Africa miscellanea

Edward and Francis Pocock were boatmen from the Medway who accompanied H.M. Stanley on his expedition to Africa in 1874. Edward died of fever on 17 January 1875, but Francis survived until 3 June 1877, when he was drowned in the Congo.

Undated copies of Rhodes House Library's transcription (133 pages) and index cards (25 pages) of the diaries kept by the Pococks while in Africa, 1874-1877. The bulk of the entries in the diaries are by Francis Pocock, but there are a small number of entries by Edward Pocock. Some of the early entries may be by Frederick Barker, a colleague of the Pococks, who died on 27 April 1875.

Copied by Cambridge University Library.

The diaries were used by Richard Hall in 'Stanley: an adventurer explored' (1974) and by D.H. Simpson in 'Dark companions' (1976).

MSS Addenda, vol. I. Indexed

The original diaries were discovered by Richard Hall and transcribed for him by Nicola Harris, who also produced manuscript card indexes comprised of a general sequence and one of African members of the Pococks' expedition. The transcripts and index are now held at Rhodes House Library, Oxford, as are the four original, incomplete notebooks.