Mary Moffat Livingstone


Mary Livingstone was the wife of the Scottish Congregationalist missionary David Livingstone.
Her father, Robert Moffat, was a Scottish Congregationalist missionary who worked among the Bechuana people at Kuruman.

Biography

Mary Moffat was the first of ten children born to Robert Moffat, a Scottish missionary and his wife Mary. Mary was born in Griquatown, about 93 miles north of Kimberley. She spent her early life at Kuruman. From 1839 to 1843 she lived in Britain with her parents. When the family returned to South Africa, she taught in the school at Kuruman where she met David Livingstone.
She married Livingstone in January 1845, despite her mother's disapproval. The couple lived initially in Mabotsa before moving to Chonuane and then onto Kolobeng, North West Province. She accompanied Livingstone on his two journeys across the Kalahari desert in 1849 and 1850. Her fourth child was born shortly after returning from the first of these journeys and died only weeks later. Her fifth child was born on their second journey, delivered by her husband. She did not go on Livingstone's first expedition to the Zambezi, 1853–1856, because she lived in Britain for four years for the sake of the children's education and safety - travelling across a desert with small children, not enough water, no fruit or vegetables and sickness due to malaria was unsustainable. In 1852 Mary returned to Scotland with her 4 children but staying with relatives proved difficult. After several moves she eventually moved to Kendal where she lived with Charles and Susanna Braithwaite who were evangelical Quakers and supporters of the London Missionary Society. Dr Livingstone and Mary's parents were missionaries of this society. When Livingstone returned to England a national hero he stayed with the Braithwaites on a number of occasions. Livingstone joined her in Britain from 1856 to 1858. In 1858 she returned to Africa to accompany Livingstone on the official "Zambezi Expedition" but became pregnant again and left the expedition to go to her parents' home in Kuruman for the birth of the new child. She and the child soon returned to Britain.

Children

Mary and David had 6 children:
  1. Robert 1845
  2. Agnes, born in 1847, who married Alexander Low Bruce in 1875, and died in 1912.
  3. Thomas 1848
  4. Elizabeth 1850
  5. William Oswell, born in 1851, married Catherine Jane Anderson in 1875, and died in 1892.
  6. Anna Mary, born in 1858, married Frank Wilson in 1881, and died in 1939.

    Death

Returning to Africa she met Livingstone at the mouth of the Zambezi, but fell ill from malaria in the camp at Shupanga and died there 3 months later on 27 April 1862.