH ERIC MANTON. HIS OVER THREE DECADES OF DEVOTED SERVICE ON AFRICAN SOIL UNFORGETTABLE. CONVEY ALL MEMBERS HIS DEAR FAMILY LOVING SYMPATHY. PRAYING HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS RADIANT SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. ADVISE REQUEST ALL ASSEMBLIES ZAMBIA HOLD MEMORIAL GATHERINGS TO HONOUR HIS NAME

References

• Obituary published in Bahá'í World, Vol. 19, pp 647-649