| Administrative History | Gertrude (also known as 'Gertie') May Sawyer, nurse, was born 8 June 1905, daughter of Arthur and Ettie Sawyer. She was accepted by CMS in December 1933 and started work in the Zaria Medical Mission, Northern Nigeria, in 1934. During her years with CMS, she was Nursing Sister at the CMS hospital, Wusasa, Zaria; she took charge of the 'Leprosy Settlement' and worked in the city's first antenatal and child welfare clinics. She retired from CMS May 1943 on her marriage to (Joseph) Varley Roberts.
(Joseph) Varley Roberts, the son of a private hand weaver, was born 20 December 1885, in Farsley, Leeds. After leaving school aged 14 years, he started a long and successful career with the Post Office, highlights of which included serving as Secretary to the Advisory Committee on Television which met in 1935 to consider the advent of television broadcasting. He retired from the post of principal of the GPO in London in 1949. In 1920, he moved to Essex with his first wife, Margaret Fleming Roberts. Whilst in Essex he served over 50 years as Superintendent of Loughton Sunday School. His roles with CMS included serving as a member of the Africa Committee (London) and, after retiring from the Post Office, working in Nigeria as CMS mission secretary for Northern Nigeria Mission 1953-1954. He was also Honorary Secretary of the Hausa Band 1933-September 1985. He was awarded the Military Cross for his services as Signals Officer with the 18th Corps in the First World War serving at Gallipoli and on the Western Front and he worked in the communications department of the (General) Post Office in World War Two. He died in 1988, aged 102 years.
Margaret Fleming Roberts, née Brodie, was born at Peshawar, North West India, 28 September 1869. She was the daughter of Rev David Brodie (1838-1915), CMS missionary, later vicar of the Parish Church of St Lawrence, Biddulph, Staffordshire and Margaret Brodie (1841-1935) née Johnson. Margaret married (Joseph) Varley Roberts in St Paul's, Canonbury, Islington, London in June 1915. She died in Loughton April 1942.
Margaret, Gertrude and (Joseph) Varley Roberts were active in fundraising for the Medical and Leprosy Mission in Zaria, Northern Nigeria and welcomed missionaries serving in Nigeria, and Hausa and Nigerian Christians to the family home in England.
Sources: the records; information supplied by the donor; 'Personalities of the Week.' Illustrated London News [London, England] 16 Feb. 1935: 255. Illustrated London News. Web. 24 June 2016. |