Robert Laws

Robert Laws
Missionaries at Bandawe, c. 17 May 1914, after ordination of the first three African clergy. Seated (L-R) Yesaya Zerenji Mwasi, Hezekiah Mavuvu Tweya, Jonathan P. Chirwa; Standing (L-R) A.G. MacAlpine, W.A. Elmslie, Robert Laws.
Religion	Christian
Church	United Presbyterian Church of Scotland
Alma mater	University of Aberdeen
Personal
Born	1851
Died	1934

Dr Robert Laws (1851–1934) was a Scottish missionary who headed the Livingstonia mission in the Nyasaland Protectorate (now Malawi) for more than 50 years. The mission played a crucial role in educating Africans during the colonial era. It emphasized skills with which the pupils could become self-sufficient in trade, agriculture or industry as opposed to working as subordinates to European settlers. Dr Laws supported the aspirations of political leaders such as Simon Muhango and Levi Zililo Mumba, both educated at Livingstonia schools.

Robert Laws was born in 1851 in the Mannofield district of Aberdeen, Scotland, to a poor but religious family. His father, Robert Laws snr of Old Aberdeen, and his mother, Christian née Cruikshank of Kidshill in Buchan, Aberdeenshire, both attended St Nicholas Lane United Presbyterian Church, Aberdeen. His mother, Christian, has been described as having "a calm and sunny temperament, sound judgement, and gentle ways." She died in 1853 in her son's infancy. Robert's stepmother was to be Isabella Cormack (d. 1893), also of Aberdeen. Robert's daughter Dr Amelia Nyasa Laws (1886 - 1978) has written that, "The child's stepmother was upright in character, kind at heart, but stern in manner, ordering him to sit still until she gave him permission to do otherwise. To this discipline he ascribed his capacity to listen, to refrain from comment, and in later years to assess the value of statements made in ignorance before discussing or correcting them."

Laws was apprenticed to a cabinet maker as a youth. After reading David Livingstone's Travels he resolved to become a missionary. While working in the day he attended evening classes and managed to gain admission to the University of Aberdeen. He spent seven years there, earning degrees in Arts, Medicine and Theology.