Simon James Harris Race, Empire, and Colonisation: Independent Essay Word Count: 3,711 Student Number: 14006746

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“The greatest man of his generation” – Florence Nightingale. Assess the rise and survival of

Livingstone’s reputation.

In 1841 when Dr David Livingstone set sail for his first missionary post in South Africa, little must he

have realised that centuries later his actions and achievements would be remembered in the saint-

like way that they have. This essay shall focus on the main key phases of his life, from his industrial

childhood and medical training, to his missionary work and campaigns against African slavery,

through to his exploration into the South African interior, and try to make sense of why he became,

as Florence Nightingale rightly suggested, ‘the greatest man of his generation’1. In addition to this,

the ways by which Livingstone’s legacy influenced others beyond his lifetime shall be assessed, as

well as some of the different ways by which he has been celebrated in modern times. To begin with,

a brief background description shall explain the British relationship with the African continent before

the arrival of Livingstone. This will be helpful in later realising the impact of his time there.

Livingstone arrived in Africa at a time when it was known as the Dark Continent. This was due to a

lack of exploration into the interior. Previously, before Livingstone explored into the centre, many

colonial nations including the British had only settled on the coastal regions of Africa. For example,

the Golden Coast on the western coast of Africa were used by Europeans for centuries to fuel the

slave trade and the British had arrived in South Africa but only settled on the coast at the Cape

colony. This represents a purely financial incentive for arriving in Africa, and many settlements were

mainly founded as ‘factories’ or trade posts and not as large colonial settlements designed to

explore deep into the continent. The arrival of Livingstone to South Africa as a missionary

specialising in the medical profession is representative of the Evangelical movement and approach

towards empire which was beginning to take hold of Britain at this time. The map below2 created in

1840, demonstrates what parts of the southern African continent had been mapped and settled just

1 Tim Jeal, Livingstone, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), p 1 2 http://www.unlockingthearchives.rgs.org/themes/encounters/gallery/resource/?id=297&resource_id=297 Last accessed on 09/11/2014

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before the arrival of

Livingstone. Although the

text may seem blurred in

places, the known parts of

Africa can be clearly seen to

be orientated around the

coastline. Also, note the large

empty space in the middle of

this map. It is largely this

area exploring up as far north

as the Victoria Falls, Kenya,

and the completion of a coast to coast expedition, that Livingstone managed to achieve in mapping

during his lifetime. Clearly he did not explore all of Africa, but he certainly made a significant

contribution towards the exploration of the continent. This bodes well for one of his immortalised

reputations as the man who shone light into the Dark Continent.

Before Livingstone ever set foot in Africa, he spent many of his early years working in the cotton

mills of Blantyre, Scotland. It was after his rise to fame through his work as an explorer and

missionary in Africa, when people in the Victorian world began to look back at his poor working class

background to use Livingstone as an example of how it was possible to achieve and accomplish

personal dreams in life so long as you were willing to work for it. Livingstone represented a

stereotypical ‘rags to riches’ sort of person. Life for him and his family to begin with was not easy by

any extent of the imagination, and it is surprising to even think that anyone would have the sheer

will and strength left in them to go to night school after working long shifts at the mills. As a child

going all the way through to the age of nineteen, Livingstone worked as a ‘piecer’ from 6am to 8pm

six days a week. Concentration, good eyesight and sharp reflexes were all essential attributes in this

role due to the dangerous nature of the work in hand. On top of this, he attended night school from

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8pm to 10pm and over time successfully took up the study of Latin. When one also factors in that at

this point the ability to read and write amongst most children remained at only 10% with only tiny

numbers continuing to study further, Livingstone was a bit of a wonder child for his generation even

at such an early stage in life3. This trend of overcoming unfavourable odds continued throughout his

education and his early career training. For example, his class fees for training in medicine were £12

per class, and when we account for the fact that Livingstone was only earning a mere 4s per hour we

can see how hard it must have been to achieve just becoming a doctor4. Ultimately, before even

stepping a foot in Africa, Livingstone was proving himself capable of achieving things up, above and

beyond the social level he was born into. It could perhaps be argued that when people celebrate the

memory of Livingstone, part of what they are celebrating is the life achievement factor, since it was

not just a small part of his life where he achieved so much, but instead it was a lifetime of great

achievements which propelled Livingstone to become such a popular figure in Victorian society.

