10 Facts About Marion Stevenson

Marion Scott Stevenson was a Scottish missionary with the Church of Scotland Mission in British East Africa from 1907 until 1929.

Marion Stevenson established and ran a girls' school, which became Tumutumu Girls' High School, taught sewing, knitting and hygiene, worked in the hospital, trained teachers, and helped to translate the Bible.

Marion Stevenson was born in Forfar, Scotland, to Agnes Barron and her husband, Robert Marion Stevenson.

Marion Stevenson attended John Watson's Institution and the Ministers' Daughters College in Edinburgh.

In 1892 and 1906 Marion Stevenson attended lectures by Clement Scott on missionary work in Africa; Scott was related to Marion Stevenson's father's first wife.

Marion Stevenson subsequently applied, in 1907, for a job in Kikuyu with the Church of Scotland Mission.

Marion Stevenson was known as Nyamacaki or Namachecki, which her biographer, I G Scott, interpreted as "one who possesses many cheques" or "the one who lost a cheque-book" in the Kikuyu language.

Marion Stevenson acquired the name, Scott wrote in 1932, when her chequebook was stolen and she refused to give evidence against the suspected thief, who had worked in her home.

Marion Stevenson was thought to have eaten Chief Kariuki, who died in Tumutumu Hospital in 1915.

Marion Stevenson taught Raheli Warigia, the mother of Gakaara wa Wanjau, the Kikuyu writer.