Explorers of the Nile: The Triumph and Tragedy of a Great Victorian Adventure

by Tim Jeal

  Moorehead wrote well about Samuel Baker, but not having had the benefit of reading Richard Hall’s well-researched double biography of Baker and his wife, which appeared exactly twenty years after The White Nile, he was unaware of the extraordinary circumstances in which the couple had first met and of the fact that they had been unmarried during their harrowing journey to Lake Albert. I studied Baker’s diary and Florence’s (the first at the Royal Geographical Society and the second in Anne Baker’s private collection in Salisbury) which helped me with my account of Baker’s second traumatic expedition to Bunyoro that would do so much to shape the future history of the region.

  John O. Udal’s impressively researched two-volume work, The Nile in Darkness (1998 and 2005) is more concerned with the political history of Egypt and the Sudan than with the Nile search per se, but it contains excellent material about the explorers and a full account of Baker’s Equatoria expedition in the service of Khedive Ismail Pasha and the political machinations which led to Britain’s assumption of control in Egypt and finally in the Sudan, Uganda and Kenya. In this field I owe a considerable debt to the work of Professor R. O. Collins, including his chapter ‘The Origins of the Nile Struggle’ in Prosser Gifford’s and W. R. Louis’s Britain and Germany in Africa: Imperial Rivalry and Colonial Rule (1967) and to his books about the Sudan: Land Beyond the Rivers: The Southern Sudan, 1898-1918 (1971) and Shadows in the Grass: Britain in the Southern Sudan, 1918-1956 (1983).

  Because my maternal great-grandfather (albeit unintentionally) played a little-known but significant part in East African history by rescuing a sister of the Sultan of Zanzibar from certain death by stoning after she had been impregnated by a German businessman, I have been able to give some new details of this strange incident that would cause the British Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, such difficulties in dealing with Germany fifteen years later.

  In describing the splitting of Equatoria between Sudan and Uganda, and the long British relationship with the Acholi and its consequences, I have been indebted to S. R. Karugire’s A Political History of Uganda and to F. Odoi-Tanga’s dissertation ‘Politics, ethnicity, and conflict in post-independent Acholiland, Uganda, 1962-2006’ – an illuminating study of Acholiland’s role in post-independence Uganda’s history. On the subject of the Sudan-Uganda border itself, G. H. Blake’s Imperial Boundary Making: The Diary of Captain Kelly at the Sudan-Uganda Boundary Commission of 1913 was invaluable. In conclusion Matthew Green’s The Wizard of the Nile, about his hunt for Joseph Kony, R. R. Atkinson’s The Roots of Ethnicity, concerning the Acholi and the Baganda before the colonial era, Martin Meredith’s The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence and Richard Cockett’s Sudan: Darfur and the Failure of an African State all helped in preparing Chapters 33 and 34, as did John Reader’s magnificent Africa: A Biography of the Continent.

  Acknowledgements

  Before mentioning my indebtedness to archivists and librarians who helped me with my research, I wish to thank Anne Baker for allowing me to see her collection of Samuel W. Baker’s letters (and his paintings) and his wife Florence’s African diaries. Her sons Julian and David Baker also helped me, as did their cousin Ian Graham-Orlebar, who showed me his Baker papers. I am also grateful to Peter Speke, who lives close to the site of the house where his famous ancestor grew up, and showed me his paintings of John Hanning Speke and Speke’s guns, sextant, watch and other effects. His son, Geoffrey Speke, and Dan Cook let me see Speke’s own copy of his book, What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile, with an illuminating printed coda, which is not to be found in copies sold to the public. I would like to re-thank the members of the Livingstone family (alive and dead) who helped me with my biography many years ago, and the adoptive family of Henry M. Stanley, whose life I wrote more recently.