The popular idea of Livingstone as a saint-like figure is slightly tarnished when we consider the

aspect of his life where he worked as a missionary. This is especially true when we consider that he

only ever succeeded in converting one African, Sechele, who eventually reverted back to his former

religion. However, Sechele’s temporary conversion did have an impact though for Livingstone’s

reputation in helping to Christianise Africa. Taking the role that Sechele later played in helping to

Christianise Africa further, Neil Parsons from the University of Botswana suggests that he ‘did more

to propagate Christianity in nineteenth-century southern Africa than virtually any single European

missionary’5. This helps to support Livingstone’s missionary legacy but in a more covert way. It must

be remembered that whilst retaining Christian features of the religion, Sechele did begin to practise

polygamy once more after Livingstone’s departure, thus creating a semi-Christian religion. In the

process of doing this it could be fairly suggested that this represented the early foundations of the

3 Tim Jeal, Livingstone, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), pp 7-9 4 In old imperial currency there were 12 shillings in every £1 5 www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21807368 Last accessed on 22/11/2014

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African independent church. As a result, Livingstone can still be credited with spreading the

influence of Christianity in Africa, which has helped to reinforce his saint-like appearance in history.

Many of the reasons why Livingstone did so well in becoming a good friend of the various African

tribes, was because of his medical knowledge6. He is particularly noted for establishing an adequate

dosage of quinine for combating fever during this time though his detailed observations, which

subsequently saved many lives around him. It is after these failures as a missionary and during his

growing reputation as an explorer that he established a new methodology for missionaries in Africa.

As part of an article from the New Statesman entitled What is David Livingstone’s Legacy, 200 Years

After His Birth, Michael Barrett quotes Livingstone to have said in the 1860s ‘My desire, is to open a

path to this district [Africa] that civilisation, commerce and Christianity might find their way there’7.

He believed that missionaries could not simply convert the many peoples of Africa, and that instead

this had to form part of a greater process including commerce and civilisation in order for religious

conversion to be successful. This turned the established missionary practise up on its head by

making it a much greater role in the process of empire building at the time. It did however establish

the groundings by which the British later based its colonisation on in the late 19th century with the

'Scramble for Africa'. Later, after Livingstone’s death, other imperialists such as Sir John Scott Keltie

of the Royal Geographical Society would comment that through Livingstone’s work as a missionary,

he had turned the ‘scramble for Africa’ into ‘a kind of holy crusade’8. In this light, Livingstone is not

just a missionary but also a promoter of imperialism and his influence in the years after his death in

how people saw the colonisation of Africa is clearly evident. All in all, by introducing modern

medicine to many African tribes, and re-establishing the role of the missionary in some greater sense

6 http://www.livingstoneonline.ucl.ac.uk/biog/dl/bio.html Last accessed on 17/11/2014 7 http://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/sci-tech/2013/02/what-david-livingstones-legacy-200-years-after-his-birth Last accessed on 17/11/2014 8 John M Mackenzie et al., “David Livingstone and the Worldly After-Life: Imperialism and Nationalism in Africa”, David Livingstone and the Victorian Encounter with Africa, (London: National Portrait Gallery Publications, 1996), pp 208

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in correlation with empire building, Livingstone has entrenched himself as a unique character in

history.

It is perhaps Livingstone’s role as an explorer which has in history become one of his crowning

achievements during his lifetime. Before looking at the map below9, which highlights the extent to

which he managed to map the centre of southern Africa, look at the previous map mentioned at the

start of this essay. A comparison of the two highlights Livingstone’s exploration achievements. This is

mainly a map to get a general overview. Livingstone did create numerous other more detailed local

maps of the areas he explored. It is during his time as an explorer that he first stumbles across the

east African slave trade. As a member of the British Empire he was well accustomed to the fact that

in all the British dominions, from 1833-34 the slave trade had been abolished. For Livingstone to

come across a part of Africa where the economic system of trading in slaves was still heavily

9 http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17024/17024-h/17024-h.htm#map Last accessed on 22/11/2014

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entrenched was frustrating coming from an abolitionist point of view. It was during his expeditions

from 1841-49 when he first came across this and from there forward he made his campaign for the

abolition of the slave trade in this part of Africa a key component of his works. As part of his travels

to try and find Livingstone, Henry Morgan Stanley kept a log of his travels. As part of this he

recorded what Livingstone had written in a letter to the editor of the New York Herald. A section

from it says ‘if my disclosures regarding the terrible Ujijian slavery should lead to the suppression of

the East Coast slave trade, I shall regard that as a greater matter by far than the discovery of all the

Nile sources together’10. This reflects on the true importance of this matter to Livingstone. Stanley

could too be celebrated as a great explorer of the southern African interior given the records he kept

of his travels. But, it is Livingstone’s noble campaign against slavery which makes him stand out

against him. Given the magnitude of the slave trade in this region and the level of change towards

greater freedom which has happened since, it is most likely that when many Africans celebrate the

memory of Livingstone, they are thinking of how much he contributed towards the abolition of

slavery in the regions he visited.

