Mackenzie , John , 1835-1899 , missionary

Born to a devout Church of Scotland family in Knockando, Scotland, 1835; studied at Bedford; volunteered for service with the London Missionary Society (LMS), 1855; appointed to the Makololo mission, South Africa; ordained in Edinburgh, 1858; married Ellen Douglas (1835-1925); sailed to Cape Town and travelled on to Kuruman, 1858; set out with his wife for Makolololand, 1860; travelling northwards to the Zouga River, he met Roger Price (1834-1900) and heard of the disasters which had befallen Holloway Helmore's party of missionaries; travelled with Price to Lechulatebe's Town and returned to Kuruman with Helmore's two surviving children, 1860-1861; missionary to Shoshong, the town of the Bamangwato tribe, 1862; a second scheme for a mission to the Makololo also proved abortive; visited Matabeleland, 1863; returned to Shoshong, 1864; built a church at Shoshong, 1867-1868; visited Kuruman, 1868; visited England, 1869-1871; visited Matabeleland, 1873; appointed tutor at the Moffat Institution and began classes, 1873; moved to Kuruman when the Institution transferred there, 1876; also pastor of the native church and congregation at Kuruman; visited England, 1882-1884; resigned from the LMS, 1884; appointed and resigned a government appointment as Resident Commissioner in Bechuanaland, 1884; advocated direct imperial rule to prevent settler takeover of native territories; appointed LMS missionary pastor at Hankey, South Africa, 1891; died at Kimberley, 1899. For further information see his son W Douglas Mackenzie's John Mackenzie: South African Missionary and Statesman (1902) and John Mackenzie (London Missionary Society, 1921). Publications include: Ten Years North of the Orange River (1871); Day-Dawn in Dark Places (1883); Austral Africa: Losing it, or Ruling it (1887).