Blantyre Mill School

Workers Village

Blantyre Mill School

Blantyre Mill School was built in the late 1820’s on a site to the north of the village, and also functioned as a chapel when required. Its most famous pupil was the Victorian missionary David Livingstone, born in 1813.

Some of the Blantyre Mill School Pupils

Livingstone started work at the age of ten, working fourteen hours a day as a ‘piecer’, joining broken threads. Ambitious from an early age, he is said to have read as he worked and finished off his day with a four hour study session. Livingstone’s strict Christian upbringing had a strong effect on him and at the age of twenty-four he applied to the London Missionary Society, who accepted him for training two years later. The destination of his first expedition, Africa, was apparently chosen because he could depart to there immediately.

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With thanks for the kind permission of Rhona Wilson and Richard Stenlake Publishers to publish photos from the book, “Old Blantyre“.

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