Last week we visited the birth place of Dr. David Livingstone at Blantyre, which is just 20 miles from our home here in Glasgow, Scotland. There is a beautiful Memorial Museum there which in recent times has been completely refurbished, and faithfully records the life and times of Livingstone.
It’s not surprising then that this also brought to my mind a visit we made with my son and daughter in law to Bagamoyo in Tanzania during one of our African travels. So before sharing with you something of the Memorial Museum, there follows a few photographs of our trip to Bagamoyo. This town was once considered to be the capital of Tanzania, a centre of business and commerce, strategically placed on the East African coast. David Livingstone’s body was brought here by his faithfull African friends and companions after his death on the southern shore of Lake Bangweolu on the 1st May 1873, he was aged sixty. They had carried their friend and colleague more than a thousand miles over a period of nine months, so that he could be transported back to his home country for burial in Westminstter Abbey, London.
Sadly this port was used by Arab slave traders who brought caravans of slaves from the interior to be shipped to the slave market in Zanzibar. It is estimated that 50,000 young and old African men and women were shipped from here every year over a number of decades, amounting to an approximately 1.5 million souls, not counting those who died on the way. It was a sobering experience walking around that place.
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THE BLANTYRE MEMORIAL MUSEUM is set on the banks of the river Clyde, surrounded by open fields, and paths, and the old mill houses have been remarkably well preserved, one end of the row forming the museum on three levels with lift access. There are modern toilet facilities in the museum, and on site, also a shop and restaurant. This place is well worth a visit, with plenty of space for a group outing and for children to play. Entrance prices are very competitive and can be checked on line.
David Livingstone, one of Scotland’s famous sons was the second child of Neil and Agnes Livingstone, and was born on the 19th March 1813. He was of humble birth and had six siblings, but grew up knowing the love and discipline of good Christian parents in a happy home. At the age of ten, he was sent to work at the local cotton mill, first as a piercer and then as a spinner. At the age of twenty he made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ after readng Dick’s “Philosophy of a Future State”. He said ‘I saw the duty and inestimable privilege immediately to accept salvation by Christ‘. This experience determined the course of his life.
Livingstone had a great love of reading, and this opened up the world to him. He is said to have read all sorts of books that came into his hands, but especially books on travel and missionary enterprise. By the age of 23 years, he was studying theology and medicine at Glasgow University and by September 1838, had been provisionally accepted by the London Missionary Society. After further studies in England, he returned to Glasgow in November 1840, and passed at Glasgow as a licentiate of the faculty of physicians and surgeons. During that same month he was ordained a missionary at Albion Street Chapel, and the following month he set sail for Capetown in South Africa. Here are some photos from within the museum.
This Memorial Museum is well worth a visit if you are ever in Scotland, I suggest it be one for your bucket list!
Thirty three years later on his last expedition in search of the source of the river Nile, he penned his last journal entry. This was just a few weeks before his death, he wrote “Nothing earthly will make me give up my work in despair. I encourage myself in the Lord my God, and go forward”. 25 March 1873.
During his 33 years in Africa it is estimated that Livingstone walked 29,000 miles crisscrossing a third of the African continent. The map below shows some of his most famous missionary / explorational expeditions.
Journeys of Dr. David Livingstone:
- Capetown 1852 – For their safety his family returns to UK. and Livingstone to Lynyanti.
- November 1853 he departs on his expedition to Luanda, and arrives 1854.
- September 1854 he returns to Lynyanti.
- November 1855 Livingstone departs on an expedition to the East Coast, and on route becomes the first European to witness the magnificent Zambezi waterfall, which he named the ‘Victoria Falls’
- May 1856 he successfully arrives at Quelimane on the East Coast
- Sadly David’s loving wife and fellow worker Mary (nee Moffat), who had returned to be with her husband in Africa died of malaria on 27 April 1862 aged 41, and was buried at Shupanga.
