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Doctor Robert Laws

Image:Dr Robert Laws 1930.jpg Doctor Robert Laws (28 May 1851 to 6 August 1934) was a medical doctor and missionary of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland. In 1875 he joined, as medical officer, the Livingstonia Mission of the Free Church of Scotland to Lake Nyasa (now Lake Malawi). The Mission reached Lake Nyasa by steamboat from the Indian Ocean in October 1875, after an epic journey, and settled at Cape Maclear on the south western shore of the lake. Laws became head of the Mission in December 1877.. In 1881 the Mission moved to Bandawe on the western shore of the lake, 240km to the north. In 1894 Laws obtained approval for the foundation of a "Training Institution" and, after explorations, selected a suitable site on the Khondowe plateau, a further 145kms to the north and 800 metres above the lake. in the location now known as Livingstonia, Malawi.

When Dr.Laws left Nyasaland (now Malawi) for the last time in 1927, 52 years after his arrival, the Mission had established 700 schools which were educating some 40,000 pupils.

Dr. Laws was awarded honorary degrees by the University of Aberdeen in 1891 and again in 1925. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (1884) and of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (1900). Laws was created a Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG) in 1923 and received the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen in 1928 .

Laws died in London on 6th August 1934 at the age of 83. After a funeral service 10 August 1934 in St Nicholas Church, Union Grove, Aberdeen, Laws was buried in St. Machars churchyard.

Early Life

Robert Laws was born on 28 May 1851 at Mannofield, Aberdeen, to Christian Laws (nee Cruickshank) and Robert Laws (senior) an Aberdeen cabinetmaker . His mother died, of consumption, at the age of 24, when he was aged 2 . The young Laws was cared for by his grandparents at Kidshill, returning home three years later following the re marriage of his father, to Isabella Cormack. His stepmother proved strict and stern in manner The early death of his mother and the subsequent strict childhood may have influenced Laws character; he was also an only child.

Laws attended Free East Church School, Aberdeen. On Sundays he attended Sunday School at St. Nicholas Lane United Presbyterian Church, where he was taught by Miss Janet Melville whose other pupils included other successful missionaries as well as Laws' future wife, Margaret Gray.

Laws left day-school at the age of twelve and became an apprentice cabinet maker with a firm where his father was foreman. At the same age Laws was a member of a Young Mens Improvement Association; this seems to have influenced both his character and his aspirations as to his vocation.

At fifteen Laws was introduced, after a meeting he attended in Aberdeen, to a Mr. Fairbrother of the London Missionary Society. Laws told his father the next day of his desire to become a missionary and resolved to qualify as both a doctor and a minister. Tutoring was necessary and funds were made available by Miss Melville, Laws' Sunday School Teacher, for one or two hours a day whilst at the same time he continued his apprenticeship. Subsequently both father and son appear to have suffered a period of unemployment which, however, enabled Laws junior to both receive additional hours of tuition and also to return to school..

At a time before student grants, for a student without independent means, obtaining a bursary was one of the very few available ways to finance a university education. After several unsuccessful attempts, in 1869 Laws was awarded a bursary of £10 for the year to December 1870 by the United Presbyterian Church Foreign Mission Committee.. He was also awarded a four year Lady Braco bursary by Aberdeen University. Other sources of income included tutoring and part time work for his father.

Laws started his MA course at Aberdeen University in 1868 at the age of seventeen, graduating in 1872 by which time he had already covered the subjects required for his first year of medicine.

In May 1872 Laws contracted smallpox and was admitted to hospital. He had recovered by the end of June 1872 and was discharged. Whilst in hospital his application to become a candidate for the ministry was accepted by the United Presbyterian Church, Presbytery of Aberdeen.

Laws then studied simultaneously for both his medical and ministerial qualifications, for the former at Aberdeen University, Marischal College, and for the latter at the United Presbyterian Church College, Divinity Hall, in Edinburgh. Fortunately for Laws, the UP college required only two months attendance per year, during the autumn, although exercises were set for students at other times.

