Arthur Shearly Cripps

Cinderella in the South (Dodo Press) Arthur Shearly Cripps

Arthur Shearly Cripps (1869-1952) was an English Anglican priest, who spent most of his life in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), a short story writer, and a poet. He became a missionary for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, intending to work in Mashonaland, after reading criticism of the methods of Cecil Rhodes. From 1902 he had a parish near Enkeldoorn (now known as Chivhu) in what was then Southern Rhodesia. He was in conflict with the British South Africa Company over land distribution, taking the side of the African population. He was given the Shona name Mpandi, or 'the man who walks like thunder'. After more than 20 years he returned to England for a time after a quarrel with the British administration; but went back shortly for the rest of his life, having in 1927 published Africa for Africans, on the land issue. His works include: Titania and Other Poems (1900), Primavera: Poems by Four Authors (1900), The Black Christ (1902), Magic Casements (1905), Bay-Tree Country (1913) and Cinderella in the South (1918).