As previously mentioned, Livingstone devised a philosophy during his time in Africa which heavily

leant towards the colonisation of the African interior. As part of civilising the many communities

through the system of empire he hoped to introduce legitimate commerce that would over time

lead to the demise of the slave trade. He did also have other ideas about how in particular his own

native Scottish people could come over to cultivate the vast wildernesses that he had explored. In

sharing his thoughts with a fellow Scotsman, Sir Roderick Murchison, he mentions with reference to

the Scottish people, that ‘The interior of the country ought to be colonised by our own countrymen…

I think twenty or thirty good Christian Scotch families with their ministers and elders would produce

an impression in ten years that would rejoice the hearts of all lovers of our race’11. We rarely hear

about stories of Livingstone being a bit of a nationalist, but here his pride for Scotland is evident.

10 https://archive.org/details/howifoundliving01stangoog Last accessed on 22/11/2014 11 Angus Calder et al., “Livingstone, Self-Help and Scotland”, David Livingstone and the Victorian Encounter with Africa, (London: National Portrait Gallery Publications, 1996), pp 81-2

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Livingstone’s ideas about colonising the various territories he explored also become apparent in this

thought sharing moment he had with Murchison. These ideas are perhaps comparable with the way

the British missionaries wished to Christianise India, by using an established white community in the

continent itself as a base by which the gospel could be spread from there. This aspect of

Livingstone’s life does not necessarily help to further enhance the saint-like figure of Livingstone but

instead provides us with a greater sense of normality about him. He is shown as a classical

imperialist, who as part of his work has seen the opportunity for the emigration of his people to

colonise another part of the world.

It is only just after Livingstone's death that we first see his memory immortalised. Horace Waller, an

Anglican priest played an influential role in the creation of the Livingstone saint-like figure. Waller

doctored his final journals, erasing or adjusting sections that he felt were not fitting with Anglican

doctrine. These were eventually published as The Last Journals of David Livingstone in 1874. Things

that were changed or removed include; some favourable references towards Muslims, all criticisms

of politicians and other explorers, references to natural functions and sexual diseases and he also

removed doctors’ references towards his own rages and despairs12. The result of excluding much of

this information was the creation of this almost perfect personality. Instead of Livingstone's final

days being spent in what must have been excruciating pain, as his post-mortem suggested, his last

moments kneeling in prayer next to his bed are instead emphasised, making it a symbolic sign of his

faith. His post-mortem revealed that he spent his last days suffering from dysentery and malaria.

Waller was not the only one to start telling tales of Livingstone’s expeditions. After his

disappearance for seven years in his last journey, he became the subject of many rumours and

fabricated stories. The full extent of these is highlighted by Waller in a letter to Livingstone in 1869.

It says ‘the interest in this country about you is as intense as ever I could wish it to be… The report of

your murder, Sir Roderick’s vehement denial, Young’s most successful clear-up of Mousa’s lie have

12 John M Mackenzie et al., “David Livingstone and the Worldly After-Life: Imperialism and Nationalism in Africa”, David Livingstone and the Victorian Encounter with Africa, (London: National Portrait Gallery Publications, 1996), pp 207

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all tended so to surround you with a halo of romance such as you can’t imagine’13. This reflects on

how even in the period surrounding the death of Livingstone, his image is already falling into

becoming a saint-like figure in history.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century going into the early twentieth century, Livingstone’s

memory would in turn influence the actions of key British figures such as Cecil Rhodes and General

Charles Gordon. It was Livingstone who initially suggested that from the Cape Colony in South Africa

that an open route into the north of Africa should be kept open so that the British could further

expand their colonisation of Africa14. Rhodes took up this idea with great enthusiasm. The cartoon

below is from Punch Magazine in 1892 and it demonstrates some of Rhodes’ plans for a North to

South African telegraph and railroad15.

