Ion Keith-Falconer
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Ion Keith-Falconer (1856-1887) was the son of the Earl and Countess of Kintore of Keith Hall, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire. The young Scottish orientalist and missionary was educated at Harrow and Cambridge and became interested in evangelistic work while in Cambridge and London. He studied Arabic and the Quran. He was an athlete, a champion cyclist and is described as a world cycling champion in 1878.
Ion had married Gwendolen Bevan in March 1884 and his wife fully shared his enthusiasm for his work. By October 1885 they left England for an exploratory period of six months in Aden. At first Ion and his wife settled in a small house near Crater Pass overlooking Crater City so that he was able to mix freely with the local inhabitants. On 18 November 1885 he wrote to his mother: "I doubt whether anyone could live here long without a weakening of all his faculties. I read Arabic for several hours a day, and a native fikih, or schoolmaster, comes daily to instruct me. Aden is not without its disadvantages as a mission station. The climate is very enervating and at the same time there is no hill-station anywhere near for the missionaries to go and recruit; but possibly after time such a hill-station will be opened. The relations between the English and the neighbouring tribes become more satisfactory as time goes on."
Part of each day was spent in the town distributing scripture portions and seeking anyone who would listen to Ion reading from his Arabic Bible. He also held meetings at his house for British soldiers from the Aden garrison and took every opportunity to familiarise himself with the prevailing conditions. His fluency in Arabic caused interest and surprise among the people, some of whom were willing to hear more but the barren surroundings and fierce climate obviously made it difficult for an intensive Missionary venture in Aden itself.
Ion found he could rent a site at Sheikh Othman where circumstances were more promising. This area had several oases around natural wells and its climate was slightly less severe. Besides living conditions being more bearable, the town provided better access to the interior along the caravan routes to Lahej and Sana'a and Ion was convinced that a medical post and a school for orphans would be a great help to his work. He quickly arranged to return home in March 1886 to put his plans before the Free Church, which gave unanimous approval.
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He met Dr. Stewart Corwen of Glasgow Infirmary who was eager to accompany him to Aden. By November 1886 he had completed all the arrangements and set off to return via Egypt where his wife stayed until he had obtained accommodation at Sheikh Othman. Within a month he had secured a small hut with iron lattice walls, partitioned Into three rooms and a veranda. His wife joined him in January 1887.
Their house stood in a walled garden which contained a mud and wooden hut that Dr. Corwen used for seeing patients. Content with these surroundings until a stone building could be erected, Ion set about breaking down the reticence of local people and he was soon busy with the steady stream of patients needing treatment.
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In February 1887 Ion suffered an attack of malarial fever and was compelled to rest. No sooner had he recovered than the bouts of fever returned and in the next three months this was repeated several times. On 22 February 1887 Keith-Falconer wrote about catching malaria, which he called Aden fever: I never felt so utterly miserable in all my life... One of our Somali servants has had it as well, but coupled with a great deal of shivering... Quinine is quite useless in this fever, one must simply grin and bear it. Despite the care of doctors and friends in Aden, Ion died 11th May 1887 at the age of thirty. He is buried in Holkat Bay cemetery.
The Scottish Mission with its school and hospital at Sheikh Othman carried on his work until the independence of South Yemen in 1967.