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Famous Welsh people

  • Henry Morton-Stanley

    © Reutlinger/BNF Gallica

    Illustration of Henry Morton-Stanley in 1884

  • “Dr Livingstone, I presume?”

    © Universal History Archive UIG/Getty Images

    Illustration of Henry Morton-Stanley and David Livingstone in 1871

Famous Welsh people

Henry Morton-Stanley was born in 1841. He had a hard start to life. Which words do you think will be used in a description of his childhood? Tick the boxes.

abandon comfortable early years emigrate factory London poverty public school rich stigma

Now listen and see if you were right.

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Famous Welsh people 1

Now read about the rest of his life.

Famous Welsh people 2

Henry Morton-Stanley was a 19th century Welsh journalist and explorer. He was born as John Rowlands in 1841, but changed his name after he emigrated to the USA. He also started to use the local accent in New Orleans. Why did he do this? Like many immigrants to the USA, he wanted a fresh start and a chance to reinvent himself.

In 1867, Stanley became a correspondent for the New York Herald, a famous newspaper. Two years later the newspaper paid him to go to Africa to search for a Scottish missionary and explorer called David Livingstone. He had gone to find the source of the river Nile, but had been missing for a long time. The New York Herald wanted to be the first to break the story of what had happened, and Stanley was told he could spend as much money as he needed on his search for Livingstone.

In March 1871 Stanley sailed to Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania. After hiring 200 porters, he set out on a 700-mile long expedition through the jungle. Many people died of disease en route and many of the porters ran away. Some say that it was because Stanley treated them badly. Stanley’s horse died after just a few days, but he continued his journey, fighting against disease and tropical temperatures and an environment he knew little about. Amazingly, he eventually found Livingstone at Lake Tanganyika in November 1871.

According to the report in the Herald, Stanley greeted him with the words: “Dr Livingstone, I presume?” and Livingstone replied “Yes, and I feel thankful that I am here to welcome you.” No cries of happiness or relief, just a calm statement of fact. Is this really the way it happened? Maybe Stanley just wanted to the world to think that the British stayed true to their ideal of “civilized” behaviour, whatever the circumstances.

Stanley went on to to explore much of central Africa, and was eventually asked by King Leopold II of Belgium to build a network of roads in the Congo region. This was so that Congolese natural resources could be taken to the coast and exported to Europe. Many people are now critical of how this was done, and not everyone considers Stanley a hero. But at the time he was considered to be serving the interests of the colonial empires.

After many years in Africa, Stanley ended his days in Europe. He moved to London, became a member of parliament and was given a knighthood in 1899. Who would have thought that a poor, illegitimate boy from North Wales would make such a mark on the world.

DOCUMENT Getting the gist


DOCUMENT Word building


DOCUMENT Your turn to write


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