Winifred Mackenzie

Her father, Samuel Henry Mackenzie, had a cutlers and jewellery shop and, before marrying, her mother, Louisa (née Chatterton), had worked in the Civil Service Telegraph Department.

Winifred attended the highly regarded North London Collegiate School founded by Frances Buss whose then headmistress was the mathematician Sophie Bryant.

After war service in the Royal Army Medical Corps, Tyrrell was ordained and went to the Belgian Congo with the Baptist Missionary Society.

Winifred joined in this work which was based on the BMS station at Bolobo established forty years earlier by the explorer and missionary George Grenfell.

Winifred learned the local tribal tongues and worked on educating the women and girls—even setting up Girl Guides units on the English model.