39 Facts About Mary Slessor

Mary Mitchell Slessor was a Scottish Presbyterian missionary to Nigeria.

Once in Nigeria, Slessor learned Efik, one of the numerous local languages, then began teaching.

Mary Slessor is most famous for her role in helping to stop the common practice of infanticide of twins in Okoyong, an area of Cross River State, Nigeria.

Mary Mitchell Slessor was born on 2, December 1848 in Gilcomston, Aberdeen, Scotland, to a poor working-class family who could not afford proper education.

Mary Slessor was the second of seven children of Robert and Mary Slessor.

Mary Slessor's father, originally from Buchan, was a shoemaker by trade.

Mary Slessor's mother was born in Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire, and was a deeply religious woman.

Robert Mary Slessor was an alcoholic and, unable to keep up shoemaking, took a job as a labourer in a mill.

Mary Slessor's mother was a skilled weaver and went to work in the mills.

At the age of eleven, Mary Slessor began work as a "half-timer" in the Baxter Brothers' Mill, meaning she spent half of her day at a school provided by the mill owners and the other half working for the company.

Mary Slessor's mother was a devout Presbyterian who read each issue of the Missionary Record, a monthly magazine published by the United Presbyterian Church to inform members of missionary activities and needs.

Mary Slessor developed an interest in religion, and when a mission was instituted in Quarry Pend, she wanted to teach.

Mary Slessor started her mission at the age of 27, upon hearing that David Livingstone, the famous missionary and explorer, had died.

Mary Slessor decided then that she wanted to follow in his footsteps.

Mary Slessor was warned that they believed in traditional West African religion and had superstitions about women giving birth to twins.

Mary Slessor lived in the missionary compound for three years, working first in the missions in Old Town and Creek Town.

Mary Slessor wanted to go deeper into Calabar, but contracted malaria and was forced to return to Scotland to recover, leaving Calabar for Dundee in 1879.

Since Mary Slessor assigned a large portion of her salary to support her mother and sisters in Scotland, she economised by eating the native food.

Issues Mary Slessor confronted as a young missionary included the lack of Western education, as well as widespread human sacrifice at the death of a village elder, who, it was believed, required servants and retainers to accompany him into the next world.

Mary Slessor then returned to an area farther away from central Calabar, from the areas which had already eliminated the more heathen practices.

Mary Slessor saved hundreds of twins out of the bush, where they had been left either to starve to death or to be eaten by animals.

Mary Slessor helped heal the sick and stop the practice of determining guilt by making the suspects drink poison.

Mary Slessor was a driving force behind the establishment of the Hope Waddell Training Institute in Calabar, which provided practical vocational training to Efiks.

Mary Slessor thought her teachings, and the fact she was a woman, would be less threatening to unreached tribes.

For 15 years, Mary Slessor lived with the Okoyong and the Efik people.

Mary Slessor learned to speak the native Efik language, and made close personal friendships wherever she went, becoming known for her pragmatism and humour.

Mary Slessor lived a simple life in a traditional house with Efiks.

Mary Slessor continued her focus on evangelism, settling disputes, encouraging trade, establishing social changes and introducing Western education.

Mary Slessor left the area of Calabar and moved further in to Okoyong.

Mary Slessor adopted every child she found abandoned, and sent out twins' missioners to find, protect and care for them at the Mission House.

Mary Slessor once saved a pair of twins, a boy and a girl, but the boy did not survive.

Mary Slessor took the girl as her daughter and called her Janie.

Mary Slessor took Janie home to Scotland with her on at least one visit.

In 1892, Mary Slessor became vice-consul in Okoyong, presiding over the native court.

Mary Slessor's health began to suffer in her later years, but she remained in Calabar, where she died in 1915.

Mary Slessor's body was transported down the Cross River to Duke Town for the colonial equivalent of a state funeral.

In Scotland, a bust of Mary Slessor is in the Hall of Heroes of the National Wallace Monument in Stirling.

Mary Slessor was honoured on a 1997 bank note by Clydesdale Bank for the World Heritage Series and Famous Scots Series.

Main-belt asteroid 4793 Mary Slessor named to mark her centenary celebrations on 13 January 2015.