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MARY RUTH ERNESTINA EDMONDSON (NEE HAYFORD) (6 August 1914 – 4 January 1995)

Mary Ruth Ernestina Edmondson was born on 6th August 1914 in London to the Reverend Doctor Mark Christian Hayford and Matilda Emma Goy. Her father was the founder of the Baptist Church and Mission and Collegiate School in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and her mother was a school teacher from Godesberg, Germany. She attended school in Ghana, Germany, Scotland and England, and after a course in teacher-training in Accra, went to Freetown in 1957 to teach in a school established by her well-known aunt, Mrs. Adelaide Casely Hayford. The Girls’ Vocational school was a prestigious school in those days. In a published biography Mrs. Cummings John, a mayor of Freetown, it is stated that the school prepared many girls who today are in important positions in Sierra Leone. In 1946, Mary joined the newly established British Council in Freetown as its first and longest serving librarian. Her career in the Council remained unbroken until her retirement. She went through the ranks of the Council ending up as Accountant and Senior Administrative Officer, the highest position then available for local staff. In 1939, she married Francis Edward de Mont-Morency Edmondson, B. Mus., M.B.E., civil engineer of the Freetown Municipality. In December 1970, her husband died. They had no children of their own, but adopted her husband's nephew, also named Francis, whom they brought up from the age of 11. In 1975, on her retirement, she was awarded the M.B.E. for her services to the British Council.