Mary Slessor was a Scottish missionary to Nigeria in the late 1800s. She was born into poverty and began working in mills at a young age. After converting to Christianity, she felt called to missionary work. She went to Nigeria and advocated for the end of practices like killing twins and slavery. Over her lifetime, she established many schools and churches, helped convert many people to Christianity, and gained respect from the local communities as a judge and advocate. She persevered through illness and hardships to improve lives in Calabar.

1. Mary Slessor
Missionary to Nigeria
(1848-1915)
By Dr. Peter Hammond

4. Mary Slessor
Missionary to Nigeria
(1848-1915)

5. Raised in Poverty
Mary Slessor was born, the second of seven children, into a poor and
troubled home in Scotland. Although her mother was deeply religious,
her father was a violent drunkard,
who brought the family to abject poverty, fear and misery.

6. Their one-roomed home had no water, lighting or toilet and
hardly any furniture. Mary slept on the floor. Mary’s older
brother died, leaving her as the oldest surviving child.

7. When her father died, the
burden of supporting
her family fell
upon her young shoulders.
At 10 Mary began work as a
half-timer, spending half her
time at school and half her
time at the mill.

8. At 14 years Mary began working full time - a 58 hour week
at the looms. However, her mother ensured that
Mary went to Church every Sunday.

9. Conversion
Mary was frightened into the Kingdom of
God by an old widow who warned her of
the dangers of hell fire. Horror seized her
and she could not sleep
until she came to repentance and faith.

10. Called to
Missions
Mary became a tireless
Sunday school teacher,
who gave herself
completely to working in
a mission to the slums
around the Church
that she attended.

11. Her mother’s interest in
missions, her memory
of her older brother
(who had often spoken
of becoming a
missionary) and the
death of a younger
brother (who also had
been dedicated to
becoming a missionary
in Africa) led Mary to
wonder if it was
possible that she could
take her brother’s
place! At that time
single women in
missions were unheard
of.

12. In 1874, the news of
the death of David
Livingstone settled
the matter for her.

13. Training
In 1876, Mary left home in Dundee for missionary training in Edinburgh.
The United Presbyterian Church appointed Mary as a missionary
teacher and she was assigned to a mission station in Calabar
(in present day Nigeria).

14. Evangelising Animists
The tribes amongst whom Mary was sent were animists who
worshipped the sky, sun and rain, and the spirits of the rocks, rivers and
trees. Enslaving people of other tribes was an accepted
and entrenched practice.

15. Enthusiastic
Soul Winner
Mary was enthusiastic and impatient, finding
the progress of work at the
established mission station far too slow.

16. She ached for more
demanding tasks, and was
reputed to have climbed every
tree in the region! Frequent
illnesses, and attacks of fever,
which almost took her life on
several occasions, did not
seem to diminish her zeal for
winning souls for Christ. Mary
maintained a cheerful faith.

17. Missionary to Calabar
Mary was assigned to a mission station at the Old
Town on the East bank of the Calabar River.
The people in this area were utterly degraded.

18. Amongst the many things
which horrified Mary was
the practice of killing twins:
“A woman who gave birth to
twins was regarded with
horror. The belief was that
the father of one of the
infants was an evil spirit,
and that the mother had
been guilty of a great sin to
bear twins.

19. At least one of the children was believed to be a monster, and so twins
were seized, their backs were broken, they were crushed into a calabash
or water pot and taken out – not by the doorway, but by a hole broken in
the back wall, which was at once built up again, and thrown into the
bush, where they were left to be eaten by insects and wild beasts!”
Mary’s fierce, red-headed passion raged against this
massacre of innocents.

20. The Loss of Her
Family
While Mary was
desperately ill in 1883, a
sister died in Scotland.
Mary then received news
of her mother’s death,
soon followed by news
of the death of another
sister in Devon.

21. These were dark and difficult
days for Mary. “Home” no
longer existed. She threw
herself even more
wholeheartedly into serving
her new adopted family
in Calabar.