  Frances Harris, Head of Modern Manuscripts at the British Library, kindly allowed me to study the library’s recently purchased Quentin Keynes Collection before it had been fully catalogued. I had seen many of the Burton items when Quentin Keynes had been alive, but now read many others for the first time. I am indebted to Sheila Mackenzie, Senior Curator in the Manuscripts Department of the National Library of Scotland, for helping me steer my way through the Blackwood Archive, containing, among many fascinating letters, treasures such as Speke’s original manuscript and proofs of his Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile, James A. Grant’s papers, and other relevant manuscripts, and then for sending me photocopies. I should also like to thank Robin Smith of the NLS. A conversation with Dr Adrian Wisnicki about his ‘imaging’ work on Livingstone’s field notebooks and journals persuaded me to investigate some of them again. Karen Carruthers of the David Livingstone Centre put me in touch with Anne Martin, a voluntary archivist at the Centre, who then replied to my requests for specific information and for many verbatim extracts from Livingstone’s Unyanyembe Journal and field books and further information about differences between these texts and passages in Livingstone’s published Last Journals. Alan Jutzi, Chief Curator of Rare Books at the Huntington Library, and Gayle Richardson of the same library, answered my questions and sent me photocopies from their wideranging Burton collection. Mathilde Leduc-Grimaldi of the Royal Museum of Central Africa did the same in connection with Henry M. Stanley. Sarah Strong of the Royal Geographical Society helped me with numerous inquiries on my many visits to Kensington Gore to study letters and journals in the Society’s wide-ranging archives, which contain manuscripts in the hands of all the Nile explorers. My thanks also go to Lucy McCann, archivist at the Bodleian’s ‘Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House’, for sending me photocopies from Horace Waller’s correspondence.

  My special thanks to Julian Loose of Faber & Faber and Chris Rogers of Yale University Press for commissioning this book, and also to Kate Murray-Browne of Faber for her excellent editorial suggestions and close attention to the text and to all phases of production. My thanks too to the production team at Faber and to Donald Sommerville for his observant textual comments and eagle-eyed copy-editing. I cannot thank my wife, Joyce, enough for once again sustaining me while I was producing another demanding magnum opus.

  Wendy Cawthorne of the Geological Society of London gave me helpful information about Sir Roderick Murchison. My thanks too to Dan Mitchell, Special Collections, University College, London, and to Jane Baxter, Local Studies Librarian, Richmond, Surrey, for answering queries about various Burton letters; Stefanie Davidson, archivist, West Yorkshire Archive Service did the same but in connection with Speke. My thanks too to Alicia Clarke, Director of the Sanford Museum, Florida, to the staff of the Wellcome Library, London Library and Public Record Office, Kew.

  Sources

  Manuscript Collections Consulted

  National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh

  John H. Speke’s correspondence with his friend and publisher, John Blackwood, and letters from other members of Speke’s family. The original unedited ms of Speke’s Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile, proofs of the same book with Speke’s own cuts and amendments and some in the hand of his editor, John Hill-Burton. James A. Grant’s journals and other papers including his African water colours and many letters to him from Speke, Baker, Stanley, Kirk, etc., etc. A very large collection of David Livingstone’s papers, including family letters, diaries, notebooks etc., etc.; also letters to friends. Stanley’s letters to David Livingstone, to Agnes Livingstone, to Alexander L. Bruce, to J. A. Grant, Sir John Kirk, and copies of letters to J. B. Pond. Other letters relating to the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition.

  Royal Geographical Society, London

  Unique collection of sequential letters from Speke, Grant, Burton, Baker and Livingstone to successive Secretaries of the RGS (many to Dr Norton Shaw) and other officials of the Society, including Presidents Sir Roderick Murchison and Sir Henry Rawlinson, with reports on journeys, original maps, details of funding, and committee notes. Samuel Baker’s African journals are in the collection. S
o too are Speke’s original maps, sketches and several notebooks containing his water colours. The papers of Laurence Oliphant. A pamphlet entitled ‘Medical History of J. H. Speke’ by Anton Mifsud. Letters of Stanley to the RGS, to H. W. Bates and J. S. Keltie, and also to Henry Wellcome, including letters concerning Stanley’s final illness; letters from William Hoffman (Stanley’s valet) to H. Wellcome, letters from Stanley to May Sheldon. Photographs, press cuttings.

