Alexander Mackay – Missionary Hero of Uganda

Alexander Mackay [1849-1890] was a Scottish pioneer engineer missionary to Uganda and worked with the Church Missionary Society. John Roxboxborough notes that: “Mackay’s spiritual depth and practical skills were popularized by his sister’s biography and admired for generations.” [Evangelical Dictionary of World Missions, 589]. This biography written by Andrew Melrose [1836-1901], who also wrote under the name E.A. MacDonald, and is in the Public Domain.

Andrew Melrose [1836-1901], Alexander Mackay. Missionary Hero of Uganda. London: Sunday School Union, n.d. Hbk. pp.144. [Download entire book in PDF]

Contents

1. A Good Beginning
2. Chossing His Life Work
3. On African Soil
4. Dangers and Difficulties
5. A Visit to Lkonge
6. Arrival at Uganda
7. King Mtesa
8. Disappointment
9. Labour and Results
10. Strange Tasks
11. Building the ‘Eleanor’
12. King Mwanga
13. Uganda Martyrs
14. Good-bye to Uganda
15. Friends and Fellow-workers
16. Last Days
    

Preface by The Rev. T. C. Wilson (C.M.S.)

It was in the early part of 1876 that I made the acquaintance of A. M. Mackay, when, having offered for the mission to Uganda, I went up to London to meet those who were to be my fellow-missionaries in the ‘Dark Continent.’ He sailed before me to Zanzibar, but we met again / there for a short time. Then I left the coast with our first caravan, and a long time was to elapse before we were to see each other again.

Two years passed; Lieutenant Smith and Mr. O’Neill had been murdered in December 1877, when in the summer of 1878, having been nearly a year alone in Uganda, I heard from Mackay that he was sending up some stores to Kagei (at the southern end of the Nyanza) in charge of a native. Mtesa allowed me to go to meet this man, and after a voyage of more than a month in native canoes, one evening a point near Kagei came in sight. The canoe-men were weary, and wanted to stop for the night where we were; ‘it was too far,’ ‘it was getting dark,’ ‘they did not know the bay.’ I over-came their scruples, took a paddle and guided the canoes. [Continue reading]