This sort of imperialist ambition only

came about as a result of Livingstone’s

work in Africa during his lifetime, and

therefore should be considered when

remarking on how his impression on

history has immortalised him. General

Gordon is one more character during

this period whose activities during his

lifetime and tragic death was highly

symbolised by British media in history,

just like Livingstone’s. Seen by some

13 Ibid, p 206 14 John M Mackenzie et al., “David Livingstone and the Worldly After-Life: Imperialism and Nationalism in Africa”, David Livingstone and the Victorian Encounter with Africa, (London: National Portrait Gallery Publications, 1996), pp 213 15www.punch.photoshelter.com/image?&_bqG=0&_bqH=eJxNjssOgjAQRf.GNRggStJFLTUZlFbbQoKbxgeKaCCAG_7elhB1NnPOYu5c5odpl.Sue.uaox.Oz4P0crwcW5xGq2gRuJHnmolAx5Kgvmqv5eBMojGL0dswAVUgs6XCilogPGNKFBoktwpSC7qjWNJ41v2_cwGUmVPgbErhQiGB2dZwJqnQEKPMVqiT.hGIc_OCu6PJWoOJMf9nzL4oNj9MLWKi0FCe.kvlEJv2ARy3SHg-&GI_ID= Last accessed on 24/11/2014

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as the natural inheritor to Livingstone’s work, General Gordon campaigned heavily against slavery in

the Upper Nile region and was marked to have had an aura of elevated moral character and

fearlessness about him in how he went about his activities16. It is perhaps his controversial death at

Khartoum in 1885 and sub-sequential martyrdom which has best preserved his memory in British

imperial history. It must be noted however that Rhodes stylised his life upon many of the virtues of

how Livingstone approached his own life. Through taking up many of these moral stand-points

Gordon has helped to further immortalise Livingstone’s memory. One thing that must be noted

about the lives of Livingstone, Rhodes and Gordon, is that Livingstone lived in a time before any

major distinction between the races was identified. He viewed many of the peoples he met as

potential equals to the white races, and he despised others who suppressed those whom which they

ruled. In particular he was opposed to the way many of the black population of Jamaica were treated

in the aftermath of the Morant Bay Rebellion in 1865 by Governor Edward Eyre. Ultimately, through

the actions and lives of later British imperial characters like Rhodes and Gordon, the image of

Livingstone and the moral virtues of his work have been securely cemented into history.

Going into the mid-twentieth century, with the rise of many new nations in Africa as part of the

process of decolonisation, it would be naturally expected that the memory of Livingstone would

slowly fade away just as the memory of so many other famous imperial characters has. This has not

necessarily been the case. John M Makenzie suggests that it is due to Livingstone’s memory being

entrenched in the missionary system in Africa which has kept his legacy alive. Many of these

missions are now attached or closely associated with schools, and it is the teachers here, who idolise

Livingstone, who have helped to perpetuate his memory. Also, there is the fact that in a time of

segregation and difference between the races, such as Apartheid in South Africa; Livingstone stands

out as a unique individual who never differentiated between each of the races. Instead he is

remembered for respecting the sovereign nature of many of the tribes of southern Africa. This

16 John M Mackenzie et al., “David Livingstone and the Worldly After-Life: Imperialism and Nationalism in Africa”, David Livingstone and the Victorian Encounter with Africa, (London: National Portrait Gallery Publications, 1996), pp 214

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seems to have remained a solid belief of the southern African peoples from the time of his death all

the way through to the twenty-first century with the 200th anniversary celebration of his birth in

March 2013. His reputation does not seem to change in line with world events. As part of the 2013

celebrations of the birth of David Livingstone, it is symbolic that the president of Malawi, Joyce

Banda was present to take part in the various ceremonies that took place as a representative of the

African people17. On the whole, the development of Livingstone’s legacy and the maintenance of his

saint-like reputation into the twenty-first century are a reflection on how unique a man he was.

Furthermore this builds towards how he has been immortalised in history.

Finally, it is not just in popular memory that Livingstone has been almost canonised into sainthood.

Since his death many aspects of popular culture such as place names, statues, university

scholarships, and bank notes have all contributed towards the memory of Livingstone. For example

in Zambia there is a city named after him and coupled with this there is a museum named after him

also. In Scotland for a period of time from 1971 he

appeared on the back of the Scottish £10 note, as

seen to the right18. Interestingly, in the

background of his image we can see a rough

drawing of a map which is symbolic of how he has

been remembered in this instance. Numerous statues of Livingstone have also been erected over

time. One that has withstood a series of attempts to have it removed is the one which was erected

on the Zimbabwe side of the Victoria Falls gazing out towards the Devils Cateract. Firstly, in 2001

veterans of the Zimbabwe war of independence wanted it removed since it was supposedly a painful

reminder of the nation’s colonial past. The second attempt was by people from Zambia in 2003 on

his 150th anniversary of first sighting the falls, in a bid to have it relocated to the Zambian side of the