In October 1873, at the age of 22, Laws additionally took on the role as visitor to the Glasgow Smallpox and Fever Hospitals for the Glasgow City Mission. This role, which necessitated a move to Glasgow, not only added to Laws income, but also allowed him to develop and then demonstrate both the practical and evangelical skills that would stand him in good staid in his later years. He attended medical classes at Glasgow University and at Anderson College, Glasgow and graduated Bachelor of Medicine (MB, CM) in 1875. Two years later, as a result of his surgical and medical experience in Africa, he became an MD. 1875 was a busy year for Laws, he was also ordained, on 26th April, as a minister of the United Presbyterian Church in St. Nicholas Lane Church, Aberdeen. and also became engaged to Margaret Gray.

Background to the Mission

David Livingstone returned from his trans Africa exploration in 1856 and gave a series of lectures, including two in Cambridge. This resulted in the formation of committees to promote the Universities' Mission to Central Africa. Against this background, and Livingstone's "discovery" of Lake Nyasa in 1858, James Stewart, an Edinburgh theological student approached the Foreign Mission Committee (FMC) of the Free Church of Scotland with the idea of a missionary presence on Lake Nyasa in attempt to prevent slave traffic and also to establish Christian settlements on its shores. The Committee was not initially enthusiastic but the persistent Stewart eventually solicited funds to travel to Africa to consult David Livingstone himself on the merits of the proposal. Stewart found Livingstone on the Zambezi in 1892. Livingstone evidently recommended the Nyasa district as a suitable centre for a mission and Stewart then set about exploring the Zambezi and Shire valleys reaching a point only 50 miles from Lake Nyasa. Shortage of barter goods forced him to return to the Indian Ocean coast. By the time he arrived there he was in rags, soaked with rain, half dead with fever and penniless.. Returning to Scotland two and a half years after his departure, Stewart's project was again rebuffed by the Foreign Mission Committee, who were possibly influenced by having learnt of the disastrous failure of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa in the Shire Highlands. Stewart completed his studies and was sent by the Committee to Lovedale (South Africa).

David Livingstone died at Ilala, Zambia in May 1873. The action of his attendants in carrying his body over 1000 miles to the coast and then his funeral at Westminster Abbey in April 1874 attracted great public attention and rekindled interest in Central Africa. Dr. James Stewart, home on mission business from Lovedale, attended the funeral. A month later Stewart addressed the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland and urged them to honour Livingstone's name by setting up a mission in Central Africa. Local businessmen responded by making financial contributions - within 18 months over £10,000 had been raised. Laws appears to have heard about the project almost immediately. In June 1874, he wrote to Margaret Gray (later to become Mrs. Laws):

"Livingstonia, Ay, I thought when reading the article containing that best of suggestions that such a field would, at times, present itself to you."

In January 1875 Laws heard that his application to join the Mission had succeeded. There was a slight problem as the Free Church of Scotland were responsible for the Mission and Laws was a member of the United Presbyterian Church. However in February 1875 the Foreign Mission Committee of the UP Church agreed to second Laws to the Nyassa Mission Committee of the FC "for two years" with the UP Church using their own funds to pay Laws' salary - thus retaining his services for the future.. In May 1875, two weeks after his ordination, Laws travelled to London. On 21st May, Laws, a week before his 24th birthday, and the rest of the Mission party sailed for Cape Town on the SS Walmer Castle.

The Mission Party

Dr. James Stewart, himself heavily involved in mission work at Lovedale, proposed Edward Daniel Young RN as leader for the initial stages of the Mission. Young had seen service off the east coast of Africa, where he had been in command of anti slavery expeditions. In 1867 he had been despatched by the Admiralty to investigate rumours that David Livingstone had died. The search proved the rumours to be false and, in the course of his travels, Young had navigated the Zambesi and Shire rivers and had reached Lake Nyasa. Six years later he had attended David Livingstone's burial in Westminster Abbey. The full party comprised:

Edward Daniel Young RN – Leader
Robert Laws – Second in Command and Medical Officer
John Macfadyen – 1st Engineer and blacksmith
Allan Simpson – 2nd Engineer
George Johnston – Carpenter
Alex Riddel – Agriculturist
Willaim Baker RN - Ordinary Seaman
and
Henry Henderson – Agent of the Church of Scotland

The Ilala

With the Mission to be based on Lake Nyasa, the possession of a steamer would be essential for mission duties, including visiting communities on the lakes extensive shores, and for communications. The Zambesi and then the Shire rivers provide a connection from the Indian Ocean to the Lake, which is some 500 metres above sea level. The main difficulties for the mission party were, however, the Murchison cataracts on the Shire. (Hydroelectric power stations on these cataracts now provide Malawi with 95% of its electricty needs.)

