Margaret Manson Graham
Margaret Manson Graham was a Scottish nurse who worked as a missionary in Nigeria.
Early life
Margaret Manson Graham was born at Orphir, Orkney, the daughter of Isabella Manson and John Graham. Her father was a weaver. After some time as a teacher in Orphir, she went to Glasgow to train as a nurse.Career
As a nurse, Margaret Manson Graham joined the Women's Foreign Mission in 1895, and traveled to Calabar. There she served as the first matron at Duketown Hospital, which served mainly Europeans, including crew members of trading vessels. She also worked with the local African population, especially children, and often treated casualties of violence, as in 1901 when she cared for Aro survivors of a military attack. She took up the work of fellow Scottish missionary nurse Mary Slessor, in her particular concern for the fate of twins; she oversaw the building of a care home for abandoned children, and taught embroidery as a marketable skill to women left without traditional supports.Margaret Manson Graham was awarded the Africa General Service Medal in 1901, and was made a Grade V member of the Order of Saint John in 1906.