Hero of the Faith….


Mary Slessor 1848 – 1915 Intrepid missionary Commemorated 11th January


Headstrong, selfless, unconventional, courageous and committed are just a few of the words that can be used to describe Mary Slessor. At a time when women were expected to marry, have children and be in the home, Mary chose an altogether different path dedicating her life to missionary work in what was to become Nigeria. In the process she ventured where no white man, let alone a white woman, had gone before. She saved many lives by opposing barbaric ritualistic practices and by adopting large numbers of children.


Born in Aberdeen, Mary’s impoverished family moved to


Dundee when she was eleven and Mary began as a ‘half-timer’ in a local textile mill. Her father was a shoemaker who had succumbed to alcoholism. It was through her mother, a great supporter of the missionary work of the United Presbyterian Church, that she developed an interest in this field. Mary took as her role model David Livingstone and was inspired to go to West Africa on reading an appeal written by him, for missionaries to continue his work, which was published alongside his obituary.


Thus it was that at the age of twenty eight Mary set sail for Calabar, a region formerly


at the heart of the West African slave trade which had been known as the ‘White Man’s Grave’. She proved a ready pupil in learning Efik, the local language, and was delighted when she was allowed to set up a mission hut of her own in Old Town, well away from the tea parties and socialising enjoyed by the other British women. Always unconventional, Mary thought nothing of going barefoot through the jungle. But at the core of her mission work were the traditional elements of ‘Book’ (education), medicine and preaching.


In time she went ‘up country’ to the Okoyong district, a swampy area beset by local


infighting where ritual killings and witchcraft were commonplace. Mary never hesitated to intervene when there were lives she could save and her courage, along with her success in healing, helped her to win the respect of the local people. One of the practices she found abhorrent was the killing of twins; something that happened because of a belief that the devil must have fathered one child. Mary once told a Reuter’s correspondent that she had saved over fifty pairs of twins, several of which she adopted.


Mary made the Calabar region her home and later became a Vice-Consul, helping to


implement Southern Nigeria’s transition to a British Protectorate. She was the first woman to appear on a Scottish banknote.


Mary Slessor never waivered in her Christian beliefs, building new mission houses


wherever she went. Her courage stemmed from the knowledge that she was doing God’s work – a note in her handwriting in her Bible reads, ‘God and one are always a majority’.


Christeen Malan (source material: Robertson, Elizabeth: Mary Slessor: The Barefoot Missionary 2008 ) 9


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