Robert Moffat

Robert Moffat
Missionary to Africa
Born	21 December 1795 Ormiston, East Lothian, Scotland
Died	9 August 1883 (aged 87) Leigh, Kent, England
Religious beliefs	Congregationalist

Robert Moffat (21 December 1795 – 9 August 1883) was a Scottish Congregationalist missionary to Africa.

Moffat was born of humble parentage in Ormiston, East Lothian. To find employment, he moved south to Cheshire in England as a gardener. In 1814, whilst employed at West Hall High Legh in Cheshire he experienced difficulties with his employer due to his Methodist sympathies. For a short period, after having applied successfully to the London Missionary Society (LMS) to become an overseas missionary, he took an interim post as a farmer, at Plantation Farm in Dukinfield (where he first met his future wife). In September 1816, he was formally commissioned at Surrey Chapel in London as a missionary of LMS (on the same day as John Williams), and was sent out to South Africa. His fiance Mary Smith (1795–1870) was able to join him three years later, after he returned to Cape Town from Namaqualand (where he converted the chief Afrikaner to Christianity) and she actively assisted further missionary work.

In 1820 Moffat and his wife left the Cape and proceeded to Griquatown, where their daughter Mary Moffat (who was later to marry David Livingstone) was born. The family later settled at Kuruman, to the west of the Vaal River, among the Bechuana tribes. Here they worked passionately for the missionary cause, until in 1870 they returned to Britain. During this period, Robert Moffat made frequent journeys into the neighboring regions as far north as the Matabele country. The results of these journeys he communicated to the Royal Geographical Society (Journal 25-38 and Proceedings ii), and whilst in Britain on furlough (1839–1843) an account of the family's experience, Missionary Labours and Scenes in South Africa (1842) was published. He also translated the whole of the Bible and The Pilgrim's Progress into Setswana.

Besides his early training as a gardener and farmer, and later as a writer, Moffat developed skills in building, carpentry, printing and as a blacksmith. On his return to England he received a testimonial of 5000 pounds. This would be approximately 500,000 pounds today, based on the following wiki-answer: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_value_today_of_1000_pounds_sterling_in_1870

His son John Smith Moffat also became an LMS missionary and took over running of the mission at Kuruman before entering colonial service. His grandson Howard Unwin Moffat became a Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia.

He died at Leigh near Tunbridge Wells, on 9 August 1883, and is buried at West Norwood Cemetery

Part of a series on Protestant missions to Africa

Robert Moffat

Background Christianity Protestantism Missions timeline Christianity in Africa

People William Anderson John Arthur Samuel Bill Christian Ignatius Latrobe David Livingstone George Grenfell William Henry Sheppard Alexander Murdoch Mackay Helen Roseveare Mary Slessor Charles Studd

Missionary agencies American Board Africa Inland Mission Baptist Missionary Society Congo-Balolo Mission Church Missionary Society Heart of Africa Mission Livingstone Inland Mission London Missionary Society Mission Africa Rhenish Missionary Society SPG WEC International

Pivotal events Slave Trade Act 1807 Slavery Abolition Act 1833 This box: view • talk • edit Christianity portal

Residents of High Legh organise a Robert Moffat Memorial 10k run beginning and ending at the location of his cottage. http://www.highlegh.org/race.htm

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Bibliography

• John Smith Moffat, Lives of Robert and Mary Moffat (1885)
• C. S. Home, The Story of the L. M. S. (1894)
• William Walters, Life and Labours of Robert Moffat, D.D., Missionary in South Africa, (1885)
• Frank R Bradlow, Printing for Africa, Kuruman Moffat Mission Trust, Kuruman, (1987)

External links

• Friends of West Norwood Cemetery (Word format)
• Robert Moffat biographies
• Moffat Mission near Kuruman, Northern Cape, South Africa