17 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-21834392 Last accessed on 24/11/2014 18http://www.britishnotes.co.uk/news_and_info/prefix_sightings/scottishreplacements/clydesdalebankreps.php Last accessed on 25/11/2014

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falls19. The turbulent recent history of this statue alone reflects on how Livingstone’s reputation

specifically in Zimbabwe is one that is subject to debate. The erection of this statue helps to

immortalise his image but the fact that its existence has been the source of discontent helps to

support a more acceptable memory of him representing colonialism, which in itself is a source of

popular debate. On the whole, the immortalisation of Livingstone through popular culture, be it

statues, location names or something as simple as a banknote, have all helped towards preserving

his reputation and image in the human memory. The slight occurrence of resistance towards some

of these methods of remembering him is perhaps more a reflection of the controversy that lies

behind the subject of colonialism rather than Livingstone’s reputation itself. It must be remembered

that he existed in a time before the ‘Scramble for Africa’, and also that the way by which the British

eventually colonised parts of Africa does not reflect the peaceful transition that he envisaged.

In summary, it is clear after assessing the various episodes of his lifetime that Livingstone was as

Florence Nightingale suggested ‘the greatest man of his generation’. Nightingale, like many other

popular Victorians of the age sincerely respected Livingstone for his work and how unique a place in

history he would attain. In the African memory his enduring legacy is testament to the many great

achievements of his lifetime such as his campaigns against slavery, his exploration into the southern

African interior, his introduction of Christianity of many African tribes, and his early medical

developments to combat diseases such as malaria. Likewise, he remained in the Victorian memory

as a prime product of Samuel Smiles’ Self Help and a wonderful example of how it was possible to go

from ‘rags to riches’. Unlike many other prominent characters of the time he stands out as one

whose saint-like reputation has so far withstood the test of time. In analysing how his reputation has

survived since his death, it is interesting how his legacy was lived on through key imperial characters

like Cecil Rhodes and General Gordon, and how they grappled with the idea of colonising Africa.

Furthermore, the way by which his memory has been preserved into the twentieth and even the

19 http://vicfalls.zimbabwe.co.za/Points_of_Interest-travel/explore-victoria-falls-livingstones-statue.html Last accessed on 25/11/2014

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twenty-first century through the means of the missionary system that he helped to found and the

use of popular culture, reinforces how he has been immortalised in history. It could be reasonably

suggested that given the unique way by which he has been remembered, there is no other character

in history that even compares to his reputation.

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Bibliography

John M Mackenzie, “David Livingstone and the Worldly After-Life: Imperialism and

Nationalism in Africa”, David Livingstone and the Victorian Encounter with Africa, (London:

National Portrait Gallery Publications, 1996)

Tim Jeal, Livingstone, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001)

http://www.unlockingthearchives.rgs.org/themes/encounters/gallery/resource/?id=297&re

source_id=297 Last accessed on 09/11/2014

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21807368 Last accessed on 22/11/2014

http://www.livingstoneonline.ucl.ac.uk/biog/dl/bio.html Last accessed on 17/11/2014

http://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/sci-tech/2013/02/what-david-livingstones-legacy-

200-years-after-his-birth Last accessed on 17/11/2014

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17024/17024-h/17024-h.htm#map Last accessed on

22/11/2014

https://archive.org/details/howifoundliving01stangoog Last accessed on 22/11/2014

www.punch.photoshelter.com/image?&_bqG=0&_bqH=eJxNjssOgjAQRf.GNRggStJFLTUZlFbb

QoKbxgeKaCCAG_7elhB1NnPOYu5c5odpl.Sue.uaox.Oz4P0crwcW5xGq2gRuJHnmolAx5Kgvm

qv5eBMojGL0dswAVUgs6XCilogPGNKFBoktwpSC7qjWNJ41v2_cwGUmVPgbErhQiGB2dZwJq

nQEKPMVqiT.hGIc_OCu6PJWoOJMf9nzL4oNj9MLWKi0FCe.kvlEJv2ARy3SHg-&GI_ID= Last

accessed on 24/11/2014

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-21834392 Last accessed on

24/11/2014

http://www.britishnotes.co.uk/news_and_info/prefix_sightings/scottishreplacements/clyde

sdalebankreps.php Last accessed on 25/11/2014

http://vicfalls.zimbabwe.co.za/Points_of_Interest-travel/explore-victoria-falls-livingstones-

statue.html Last accessed on 25/11/2014