Mary Kingsley - Early Life

Early Life

Kingsley was born in Islington, London on 13 October 1862, the daughter and oldest child of doctor, traveller, and writer George Kingsley and Mary Bailey. She came from a family of writers, as she was also the niece of novelists Charles Kingsley and Henry Kingsley. The family moved to Highgate less than a year after her birth, the same home where her brother Charles George R. ("Charley") Kingsley was born in 1866, and by 1881 were living in Southwood House, Bexley in Kent.

Her father was a doctor and worked for George Herbert, 13th Earl of Pembroke and other aristocrats, so he was regularly away from home on his excursions. During these voyages he collected information for his studies. Dr. Kingsley accompanied Lord Dunraven on a trip to North America in 1870-1875. During this trip, Dr. Kingsley was invited to accompany Custer's U.S. Army expedition against the Sioux Indians. The reported massacre of Custer's force terrified the Kingsley family, but they were relieved to learn that bad weather had kept Dr. Kingsley from joining Custer. It is possible that her father's views on injustices faced by the Native Americans helped shape Mary's later opinions on British cultural imperialism in West Africa.

In terms of Kingsley's education, she had little formal schooling compared to her brother, other than German lessons at a young age; however, she did have access to her father's large library and loved to hear her father's stories of foreign countries. She did not enjoy novels that were deemed more appropriate for young ladies of the time, such as those by Jane Austen or Charlotte Bronte but preferred books on the sciences and memoirs of explorers. In 1886, her brother Charley entered Christ's College, Cambridge, to study law; this allowed Mary to make several academic connections and a few friends.

With respect to religion, there is little indication that Kingsley was raised Christian; instead, she was a self-proclaimed believer with, "summed up in her own word 'an utter faith in God'" and even identified strongly with what was described as 'the' African religion'. She is known for criticizing Christian missionaries and their work for taking away African culture without proving any real benefits in return.

The 1891 England census finds Mrs. Kingsley - Mary's mother - and her two children living at 7 Mortimer Road, Cambridge, where Charles is recorded as a BA Student at Law and Mary as a Student of Medicine.

In her later years, Kingsley's mother became ill, and she was expected to care for her well-being. Unable to leave her mother's side, she was limited in her travel opportunities. Soon, her father was also bedridden with rheumatic fever following an excursion. Dr. Kingsley died in February 1892, and Mrs. Kingsley followed a few months later in April of the same year. "Freed" from her family responsibilities and with an inheritance of £8,600 to be split evenly with her brother, Kingsley was now able to travel as she had always dreamed. Mary decided to visit Africa, some say to finish collecting material for a book that her father had started on African culture.