He was first elected to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles in 1933 and served continuously until 1960, when he retired in order to devote his whole time to the work of the Hands of the Cause. He served at the World Centre, and travelled to South America and throughout Canada in 1961. Mr. Balyuzi was Secretary of the first Summer School Committee in 1936, on the National Teaching Committee in 1940 and Chairman of the National Assembly almost every year from 1942 until his retirement. He was elevated to the rank of Hand of the Cause in 1957, and has made invaluable contributions to the literature of the Faith with his trilogy, “Bahá’u’lláh”, “‘Abdu’l-Bahá” and “The Báb”; his “Edward Granville Browne and the Bahá’í Faith”, his pamphlet on “Bahá’í Administration”, and “Mu?ammad and the Course of Islám”. (See page 490)
FRANK HURST
An early worker in the Trade Union Movement in Britain, Frank was an outspoken sympathiser of the Faith for over twenty years before actually accepting it in Bradford in 1939. He died in Leeds in 1949.
MRS. MARY BASIL-HALL (PARVINE)
Daughter of Lady Blomfield, she was active in the Faith from her youth, particularly during the visit to Britain of the Master Whom she served with such devotion, and Who bestowed upon her the name “Parvine” on His first visit in 1911. She served for five years on the National Spiritual Assembly and for a short time on the National Teaching Committee of the Six Year Plan. At her passing the National Assembly cabled the Guardian, “PARVINE GLORIED IN SUCCESS PLAN PASSED TO ABHÁ KINGDOM MORNING 28TH” (April 1950).