22. A Simple
Lifestyle
For practicality, she cut
her hair short,
abandoned all Western
comforts and Western
food (except for tea as
her only “luxury”) and
went about barefoot!

23. Ministering to Body, Mind and Spirit
Mary moved to Creek Town, where she began caring for the many
abandoned children. She was constantly interrupted by people coming
to her for help. The sick needing treatment, the hungry seeking food
and those with disputes seeking her counsel to bring about resolution.

24. Mary set up schools in Ekenge and Ifako. Soon churches were built
alongside the school houses.
Amidst rampant witchcraft, drunkenness and immorality, Mary
undertook much of the manual work of constructing the school and
church buildings herself, as well as the daily tasks of education and
evangelism.

25. Mary served as a teacher and nurse, dispensing medicines and
conducting four services each Sunday, walking many miles each day.

26. Healing Bodies and Saving Lives
Once when
instructed to heal a
dying chief, Mary
knew that if she
failed she would be
blamed for his death.
First she got rid of all
the witchcraft charms
and sacrificed
chickens, then she
prayed and gave the
chief good medicine
and nursed him back
to health.

27. His wives were particularly
grateful as they would have
otherwise been killed and
buried with the chief.
They were keen to learn about
“the Book”.

28. The Harvest is
Large and the
Workers are Few
A report of Mary’s pioneer
exploits in the Missionary
Herald prompted a young
Scottish carpenter, Charles
Ovens, to come out to Africa
to help her
with the carpentry.
His arrival was a great
encouragement
and practical help.

29. Missions Above
Marriage
In 1891, during her furlough in
Scotland, Mary was courted by
Charles Morrison
and became engaged.
However, when Mary realised that
her marriage would mean settling
in Scotland and not returning to
Calabar, she broke off
the engagement
and returned to Africa.

30. Mother of all
the People
At this point the British
government recognised
that Mary Slessor
enjoyed an unparalleled
trust from the local
people who called her
Eko Kpukpro Owa -
Mother of All the
People - and appointed
her as a Consular Agent.

31. Later she was promoted to being Vice-President of the Itu Native Court.
All the public affairs of the Okoyong were conducted through her. She
presided over court cases and ensured that justice was served.

32. Confronting Witchdoctors
On one occasion as a woman
was spread-eagled on the
ground to have boiling oil
poured on her, Mary boldly
intervened and physically
prevented the witchdoctor
from harming his victim.

33. The people were
astounded at
her courage in
confronting chiefs and
witchdoctors - and
that she survived!
They concluded that it
was the power of
her God which
protected her.

34. Consular Agent of the Crown
Mary was held in the highest respect by the local people, although the
British government would not have approved if they had known of the
extent to which she went in her court cases.

35. Mary never let legal technicalities get in the way of fairness.
One plaintiff, while having his suit upheld against another,
was punished for not treating his mother properly, failing to
maintain adequate hygiene and for neglecting his farm!

36. Converting Cannibals
Mary was seldom free from illness. When the population moved, she
moved with them. In 1903, Mary had the joy of seeing the first seven
young Christians baptised, and the first Communion service held.

37. Shortly afterwards she moved to the Itu, which was notorious as a
market place for slavery, and where cannibalism was still practised. Soon
she had gathered a congregation of 300 and established a school with
68 pupils.

38. Perseverance
Despite illness and discouragements, Mary was tireless in her hard work
and pioneering of mission stations, schools and churches.
Fever and sickness constantly afflicted her until in February 1915,
at the age of 66, she went to be with the Lord.

39. A Legacy of
Liberty
Because of her efforts,
many schools and
churches had been
established, the killing of
twins ceased, slave
trading in Calabar was
eradicated, drunkenness,
killing and witchcraft
diminished and most of
the people of Calabar
came to embrace the
Gospel of Christ.

41. “Those who are
wise shall shine
like the brightness
of the firmament,
and those who
turn many to
righteousness
like the stars
forever and ever.”
Daniel 12:3

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