Henry Morton Stanley

Sir Henry Morton Stanley
Sir Henry Morton Stanley
	Journalist and explorer
Born	January 28, 1841; Denbigh, Wales
Died	May 10, 1904; London, England

Sir Henry Morton Stanley, born John Rowlands (January 28, 1841 – May 10, 1904), was a journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. Stanley is best remembered for his words upon finding him: "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

Biography

He was born in Denbigh, Denbighshire, Wales, United Kingdom. His mother, Betsy Parry, was nineteen years old at the time of his birth. His father was an alcoholic. The parents were unmarried, so his birth certificate refers to him as a bastard, and the stigma of illegitimacy weighed heavily upon him all his life. He was raised by his grandfather until the age of five. When his guardian died, the boy was sent to St. Asaph Union Workhouse, where overcrowding and lack of supervision resulted in frequent abuse by the older boys. He stayed until the age of 15. After completing an elementary education, he was employed as a pupil teacher in a National School. In 1859, at the age of 18, he made his passage to the United States in search of a new life. Upon arriving in New Orleans, he became friendly with a wealthy trader named Stanley, whose name he later assumed.

After military service with both sides in the American Civil War, Stanley was recruited in 1867 by Colonel Samuel Forster Tappan (a one-time journalist) of the Indian Peace Commission to serve as a correspondent to cover the work of the Commission for several newspapers. Stanley was soon retained exclusively by James Gordon Bennett (1795-1872), founder of the New York Herald. This early period of his professional life is described in Volume I of his book My Early Travels and Adventures in America and Asia (1895). He became one of the Herald's overseas correspondents and, in 1869, was instructed by Bennett's son to find the Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone, who was known to be in Africa but had not been heard from for some time. According to Stanley's account, he asked James Gordon Bennett, Jr. (1841-1918), who had succeeded to the paper's management at his father's retirement in 1867, how much he could spend. The reply was "Draw £1,000 now, and when you have gone through that, draw another £1,000, and when that is spent, draw another £1,000, and when you have finished that, draw another £1,000, and so on — BUT FIND LIVINGSTONE!""

File:Stanley and Livingstone.jpg

"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" A contemporary illustration.

Stanley travelled to Zanzibar and outfitted an expedition with the best of everything, requiring no fewer than 200 porters. He found Livingstone on November 10, 1871, in Ujiji near Lake Tanganyika in present-day Tanzania, and greeted him (at least according to his own journal) with the now famous, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" Stanley joined him in exploring the region, establishing for certain that there was no connection between Lake Tanganyika and the River Nile. On his return, he wrote a book about his experiences. The New York Herald, in partnership with Britain's Daily Telegraph, then financed him on another expedition to the African continent, one of his achievements being to solve the last great mystery of African exploration by tracing the course of the River Congo to the sea.

In later years he spent much energy defending himself against charges that his African expeditions had been marked by callous violence and brutality. Stanley's opinion was that "the savage only respects force, power, boldness, and decision." Stanley would eventually be held responsible for a number of deaths and was indirectly responsible for helping establish the notorious rule of Léopold II of Belgium over the Congo Free State. In addition, the spread of African trypanosomiasis across central Africa is attributed to the movements of Stanley's enormous baggage train and the Emin Pasha relief expedition.

In 1886, Stanley led the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition to "rescue" Emin Pasha, the governor of Equatoria in the southern Sudan. After immense hardships and great loss of life, Stanley met Emin in 1888, discovered the Ruwenzori Range and Lake Edward, and emerged from the interior with Emin and his surviving followers at the end of 1890. (Turnbull, 1983)

On his return to Europe, he married Welsh artist Dorothy Tennant, and they adopted a child, Denzil. He entered Parliament as Unionist member for Lambeth North, serving from 1895 to 1900. He became Sir Henry Morton Stanley when he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1899, in recognition of his service to the British Empire in Africa. He died in London on May 10, 1904; at his funeral, he was eulogized by Daniel P. Virmar. His grave, in the churchyard of St. Michael's Church in Pirbright, Surrey, is marked by a large piece of granite.

Trivia

On his return to England, he was presented with one of the first of the newly-invented wax-cylinder recording machines (Phonographs), and made a point of recording the voices of famous elderly men before they died.
In 1939, a popular film called Stanley and Livingstone was released, with Spencer Tracy as Stanley and Cedric Hardwicke as Livingstone.
Ray Thomas, flautist and vocalist with the Moody Blues, wrote a song entitled, "Dr. Livingstone, I Presume," which was released on their 1968 album, In Search Of The Lost Chord.
An NES game based on him was released in 1992 and called "Stanley: The Search for Dr. Livingston" [1]
Stanley Electric Co., Ltd - in short: Stanley Electric - located in Tokyo, Japan - obtained the right to use Stanley's family name in honour of his discoveries "that have brought light into many spots of the world undiscovered and hitherto unknown to mankind". The company produces light emitting diodes, liquid crystal displays and all kinds of lamps, including automotive headlamps.
His great grandson, Richard Stanley, is a South African filmmaker and director of documentaries.[2]
Tim Jeal in 'Stanley' comes to the motivated conclusion that the words "Dr. Livingstone, I Presume" were probably not spoken.
There is a hospital in St. Asaph, North Wales named after H. M. Stanley in honour of his birth in the area, it was the former workhouse he spent much of his early life in.

References

Hall, Richard : Stanley. An Adventurer Explored, London, 1974.
Stanley, Henry M. (ed. Dorothy Stanley) : The Autobiography of Henry M. Stanley, New York, 1909, 1969.

External links

Works by Henry Morton Stanley at Project Gutenberg
How I Found Livingstone at Project Gutenberg
How I Found Livingstone, illustrated. From Internet Archive.
In darkest Africa; or, The quest, rescue, and retreat of Emin, governor of Equatoria. Volume 1 (1890), illustrated. From Internet Archive.
In darkest Africa; or, The quest, rescue, and retreat of Emin, governor of Equatoria. Volume 2 (1890), illustrated. From Internet Archive.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Francis Moses Colwells	Member of Parliament for Lambeth North 1895–1900	Succeeded by Frederick William Horner

Biography

Trivia

References

Further reading

External links