Henry Graham (born in 1806) served as a missionary to Sierra Leone, Africa with the Christian Missionary Society from 1829-1832. More specifically, Graham was the first C.M.S. Medical Missionary ^[1]. In addition to his medical efforts, Graham took it upon himself to reopen the area’s Sunday school for adults and apprentices, helping to teach lessons in reading and scripture. ^[2] Through successes and hardships, ranging from medical feats to the death of his wife, Graham remained steadfastly pious; he attributed all occurrences to God’s greater plan.

Graham, originating from Oxford, attended Christian Missionary College in 1827 and studied medicine under Dr. Whiting. Graham married his first wife, Susannah Pharoah on August 28, 1829 ^[3], who died in Africa on March 31, 1831^[1]. Following her death, H. Graham married Mrs. Davey, widow of Davey Thomas, who went on to marry J.W. Weeks, the eventual Bishop of Sierra Leone, following the death of Henry Graham.

The Church Missionary Society’s mission to Sierra Leone was 14 years old when Henry Graham was recruited^[4]. Prior to Mr. Graham’s introduction, illness and death were common among the CMS Sierra Leone missionaries and the natives, with fever and dysentry being the most common afflictions. The resulting short service and often changing missionaries inhibited the mission’s progress and impact in the area. The Society recruited Graham, their first ever medical missionary ^[1], to improve the health of their missionaries and students and to provide the Society with quarterly reports^[2]. In December of 1829, four new labourers including Mr. Graham, his wife Susannah Pharoah, Reverend John Murell, and Mr. John Warburton were added to the mission^[4]. The group sailed from Gravesend on October 12 and arrived in Sierra Leone on December 7. Mrs. and Mrs. Graham resided with Reverand Raban in Sierra Leone.

Upon arriving in Sierra Leone, Graham understood that his medical education was far from complete. He remained eager to continue learning throughout his service, requesting medical books from the Society, commonly on surgery and operative midwifery ^[2]. While not attending to patients or working in Gloucester’s mission schools, Graham dedicated most of his time to studying medical works to improve his knowledge. Graham worked closely with and learned under colonial surgeon Dr. Boyle, who treated patients in Freetown. Through Dr. Boyle, Graham discovered African medications not commonly used in England, such as the use of Ergot and Rye in midwifery, and introduced his findings to the CMS.

Fever and dysentery most commonly afflicted the missionaries and natives in Sierra Leone^[5]. Mr. Graham spent his time attending to the missionaries and their family members in Gloucester as well as the surrounding areas^[2]. Him and his wife were also often temporarily debilitated by illness; Mr. Graham suffered from intermittent fever and cholera morbus during his service^[5] . He provided the Society with quarterly reports regarding significant medical cases. He reported the recoveries of his patients humbly, attributing any medical success solely to the mercy of God without taking credit for any medical accomplishment^[2].  

While Graham was specifically recruited to provide medical aid to individuals within the mission, he chose to dedicate some of his time to treating natives. Graham provided advice and services to approximately a dozen natives, not connected to the mission, on a daily basis; he would treat the natives in their homes on occasion^[5]. Graham was troubled that few medical officers were willing to provide the women of Freetown with operative midwifery services because they were Black; he was anxious to gain more medical knowledge in the field in order to provide them every assistance himself ^[2]. He expressed his desire to the CMS to study surgery under an experienced surgeon for a year in order to be more capable of helping.

In addition to medical work, Graham and his wife dedicated themselves alongside Reverend Raban to the growth and improvement of schools in Gloucester, where boys were taught reading and scripture and girls were taught needlework^[4]. Mrs. Graham served as a school mistress, yet she was often indisposed due to illness, in which cases Mr. Graham would often take her place^[2]. Throughout Mr. and Mrs. Graham’s service there was a significant uptick in overall attendance, children capable of reading scriptures, children able to read the alphabet or other books, and girls able to needlepoint.

The Sunday schools for adults and apprentices had generally been unsuccessful for the CMS mission in Sierra Leone, but Henry Graham, his wife, and the new group of missionaries were determined to see their revival. The Hastings Sunday school for adults and apprentices had been closed in the area upon Mr. Graham’s arrival, so he took it upon himself to reopen the school and help teach lessons in reading and scripture^[2]. The Sunday school was often poorly attended and the adults made slow progress, yet Mr. Graham remained insistent. He reported that some adults who could barely read three words at its opening were able to read the Bible totally well in a couple of years. Over time, the Hastings Sunday school saw a significant increase in overall attendance.

Mrs. Graham served as a schoolmistress, but was often indisposed due to illness before her death. Eager to serve, she made several attempts to teach when she wasn’t in optimal condition and was later confined to her bed. She was known to be loyal and devoted with the natives^[4]. A native remarked,

“I was rejoiced to hear that during the whole of her extreme sufferings she exemplified much christian fortitude tempered with meekness and resignation:  and that those around her had

reason to believe that her death was gain.”

Mr. Graham was greatly pained by the loss of his most loved partner and afterwards pledged to only seek comfort in Christ in order to avoid further sadness and disappointment^[2].  

Immediately upon arriving in Sierra Leone, Henry Graham made efforts to learn the Aku dialect through conversations with natives. He seeked interaction with the natives and remarked that he could only depend on a word after having tested it with at least a dozen of the Akus^[2]. Reverend Raban, who Mr. Graham resided with, studied languages and had a particular interest in the Aku dialect. Mr. Graham contributed significantly to Raban’s study, collecting 200 new worlds in the language, half of which being new to Raban and the other half providing important variations to known words^[4].

During Graham’s service, he heard that people in England were suffering and acknowledged that many poor people troubled themselves to give money to the CMS. He notified the Parent Committee that he wished to temporarily give up his travelling allowance in their interest^[2].

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