Helen Mack (in India from 1828–30) was apparently the sister of John Mack. Although her period of service in India is noted on the Chapel roll as 1828–30, if she was John’s sister, she was still alive and still in India at John’s death in 1845 (see below) It is sometimes said that Helen was the first woman from Scotland to have served on the mission field, or at least the first Scottish woman to have served at Serampore. No further information is available. An obituary in the Baptist Reporter for March 1845 recorded that:
Our dear pastor, Mr Mack, a native of Edinburgh…was attacked at ten o’clock in the morning, and entered into his rest at quarter past ten in the evening, having suffered for only twelve hours. It was one of the worst cases of spasmodic cholera. He has left a widow but no children…Helen drank tea with him on the 24th, when their whole conversation was of home.
Donald Meek published three articles in the Chapel Record in the first five months of 1992, entitled ‘Charlotte Chapel and the Indian Connection’. Excerpts from the second article, ‘The first Chapel missionaries’ are reproduced here for ease of reference. Some of the material has already been given, above, but there are some new items.
The missionary roll of Charlotte Chapel begins with the following missionaries, all of whom served in India: John Mack (1821-45), Thomas Swan (1825-27), Helen Mack (1828-30) and John Leechman (1832-37). Their presence on the roll means that they were supported financially by the Chapel for the periods of service shown in brackets.
Helen Mack
Message received: ‘Helen Mack was apparently the sister of John Mack. Although her period of service in India is noted on the Chapel roll as 1828-30, she was in India shortly before John’s death in 1845 (see paragraph above). William Whyte’s Chapel history, Revival in Rose Street, is thus inaccurate in its claim that Miss Mack died in India after two years’ service (and, as we shall see, a similar mistake is made with Thomas Swan). It would seem, that Helen Mack may have been the first woman from Scotland to have served on the mission field. She was certainly the first Scottish woman to serve at Serampore, just as her brother was the first Scotsman to join the famous Trio. I have no information as to how Miss Mack came to faith or by what means she offered herself for missionary service. Was it through her brother’s witness and example?’