The solution to the problem was the Ilala. Named after the place where Livingstone died, the Ilala was built for the FMC by Yarrow and Headley of Milwall, London. The steel, steam powered, vessel was 48 feet long and had a draught of 3 feet. It was constructed in sections in which it was to be shipped to the mouth of the Zambesi where it was to be assembled, sailed up the Zambesi and Shire rivers to the cataracts, disassembled, carried around the cataracts in sections, re assembled, and then sailed up the remainder of the Shire and onto the Lake.

The Mission and the Slave Trade - Directive to the Mission

The Free Church of Scotland FMC had apparently given a good deal of consideration to the best way for the Mission to eliminate slavery. It took a long term view and issued the following, clear, directive to the Mission as Article IX of its Instructions to Lake Nyasa Mission Party, under the heading Active Interference With The Slave Trade:

"On this difficult question no rule can be laid down, except this, which is absolute, and to be observed by all members of the party, that active interference by force initiated on your side is in no case to be resorted to. By showing the people in kindly, loving, conciliatory ways, that they are acting against their own interests, and destroying themselves in carrying on this trade, more will be gained in the long run, than by any armed interference with Arab caravans. It should never be forgotten that the first shot which is fired in any hostilities against Arab or native slave-dealers will do more to paralyse the varied efforts of the members of the expedition than any temporary success in the liberation of slaves can possibly counterbalance.
Fire arms were to be used only in self defence."

The Journey to Lake Nyasa

The Walmer Castle, with the party (and the Ilala) on board, reached Cape Town on 17th June 1875 where they were met by Dr. James Stewart. Stewart had chartered a 133 ton German schooner, the Harah for the leg of the journey to the mouth of the Zambesi. The Harah sailed from Cape Town on 26th June 1875 and reached the mouth of the Zambesi on 21st July, after surviving a heavy storm. Stores and the sections of the Ilala were unloaded. Assembly of vessel was completed by 10th August when the journey up the river commenced. Locally recruited African labour was used in the assembly, paid at the rate of one yard of calico a day. Laws found the workers "good workers, intelligent and honest." The party reached the bottom of the Murchison cataracts on the Shire river, on 6th September 1875 after a journey up the Zamesbi and then the Shire rivers. The voyage was made extremely difficult by the heat, mosquitoes, hippo flies, sandbanks, reed beds, collisions with hippopotami and problems locating the Shire from the Zambesi. The voyage took them past the graves of Mary Livingstone (wife of David Livingstone and that of Bishop Charles Mackenzie leader of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa.

The epic task of dismantling the Ilala and laboriously carrying all its component parts, together with all stores and supplies, more than 100km past the cataracts over the most inhospitable, wild, terrain and in the most inhospitable conditions, was begun. The party had contacted with the Makololo chiefs, with whom Livingstone had made contact years earlier. Some 600 porters were recruited and paid, once again, one yard of calico a day. The Ilala's boiler was carried on an axle and two wheels, that had been brought for the purpose. The boiler party set out on 12th September. Laws described having to scramble up and down rocky gullies, sometimes on "all fours," with the path on the edge of a precipice some 300 feet above the river "roaring below." The journey took 10 days, during which time half of the Mission party had contracted fever; but a portable steamer and some 200 packages had been carried to a point above the cataracts. According to W. P. Livingstone, the porters had toiled desperately over 70 miles of execrable country; not one had deserted as they easily might have done (and) every article had been delivered safe and unbroken. The reassembly completed, the Ilala was relaunched on 6th October and Lake Nyasa was finally reached at 6.30am on 12th October 1875.

At Cape Maclear

The Mission party, eager to establish a base before the start of the rainy season and with the approval of the local Chief M'ponda, selected the west side of Cape Maclear for their first settlement. Cape Maclear is situated near the southern end of the lake, not far from its runoff forming the Shire River. A month after arriving Young and Laws embarked on the Ilala to explore the lake. David Livingstone had estimated that the lake he named Lake Nyasa was about 200 miles long. When the Ilala reached the northern end of the lake Young and Laws were able to establish that it was, in fact, over 350 miles long. Throughout the voyage, contacts were made with the local chiefs and the locations of villages recorded. On the return journey south, a Chief Mankambra was invited on board the Ilala. The chief accepted but insisted that Laws should remain ashore with his warriors, as a hostage. Laws agreed.
Despite finding Cape Maclear an unhealthy location, tentative contacts were made with the local chiefs. In March 1876 Laws used chloroform in a, fortunately, successful operation on a man from a prominent chief's village, and also treated one of the chief's wives.
Gradually people began to visit the mission either for medical treatment or to sell food (paid for in yards of calico) and to settle around it for protection from slave traders or from the warlike Angoni.

