Mary Slessor, the Scottish missionary, was born on this day in 1848 in Aberdeen.
The family moved to Dundee where Mary, the daughter of a shoemaker, found work in the jute mills at the age of 11. Having brought up her siblings following her father's premature death, Slessor applied to the Foreign Mission Board of the United Presbyterian Church for a posting to West Africa. Slessor's work as a missionary in Nigeria took her remote regions unvisited by white men. Horrified at the ritual slaughter of babies by the indigenous people, Slessor adopted many children. She herself was eventually adopted by the local tribe, who called her "ma", and protected her from the pitfalls of jungle life.
