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history |
The founder of the Keith Falconer Mission, which was situated within the city of Aden in the Yemeni Republic, was Ion Keith-Falconer, the son of the Earl and Countess of Kintore of Keith Hall, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire. He was born in Edinburgh in 1856, became a student at Trinity College in 1874 and later became professor of Arabic at the University of Edinburgh (although this appointment involved no more than one lecture per year). In 1885 Ion Keith-Falconer went on an exploratory visit to Aden, which had been a British possession since 1839, and decided to start a mission there. Upon his return to Britain he put forward his proposal to the General Assembly of 1886 and consequently the new Aden Mission was formerly recognised. Ion returned to Aden in December of 1886, but died 5 months later following an attack of Malaria, and in 1897 the Ion Keith-Falconer Memorial Church was built. |