  British Library, London

  The late Quentin Keynes’s important collection of Burton material, including Richard F. Burton’s letter books containing his correspondence with John H. Speke. Also in Keynes’s former collection, various letters to friends, and documents connected with Burton’s and his wife’s campaign to acquire a knight hood for him. Livingstone’s letters to family members, including an important series to his daughter Agnes during his last journeys; his letters to Edmund Gabriel; letters from A. Layard to Lord John Russell concerning Livingstone’s finances in 1865. Letters to Charles George Gordon from Samuel Baker and many others. Various Stanley letters such as to J. Bolton, the cartographer, to H. W. Bates, E. M. Parker, etc. Photocopies of many exported Stanley letters, also microfilm of Stanley’s exploration diaries and notebooks (originals in Brussels, and of some correspondence e.g. with Sir Samuel Baker, Mary Kingsley, etc.). Ad Ms 37463 is the earliest known letter written by Stanley. Miscellaneous letters from Speke to various correspondents, ditto Baker and Grant, mainly photocopies of exported letters.

  Huntington Library, San Marino, California

  Containing what survives of Richard F. Burton’s once substantial library (of approximately 6,000 volumes), along with many manuscripts and other papers, formerly in the possession of the Royal Anthropological Institute. The collection was catalogued before going to America by the Institute’s librarian, Miss B. J. Kirkpatrick. One of Burton’s books is his heavily annotated copy of Speke’s What led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile. Correspondence of Burton with Verney Lovett Cameron, Charles George Gordon and many others.

  Wiltshire Record Office, Trowbridge

  A collection of letters, press cuttings, reviews and photographs once owned by Isabel Burton, along with scraps of Richard F. Burton’s notebooks, his business and publishing correspondence, correspondence pertaining to Isabel’s Will. Copies of Foreign Office documents chronicling Burton’s consular career; miscellaneous letters to Burton; photographs; scrapbooks.

  Anne Baker Collection, Salisbury

  The diaries of Florence Baker, miscellaneous letters (and photocopies) relevant to all stages of Samuel W. Baker’s life and career. Material relevant to Florence Baker’s early life. The Rev. Ian Graham Orlebar, also has miscellaneous Baker letters and photographs and mementoes.

  School of Oriental and African Studies, London

  The London Missionary Society Archive: unique collection of letters from missionaries such as David Livingstone and Robert Moffat to successive Foreign Secretaries of the Society, most notably Dr Arthur Tidman. Stanley’s letters to Sir William Mackinnon, historically important in the colonial history of East Africa and the Congo. Complete papers of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition Committee, under the chairmanship of Mackinnon, including letters from Stanley, from expedition members, committee members, politicians, etc.

  Henry M. Stanley Archives, Royal Museum of Central Africa, Brussels

  Stanley’s personal papers, containing his exploration diaries, notebooks, maps, ms drafts of his autobiography, correspondence with his wife, letters from family and friends, including Livingstone, Edward S. King, Alice Pike, Lewis Noe, Alexander Bruce, Sir William Mackinnon; also correspondence with King Leopold II, James Gordon Bennett, and with members of his major expeditions, including the diary of William Bonny; and correspondence with his valet, William Hoffman. The Luwel papers contain one of only two extant original treaties, which Stanley signed with Congolese chiefs. Stanley’s article about the other Nile explorers entitled ‘Our Great African Travellers’.

  Rhodes House, Oxford

  Letters of David Livingstone to Horace Waller, including one describing Speke’s funeral. A 17-page letter about Stanley from Horace Waller to Livingstone, and other correspondence about Kirk and Stanley; also correspondence of the Anti-Slavery Society connected with East Africa and the Congo. The original proofs of Livingstone’s Last Journeys in Central Africa, containing many passages later excised by Horace Waller, the editor. The diaries of Edward and Frank Pocock – the only written records apart from Stanley’s diaries and despatches of his great trans-Africa journey of 1874-77,.

  David Livingstone Centre, Blantyre, Scotland

  Miscellaneous Livingstone diaries and journals, including his Unyanyembe Journal, and the field notebooks from which Horace Waller assembled The Last Journals of David Livingstone in Central Africa. Also an ms copy of Missionary Travels.

