Of his latest article about Scottish missionaries, Paul James-Griffiths of Christian Heritage Edinburgh writes, “This week’s article is about a remarkably courageous Scottish woman called Minnie Watson. Most people have never heard about her, but her story deserves to be told.“

Sometimes in history significant people remain hidden in the shadows of a more popular personality. Such was the case of Minnie Cumming Watson (1867-1949), a missionary to Kenya, who was eclipsed by Mary Slessor, who also came from Dundee. About ten years ago I asked church ministers in Edinburgh whether they had ever heard of Minnie Watson; not one had. The only reason I came across her was because I was researching Scottish missionaries on the internet, and found an inspiring article about her in the BBC News.

Minnie Cumming was a teacher from Dundee who sensed a strong calling from God to go as a missionary to Africa. Having met Revd Thomas Watson, also a fellow Dundonian, she followed his mission work in Kenya with great interest. Thomas Watson was part of a team of six who arrived in Kenya in 1891, whose vision was to establish churches through the East Africa Scottish Mission, and bring education, healthcare and industrial training to the locals. After an abortive attempt to pioneer a mission base at Kibwezi, about 260 miles from Mombasa, the team moved to Kikuyu and bought 30 acres of land. This Thogoto Mission (1898), which began as a camp, proved to be successful, and in 1899 Thomas Watson travelled to Mombasa to meet his fiancée, Minnie Cumming. They were married there on 18 December at the Church Missionary Society base.

The faith of the newly-wedded couple was soon to be severely tested. Arriving in Kikuyu she was met immediately by a people devastated by famine and disease. There had been terrible locust plagues between 1894 and 1896, which had destroyed most of the crops. This was followed on its heels by a dreadful drought since 1897, and Rinderpest had also decimated the cattle. Day and night the Watsons poured out their lives with the mission team, providing rice for the starving masses. On 8 January 1900, a smallpox epidemic exploded in the area. Everywhere they travelled they saw piles of rotting corpses; there were so many that the hyenas and wild beasts could not cope with them. As if this was not enough, Thomas, worn out with years of his exertions, also took sick and died of pneumonia, less than a year after they had been married. Minnie, a mourning widow of 32, was left to run the Thogoto Mission.

It would have been understandable if Minnie had fled her African nightmare, back to the comfort of a loving family in Dundee, but she resolutely stood her ground and gave her all for Christ and the people, whom she came to love as her own. At this time the people saw her standing with them and sharing in their intense suffering, so that a deep bond of love grew between them. They affectionately called her Bibi na Ngambi, Lady of the Camps.

In 1901 the Church of Scotland took over the work and Dr Clement Ruffelle Scott from the Blantyre Mission in Nyasaland was sent to lead. This meant that Minnie could focus on teaching and evangelism. By 1920 there were over 3,000 students in her schools and she trained up local teachers who would train up others. Many of these teachers and students were converted to Christ, so that the church began to grow rapidly as they spread the good news of Christ in all the local villages.

During the next phase of church growth, the Presbyterian Christians in Kikuyu started to hit difficulties. Minnie insisted that girls should have the equal opportunity to be educated, but most parents were against this. They feared that they might lose their daughters’ dowries, which were an important form of income in an impoverished culture. The root of the problem was female circumcision, the rite of a woman’s passage in this culture. The Christians found it cruel, harmful and dangerous, but when they opposed it, the locals complained that they were interfering with their customs. The result was that parents started taking away their children from the schools so that the numbers were depleted by almost 85% in this period. Many village schools closed altogether. However, people began to gradually reject female circumcision as the Christians took their stand. By 1931 onwards the church not only bounced back, but began to explode in growth in the ensuing years.

In 1931 Minnie retired from her work in Kenya after passing through many ordeals, and died in 1949 in Dundee. Her ashes were taken back and buried alongside her husband Thomas in the graveyard of the Church of the Torch, Thogoto, where an inscription on the headstone reads: “Aria marehire utheri wa Ngai Kikuyu” (they brought the light of God to the Kikuyu people).

The BBC News article of 23 March 2017 is entitled, Church missionary Minnie Watson inspires millions in Kenya.  In the article Professor David Ngugi spoke about the “big impact” the Scottish missionaries had on the 3.5 million Kenyan people who see Minnie Watson as their spiritual mother. Their legacy is a network of schools, including Alliance Schools, hospitals and a university, and the first President of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, was educated through one of Minnie’s schools. “They were very focused in spreading the Gospel and education because at that time Kenya was regarded as the dark continent,” Professor Ngugi said. “The missionaries planted several schools, improved health by setting up hospitals and fought poverty by starting agricultural industries. Many people in Kenya have benefited from that legacy and the impact of Minnie Watson still lives on.”