Verney Lovett Cameron Vanity Fair 15 July 1876

Verney Lovett Cameron (1 July 184424 March 1894) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

traveller in

Central Africa Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo ...

and the first European to cross (1875)

equatorial Africa Equatorial Africa is an ambiguous term that sometimes is used to refer either to the equatorial region of Sub-Saharan Africa traversed by the Equator, more broadly to tropical Africa or in a biological and geo-environmental sense to the intra- ...

from sea to sea.

Biography

He was born at Radipole, near Weymouth,

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, son of Rev Jonathan Lovett Cameron and Frances Sapte. He entered the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

in 1857, served in the Abyssinian campaign of 1868, and was employed for a considerable time in the suppression of the

East African slave trade The Indian Ocean slave trade, sometimes known as the East African slave trade or Arab slave trade, was multi-directional slave trade and has changed over time. Africans were sent as slaves to the Middle East, to Indian Ocean islands (including Ma ...

. The experience thus obtained led to his being selected to command an expedition sent by the Royal Geographical Society in 1873, to assist

Dr Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...

. He was also instructed to make independent explorations, guided by Livingstone's advice. Soon after the departure of the expedition from

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islan ...

, a caravan of about 80 led by Chuma and Susi were met bearing the dead body of the reverend doctor. Cameron's two European companions, Dr William Edward Dillon, surgeon in the Royal Navy, and Lieutenant Cecil Murphy of the Royal Artillery, turned back to join the task of returning Livingstone's body to the coast. Cameron continued his march and reached

Ujiji Ujiji is a historic town located in Kigoma-Ujiji District of Kigoma Region in Tanzania. The town is the oldest in western Tanzania. In 1900, the population was estimated at 10,000 and in 1967 about 41,000. The site is a registered National His ...

, on Lake Tanganyika, in February 1874, where he found and sent to England Livingstone's papers. Cameron spent some time determining the true form of the southern part of the lake, and solved the question of its outlet by the discovery of the

Lukuga River The Lukuga River is a tributary of the Lualaba River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that drains Lake Tanganyika. It is unusual in that its flow varies not just seasonally but also due to longer term climate fluctuations. Location ...

. From Tanganyika he struck westward to

Nyangwe Nyangwe is a town in Kasongo, Maniema on the right bank of the Lualaba River, Lualaba in the Democratic Republic of Congo (territory of Kasongo). It was an important hub for the Arabs for trade goods like ivory, gold, iron & slaves: it was one of ...

, the Arab town on the Lualaba previously visited by Livingstone. This river Cameron rightly believed to be the main stream of the Congo, and he endeavoured to procure canoes to follow it down.Stanley, H.M., 1899, Through the Dark Continent, London: G. Newnes, Vol. One , Vol. Two In this he was unsuccessful, owing to his refusal to countenance

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, and he, therefore, turned southwest. After tracing the Congo-

Zambezi The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...

watershed for hundreds of miles he reached Bihe and finally arrived at the coast on 28 November 1875, being the first European to cross

from sea to sea. He was awarded the Royal Geographical Society's Founder's Medal in 1876. His travels, which were published in 1877 under the title '' Across Africa'', contain valuable suggestions for the opening up of the continent, including the utilization of the great lakes as a Cape to Cairo Road connection. In recognition of his work, he was promoted to the rank of Commander. Verney Lovett Cameron 1878

The remainder of Cameron's life was chiefly devoted to projects for the commercial development of Africa, and to editing and writing. His last work was the editing of the personal adventure narrative of the Master Mariner James Choyce, who had sailed as a teenager in 1797 aboard a whaler to the Pacific Ocean. Choyce's narrative covering 26 years of seafaring life is one of the earliest works of an Englishman's experiences in South America. Cameron visited the

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...

valley in 1878–1879 in connection with a proposed railway to the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...

, and accompanied Sir Richard Burton in his West African journey of 1882. At the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

Cameron surveyed the

Tarkwa Tarkwa is a town and is the capital of Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal district, a district in the Western Region southwest of South Ghana. Tarkwa has a 2013 settlement population of 34,941 people. Economy Mining Tarkwa is noted as a centre of gold ...

region, and he was joint author with Burton of '' To the Gold Coast for Gold'' (1883). In the 1880s he published several books for boys emulating his sister-in-law

Mrs. Lovett Cameron Mrs. Lovett Cameron or Caroline "Emily" Sharp (c. 1844 – 1921) was a British romantic fiction author. She wrote more than fourteen three-volume novels. Life Caroline Emily Sharp was born in 1844 in London to a well-off family who began her e ...

who wrote romantic fiction.Mrs Lovett Cameron
OxfordIndex.oup.com, retrieved 23 February 2014 He was killed, near Leighton Buzzard, by a fall from horseback when returning from hunting in 1894. He had married Amy, the daughter of William Morris of

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. A second edition of ''Across Africa'', with new matter and corrected maps, appeared in 1885. A summary of Cameron's great journey, from his own pen, appears in Dr Robert Brown's ''The Story of Africa'', vol. II, pp. 266–279 (London, 1893). ''Across Africa'' was republished in 2005.

Works

* ''The Cruise of the "Black Prince" Privateer'' (1886) * ''In Savage Africa'' (1887) * ''To The Gold Coast for Gold: A Personal Narrative. Vol. I, II'' * ''Among The Turks''(1890)

Notes

References

*R.F. Burton, V.L. Cameron "To the Gold Coast for Gold", *V.L. Cameron "Across Africa", *James Choyce "Log of a Jack Tar: James Choyce, Master Mariner", * *

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cameron, Verney Lovett 1844 births 1894 deaths English explorers Explorers of Africa People from Weymouth, Dorset