Henry Morton Stanley

Lore & Background

Stanley was born as John Rowlands, an illegitimate child abandoned by his mother. He was raised by his grandfather and later sent to a workhouse, where he suffered abuse. He emigrated to the United States in 1859, and according to his own account, he was befriended by a wealthy trader named Henry Hope Stanley, whose name he adopted. He served in the Confederate Army, Union Army, and Union Navy during the American Civil War, and later became a journalist. In 1871, he led an expedition to find David Livingstone, meeting him at Ujiji near Lake Tanganyika. He is famously associated with the greeting 'Dr. Livingstone, I presume?', though the phrase does not appear in his journal and may have been invented later.

Reader's Guide

Stanley's legacy remains controversial more than a century after his death. He is recognized for important contributions to Western knowledge of Central African geography and for his resolute opposition to the slave trade in East Africa. However, his reputation has been seriously damaged by his role in establishing the Congo Free State for King Leopold II, and by exaggerated accounts of corporal punishment and brutality in his books. His contemporary image in Britain also suffered from the perception that he was American. Despite this, his explorations—including the search for the sources of the Nile and Congo rivers and the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition—were significant. He was knighted in 1897 and served as a Liberal Unionist MP for Lambeth North from 1895 to 1900.

Did You Know?

• Stanley was possibly the only man to serve in the Confederate Army, the Union Army, and the Union Navy.
• He carved his name into a stone of the ancient palace at Persepolis in Persia.
• The famous line 'Dr. Livingstone, I presume?' does not appear in Stanley's journal and was likely invented later.
• Stanley's birth certificate describes him as a bastard because his parents were unmarried.