  Peter and Geoffrey Speke’s Collection, Ilminster, Somerset

  Oil portraits, including the famous double portrait with Grant; Speke’s guns, and some correspondence; also Speke’s copy of What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile with the added ‘Tail’ (this book is currently kept in London).

  Wellcome Library, Euston Road, London

  Diaries of John Petherick and Harriet E. Petherick shedding new light on John Petherick’s bitter dispute with Speke. Letters written by Baker and Livingstone. Papers of Henry S. Wellcome (the pharmaceutical tycoon) and friend of Stanley and his wife, containing letters from them both, and from William Hoffman and A. J. Mountney Jephson.

  Public Record Office, Kew

  Correspondence between the principal explorers and British Premiers, Foreign Secretaries, officials in the Foreign and Colonial Offices. The opinion of Lord Palmerston on the achievements of Speke and Grant PRO 30/22, Palmerston’s opinion of DL’s colonial ideas PRO 30/22. DL’s correspondence with Lord Clarendon FO 84/1265 and with Lord John Russell FO 63/81. Speke’s Will PRO I.R. 59/68

  National Archives of Zimbabwe

  Letters from Livingstone to Sir Thomas Maclear and Sir Roderick Murchison; also DL’s letters to FO, Dr John Kirk, Charles Livingstone; James Stewart’s journals, and papers concerning the Zambezi Expedition.

  Sanford Museum, Sanford, Florida

  The papers of Henry S. Sanford: 48 letters from Stanley, from Leopold II’s personal secretary, Count Borchgrave, from various ministers, from Sir William Mackinnon, A. B. Swinburne and E. J. Glave.

  Diplomatic Archive and Africa Archive, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brussels

  Nine alleged copies, in a secretarial hand, of treaties with Congolese chiefs purporting to be verbatim transcripts of vanished originals signed by Stanley. One original treaty bears Stanley’s signature and is dated Vivi 13.06.1880.

  Bibliography

  (published books; also articles in learned journals mentioned in the notes)

  Ajayi, J. F. Ade Africa in the Nineteenth Century until the 1880s (1998) Anstruther, Ian I Presume: H. M. Stanley’s Triumph and Disaster (1956) Ascherson, Neal The King Incorporated (1963)

  Atkinson, R. R. The Roots of Ethnicity: The Origins of the Acholi and Uganda before 1800 (1994)

  Baker, Anne Morning Star: Florence Baker’s Diary of the Expedition to Put Down the Slave Trade on the Nile 1870–1873 (1972)

  Baker, J. N. L. ‘John Hanning Speke’ Geographical Journal CXXVIII (1962)

  Baker, S. W. The Albert N’yanza: Great Basin of the Nile and Explorations of the Nile Sources 2 vols (1874)

  ——Ismailia: A Narrative of the Expedition to Central Africa for the Suppression of the Slave Trade 2 vols (1874)

  Barttelot, W. G. The Life of Edmund Musgrave Barttelot (1890)

  Beachey, R. ‘The Arms Trade in East Africa in the late 19th century’ Journal of African History iii 3 (1962)

  Beachey, R. The Slave Trade of Eastern Africa (1976)

  Beard, Peter The End of the Game (1965)

  Bell, H. H. J. Glimpse of a Governor’s Life (1916)

 
Bennett, Norman R. Arab versus European: Diplomacy and War in Nineteenth Century East Central Africa (1986)

  ——A History of the Arab State of Zanzibar (1978)

  ——Mirambo of Tanzania (1971)

  ——ed. Stanley’s Despatches to the New York Herald 1871–1872, 1874–1877 (1970)

  Bere, R. M. ‘Land and Chieftainship among the Acholi’ Ganda Journal 19 (1955)

  Berman, Bruce and Lonsdale, John Unhappy Valley: Conflict in Kenya and Africa (1992)

  Bierman, John Dark Safari: The Life behind the Legend of Henry Morton Stanley (1990)

  Birmingham, D. and Martin, P. M. eds History of Central Africa vol. 2 (1983)

  Blaikie, W. G. The Personal Life of David Livingstone (1880)

  Blake, G. H. ed. Imperial Boundary Making: The Diary of Captain Kelly and the Sudan–Uganda Boundary Commission of 1913 (1997)