Anne Mackenzie

Life & Legacy

Anne Mackenzie (13 August 1818 – 13 February 1877) was a 19th-century British writer. She spent some time teaching at mission schools in South Africa before joining the Zambesi Mission of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa, which was led by her brother, Charles. After his death, she returned to England, where she edited the monthly missionary magazine The Net Cast in Many Waters: Sketches from the Life of Missionaries which was published by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) in London, from 1866 to 1896. This had a special interest in missions in Zululand, but also covered other Anglican missions, especially those run by the SPG. Working with and for her brother, first at Durban and then at the Umhlali station, Anne grew more and more into his spirit of self-devotion. The years she spent in assisting his labours among the Nguni and colonists were the happiest of her life, though exhausting.