- Between 1866 – 1873 David’s last expedition in search of the source of the Nile, took him around Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika. On this journey he had his meeting with Stanley, who on finding him famously said ‘Doctor Livingstone I presume‘.
- May 1st 1873, He died on the southern shore of Lake Bangweolu.
Things people have said of him:
Mr Young lecturer at Glasgow said – Livingstone was the best man he ever knew, he had more than any other man of true filial trust in God, more of the Spirit of Christ, more of integrity, purity, and sismplicity of character, and of self denying love for his fellow men”.
Hildebrandt J – ‘Apparently he did not know fear and inspite of periods of gloom, he was generally hopeful and had a quiet humour. He had an indomitable will power which propelled a body often racked by fever. He was skilful in dealing with people and was a keen and accurate observer.’
What he said about himself at Cambridge University in 1857 – ‘…people talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can it be called a sacrifice which is simply paid back as a small part of a great debt owing to our God? ”’ it is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege.
Others of course have been critical, but it’s relatively easy to be critical with hindsight. Livingstone was not to know of the excesses to which future colonialists would go in their exploitation of Africa.
His writing of papers, his speeches back home, and his book ‘Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa’ highlighted amongst other things the needs of Africa. Particularly however was his horror of the slave trade. When confronting Arab slave traders in Tanganyika he wrote –‘This is a den of the worst of slave traders … they are the vilest of the vile. It is not a trade, but a system of consecutive murders; they go to plunder and kidnap, and every trading trip is nothing but a foray”. His last recorded words are these – “All I can say in my solitude is this, “May Heaven’s rich blessing come down on everyone – American, English, Turk – who will help to heal this open sore of the world”. Almost within a month of his death the slave market in Zanzibar was closed forever.
When David Livingstone applied to the London Missionary Society he stated at the start of his career his ideas of a Missionary’s work. He wrote “The missionary’s object is to endeavour by every means in his power to make known the Gospel by preaching, exhortation, conversation, instruction of the young; improving so far as is in his power, the temporal condition of those amongst whom he labours, by introducing the arts and sciences of civilisation, and doing everything to commend Christianity to their hearts and consciences. This extraordinary man, by God’s grace and help, and by his inspiration, accomplished through his work and writings nearly all of this to the Glory of God and the blessing of Africa’s peoples.
1 May 1873
I hope the above photos and paragraphs have been enough to encourage you to visit the Blantyre Memorial if you live in the UK, or are on a visit here. If not you may wish to read one of the many books on Doctor David Livingstone which are readily available . I acknowledge their value here, as I have drawn on some of these invaluable resources when compiling this short blog.
It would be lovely to think of slavery as a thing of the past, but have you ever stopped to consider that slavery is still a problen in almost every country in the world today? Current estimates mention a figure of 50 million worldwide. In the UK a recent government report from the Home Affairs Committee on Human Trafficking was submitted to the government. In that, it mentions that the potential victims of modern slavery has increased substantially. There were 16,938 referrals in 2022, five times as many as the 3,263 referrals in 2015 when the Modern Slavery Act was passed. Nonetheless it has been estimated that there are at least 100,000 victims of modern slavery and human trafficking in the UK.
I felt aghast reading these statistics, just to think of the depth of human misery, exploitation and suffering that these statistics represent, and to think that they almost certainly describe situations happening in the city of Glasgow or even within a short distance from my own doorstep. It is at least heartening to know the government are trying to do something about it. But one thing it surely proves is that the human heart has not basically changed throughout the centuries. We don’t need to start by pointing the fingure at anyone else, we all know our own heart and mind. But hallelujah, there is a Saviour – Jesus, and it’s great to accept His invitation to come to Him in repentence and faith.. Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed”. John 8:34-36.
Today in Glasgow we had the first snow of the season, so we are endeavouring to keep warm. But wherever you are be blessed, and spread the word. Last night I was listening to people speaking of how Jesus had set them free from sin here in Glasgow. Some amazing stories.
Matthew
Matthew McKinnon's Blog 