Background and early life Florence Mahoney was born in 1929 in Bathurst, Gambia, to Lenrie Ernest Ingram Peters (1894–14 February 1968) and Kezia Rosemary. Lenrie was a Sierra Leone Creole, while Rosemary was a Gambian Creole or Aku. Because Gambian Creoles or Akus are descendants of Sierra Leonean Creoles who worked and settled in The Gambia, Mahoney has ties on both sides to Sierra Leone. The Peters family was of West Indian or, more likely, Nova Scotian Settler descent (making them descendants of the original black American founders of the 1792 Freetown settlement and possibly direct descendants of Thomas Peters himself). The family was also related to the prominent Sierra Leonean Creole Maxwell family that produced Joseph Renner Maxwell, the first African graduate of the University of Oxford,Pamela Roberts, "Florence Mahoney, 1929–present, St Hilda's College | Historian and author", in Black Oxford: The Untold Stories of Oxford University's Black Scholars, Oxford: Signal Books, 2013, pp. 89–90. 2014 digital version by Andrews UK Limited. and the son of a colonial chaplain. Florence was one of five children , including the late Dr Lenrie Peters and actor Dennis Alaba Peters , whose parents had met in the 1920s and married within the same decade. Her father, Lenrie Ingram  , was a graduate of Fourah Bay College and because of that institution's affiliation with Durham University was also a graduate of the latter university. Peters was the longest serving editor for the Gambian Echo and a staunch advocate for the rights of indigenous Gambians. He was a pan-Africanist and used to read poetry to Lenrie Jr. as a child. Education Mahoney attended St. Mary's Anglican Primary (1935–39) and then the Methodist Girls' High School (1939–44) and passed her Senior Cambridge School Certificate. Mahoney was then sent to St Elphin's Boarding School for girls in Derbyshire, England. After finishing, Mahoney attended Westfield College (now Queen Mary, University of London) and received a bachelor's degree with honours in History in 1951. Mahoney then attended the University of Oxford's St Hilda's College , Oxford|St Hilda's College , where she obtained a postgraduate degree in Education in 1952. Mahoney later studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, where she obtained a PhD in History in 1963 with her dissertation "Government and Public Opinion in the Gambia, 1816–1914".Hassoum Ceesay, "Tribute to a Great Gambian historian: Dr Florence Mahoney at 80", The Point, 30 January 2009.Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch, "African Historiography in Africa", cairn-int.info. Mahoney was the first Gambian woman ever to be awarded a PhD. Return to the Gambia and educationalist work In 1953 Mahoney returned to the GambiaCatherine Cymone Fourshey, "'The Matter is a Bit Urgent' Education of Miss Florence Peters: One Gambian Fathers Petitions to the British Colonial Government 1948–1952", JENdA: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies, No. 20 (2012). and married  John Mahoney Jr (1919–2012).Hassoum Ceesay, "Tribute - Dr John Andrew Mahoney (1919–2012) Gambian surgeon, health administrator and international civil servant", The Point, 7 February 2012.  John Mahoney was the son of Sir John Mahoney, a member of an influential and prominent Gambian Creole family that was active in colonial politics. Dr John Mahoney's sister, Hannah Augusta Darling Mahoney, married Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, the first leader of the Gambian Republic following independence on 18 February 1965. Family Florence Mahoney has three children from her marriage to Dr John Andrew Mahoney (1919–2012) . .
Background and early life Florence Mahoney was born in 1929 in Bathurst, Gambia, to Lenrie Ernest Ingram Peters (1894–14 February 1968) and Kezia Rosemary. Lenrie was a Sierra Leone Creole, while Rosemary was a Gambian Creole or Aku. Because Gambian Creoles or Akus are descendants of Sierra Leonean Creoles who worked and settled in The Gambia, Mahoney has ties on both sides to Sierra Leone. The Peters family was of West Indian or, more likely, Nova Scotian Settler descent (making them descendants of the original black American founders of the 1792 Freetown settlement and possibly direct descendants of Thomas Peters himself). The family was also related to the prominent Sierra Leonean Creole Maxwell family that produced Joseph Renner Maxwell, the first African graduate of the University of Oxford,Pamela Roberts, "Florence Mahoney, 1929–present, St Hilda's College | Historian and author", in Black Oxford: The Untold Stories of Oxford University's Black Scholars, Oxford: Signal Books, 2013, pp. 89–90. 2014 digital version by Andrews UK Limited. and the son of a colonial chaplain. Florence was one of five children – including the late Dr Lenrie Peters and actor Dennis Alaba Peters – whose parents had met in the 1920s and married within the same decade. Her father, Lenrie Ingram Peters , was a graduate of Fourah Bay College and because of that institution's affiliation with Durham University was also a graduate of the latter university. Peters was the longest serving editor for the Gambian Echo and a staunch advocate for the rights of indigenous Gambians. He was a pan-Africanist and used to read poetry to Lenrie Jr. as a child. Education Mahoney attended St. Mary's Anglican Primary (1935–39) and then the Methodist Girls' High School (1939–44) and passed her Senior Cambridge School Certificate. Mahoney was then sent to St Elphin's Boarding School for girls in Derbyshire, England. After finishing, Mahoney attended Westfield College (now Queen Mary, University of London) and received a bachelor's degree with honours in History in 1951. Mahoney then attended the University of Oxford's St Hilda's College , where she obtained a postgraduate degree in Education in 1952. Mahoney later studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, where she obtained a PhD in History in 1963 with her dissertation "Government and Public Opinion in the Gambia, 1816–1914".Hassoum Ceesay, "Tribute to a Great Gambian historian: Dr Florence Mahoney at 80", The Point, 30 January 2009.Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch, "African Historiography in Africa", cairn-int.info. Mahoney was the first Gambian woman ever to be awarded a PhD. Return to the Gambia and educationalist work In 1953 Mahoney returned to the GambiaCatherine Cymone Fourshey, "'The Matter is a Bit Urgent' Education of Miss Florence Peters: One Gambian Fathers Petitions to the British Colonial Government 1948–1952", JENdA: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies, No. 20 (2012). and married Dr John Mahoney Jr (1919–2012).Hassoum Ceesay, "Tribute - Dr John Andrew Mahoney (1919–2012) Gambian surgeon, health administrator and international civil servant", The Point, 7 February 2012. Dr John Mahoney was the son of Sir John Mahoney, a member of an influential and prominent Gambian Creole family that was active in colonial politics. Dr John Mahoney's sister, Hannah Augusta Darling Mahoney, married Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, the first leader of the Gambian Republic following independence on 18 February 1965. Family Florence Mahoney has three sons – Omotunde, Sola and Ayodeji – from her marriage to Dr John Andrew Mahoney (1919–2012) .
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