Verney Lovett Cameron (1 July 1844 – 24 March 1894) was anEnglish traveller inCentral Africa and the first European to cross (1875)equatorial Africa from sea to sea.[1]
He was born atRadipole, nearWeymouth,Dorset, son of Rev Jonathan Lovett Cameron and Frances Sapte. He entered theRoyal Navy in 1857, served in theAbyssinian campaign of 1868, and was employed for a considerable time in the suppression of theEast African slave trade.[2]
The experience thus obtained led to his being selected to command an expedition sent by theRoyal Geographical Society in 1873, to assistDr Livingstone. He was also instructed to make independent explorations, guided by Livingstone's advice. Soon after the departure of the expedition fromZanzibar, acaravan of about 80 led byChuma 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.[3] Cameron continued his march and reachedUjiji, onLake Tanganyika, in February 1874, where he found and sent to England Livingstone's papers.[2]
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 theLukuga River. FromTanganyika he struck westward toNyangwe, the Arab town on theLualaba previously visited by Livingstone. This river Cameron rightly believed to be the main stream of theCongo, and he endeavoured to procure canoes to follow it down.[4]: Vol. Two, 75 In this he was unsuccessful, owing to his refusal to countenanceslavery, and he, therefore, turned southwest. After tracing the Congo-Zambezi watershed for hundreds of miles he reachedBihe and finally arrived at the coast on 28 November 1875, being the first European to crossequatorial Africa from sea to sea.[2] He was awarded theRoyal Geographical Society'sFounder's Medal in 1876.[5]
His travels, which were published in 1877 under the titleAcross Africa, contain valuable suggestions for the opening up of the continent, including the utilization of the great lakes as aCape to Cairo Road connection. In recognition of his work, he was promoted to the rank ofCommander.
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[6] 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.[2]
Cameron in 1878–1879 visited theEuphrates valley in connection with a proposed railway to thePersian Gulf, and accompaniedSir Richard Burton in his West African journey of 1882. At theGold Coast Cameron surveyed theTarkwa region, and he was joint author with Burton ofTo the Gold Coast for Gold (1883). In the 1880s he published several books for boys emulating his sister-in-lawMrs. Lovett Cameron who wrote romantic fiction.[7]
He was killed, nearLeighton Buzzard, by a fall from horseback when returning from hunting in 1894. He had married Amy, the daughter of William Morris ofJamaica.[2]
A second edition ofAcross Africa, with new matter and corrected maps, appeared in 1885. A summary of Cameron's great journey, from his own pen, appears inDr Robert Brown'sThe Story of Africa, vol. II, pp. 266–279 (London, 1893).
Across Africa was republished in 2005.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cameron, Verney Lovett".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 109.