Dr. James Stewart (see above) arrived at Cape Maclear from Lovedale (South Africa) on 21st October 1876 and took charge of the mission on 2nd November of that year when Captain Young returned home, with Laws remaining second in command.

In 1877 there were sadly three missionary deaths at Cape Maclear. Laws considered that only one of the deaths, that of Dr. William Black (newly arrived from Britain) in May 1877, to be due to the climate and malaria.

On 6th August 1877 the mission recorded to the Home Committee, the unsuitability of the site at Cape Maclear. The reasons cited were its isolated position (some distance from the nearest village,) the smallness of the area and poor soil.

Later in 1877 Laws explored the lake again in the Ilala, this time with Dr. Stewart, one objective being to look for a possible site at the northern end from which to extend mission work. The party included Willaim Koyi, a Xhosa recruited by the mission from Lovedale and able to converse with local tribes of Angoni origin together with Herbert Rhodes, the brother of Cecil Rhodes and Captain Elton, H. M. Consul in Mozambique (the latter on a hunting expedition.) Stewart noted villages stockaded as protection against slave traders.

In December 1877 Dr. Stewart returned to Lovedale, handing over the leadership of the mission to the 26 year old Laws, a position he was to hold for the next 50 years.

Medical work continued amongst the Africans, which was seen by Laws as a confidence building measure. In his report of 1877 Laws attempted to deal with the relationship between the medical and spiritual aims of the Mission: "The good we do to people's bodies they can appreciate and so are more ready to listen to the great truths we proclaim, and on returning to their villages they carry a good report of our transactions with them and so open up a way for our reception among them when we are itinerating"

1877 saw the arrival of Mr. James Stewart, an engineer and cousin of Dr. James Stewart. Mr. Stewart was to make significant contributions to the mission. who agreed to give up slaving and to allow children to attend school.

In his report for 1878 Laws classified the mission's work under six headings:

Evangelistic in which he records attendances of between 120 and 300 at Sunday services, with satellite services being held at 3 villages.
Educational with attendance at the school having risen from 29 to 65 boys and girls (girls were recorded as prize winners in August). Subjects included writing and arithmetic.
The Medical section records less fever amongst the Europeans and an increase in medical work amongst the Africans.
Carpentry - church and school construction by Africans.
Agriculture records 20 acres under cultivation.
The Journies section records the increased friendliness of those visited.
The report gives the number of Africans in residence at Cape Maclear as 327 (200 more than in 1877)

The next year, 1879, saw Laws married to his fiancée Margaret Gray, who had travelled from Scotland to Blantyre, Malawi. The ceremony took place on the premises of the Blantyre Mission; the Mission having been established by Mr. Henry Henderson, who had arrived on the Ilala with Laws in 1875. The witnesses to the marriage were Mr. James Stewart and a Dr. Macklin. On 5th September Laws and his bride arrived at Cape Maclear. Mrs. Laws became the first white woman to reside on the shores of the Lake.

It should be remembered that the land on which the Mission existed had not be appropriated by any of the colonial powers, indeed the Mission was there with the approval of the local Chief. An increasing number of Africans choose to settle at the Mission, away from the authority of their Chiefs. Laws became concerned that he was on occasions obliged to exercise "civil power," not only over indiscipline by employees of the Mission, but also over third party matters and, as a result, he is "apt to be hindered somewhat in Evangelical work." The Glasgow Committee sought to solve this by asking the British Government to establish a consular authority in the area. The Government responded that the appointment of a consul would not improve matters, as such a consul would only have authority of British Subjects; the Mission should have lay magistrates choosen by the people themselves. Laws was also informed, to his distress, that the Mission had no legal right to receive fugitive slaves and that "the only rights enjoyed by the Mission are those conceded by local Chiefs."The matter remained unresolved until 1891 when the British Governement reluctantly agreed to establish the Nyasaland Districts Protectorate (later to become the Nyasaland Protectorate.)