MARY SLESSOR and her hidden Facts
(Mary Slessor was born on 2 December 1848 in Gilcomston, Aberdeen, Scotland in a poor working-class family. She was the second of seven children of Robert and Mary Slessor. Her father, originally from Buchan, was a shoemaker by trade. In 1859, the family moved to Dundee in search of work. Robert Slessor was an alcoholic and, unable to keep up shoemaking, took a job as a labourer in a mill. Her mother, a skilled weaver, also went to work in the mills. At the age of eleven, Mary 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. The Slessors lived in the slums of Dundee. Before long, Mary’s father died of pneumonia, and both her brothers also died, leaving behind only Mary, her mother, and two sisters. By age fourteen, Mary had become a skilled jute worker, working from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. with just an hour for breakfast and lunch. Slessor developed an in