David livingstone history

Geographer and missionary in Africa

Livingstone began work in the local cotton mill at the age of ten but attended the mill school from eight until ten o’clock each evening and achieved university entrance qualifications.

He attended the Andersonian Medical School in Glasgow while working in the mill for part of the year to support himself. He was accepted for service by the London Missionary Society (LMS) and in went to London for theological training while continuing his medical studies there.

He returned to Glasgow only to take his medical final exams.

A speech by Robert Moffat, his future father-in-law, persuaded him that Africa was where he should serve. After his ordination in London, he sailed for Cape Town and arrived in March He served for a time under Robert Moffat among the Tswana, in whose language he was soon fluent, and in married Moffat’s daughter Mary.

He was determined to bring the gospel to the free peoples beyond the white-dominated south.