Africa miscellanea

Clarence Hooper was a member of Royal Empire Society, 1920-1944.

David Livingstone (1813-1873) was born on 19 March 1813 at Blantyre, Lanarkshire. He educated himself while working at a cotton factory near Glasgow, and from 1832 attended a medical class at Anderson College and lectures at Glasgow University. He entered the service of the London Missionary Society, and studied medicine and science in London. In 1840 Livingstone travelled to the Cape of Good Hope as a missionary. He explored the interior of Africa, 1841-1843, and discovered Lake Ngami in 1849, and the Zambesi in 1851. After journeying throughout the continent, 1852-1856, Livingstone was made Consul at Quilimane in 1858. That year he led an expedition to explore Eastern and Central Africa, and in 1859 he discovered Lake Shirwa and Lake Nyasa. He embarked on an expedition to investigate the Nile basin in 1865, and discovered Lake Bangweolo in 1868. He became ill while exploring cannibal territory, and in 1871 was rescued by H.M. Stanley at Ujiji. He made further explorations to discover the source of the Nile, but fell ill and died at a village in the country of Ilala in 1873.

Eight letters addressed to Clarence Hooper concerning a meeting in celebration of the centenary of Livingstone's birth, held in April 1913 under the auspices of the Central Y.M.C.A., addressed by the missionary Dan Crawford (1870-1926).

Presented by Clarence Hooper, 1927.

'David Livingstone: tributes and memories' in 'Royal Commonwealth Society library notes', no. 85 (January 1964), pp. 1-2, reproduces five of the letters.

Donald H. Simpson, ed., 'The manuscript catalogue of the library of the Royal Commonwealth Society' (London, 1975), pp. 115-116. Indexed