James Augustus Grant

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James Augustus Grant

James Augustus Grant (born April 11, 1827 in Nairn , Scotland ; † February 11, 1892 there ) was a British officer and traveler to Africa . From 1860 to 1864 he explored the sources of the Nile with John Hanning Speke .

Grant was born in Nairn in the Scottish Highlands. He attended Marischal College in Aberdeen , which is now part of the University of Aberdeen . He joined the Indian army in 1846 and fought during the First and Second Sikh Wars under Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough (1849) and during the Sepoy Uprising (1857-1858) in India . He was Henry Havelock 1857 in relief of Lucknow wounded and rose to colonel on.

Together with John Hanning Speke, he undertook an expedition to the sources of the Nile in 1860-63, during which he reached Lake Victoria (now in Uganda ). He published the diary of his two and a half year journey in 1864 as A Walk Across Africa . Grant received a gold medal from the Royal Geographical Society for his services .

In 1868 he accompanied the Abyssinian expedition under Robert Napier and then resigned from service as a lieutenant colonel .

Grant had been married to Margaret Laurie since July 25, 1865, with whom he had two sons and three daughters. His eldest son followed in his father's footsteps and also traveled around Africa. He accompanied Joseph Thomson on his expedition to Lake Bangweulus and mapped the upper reaches of the Congo and the Zambezi . The younger son died in February 1900 as a cavalry officer in the Boer War .

Publications

  • A walk across Afrika, or Domestic Scenes from My Nile Journal . William Blackwood , Edinburgh & London 1864.
  • Summary of the Speke and Grant expedition . In: Journal of the Royal Geographical Society. 1872.
  • Botany of the Speke and Grant expedition . In: Transactions of the Linnean Society. 1872.
  • Khartoom as I saw it in 1863 . W. Blackwood, London 1885.

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Grant, James Augustus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British officer and traveler to Africa
DATE OF BIRTH April 11, 1827
PLACE OF BIRTH Nairn , Scotland
DATE OF DEATH February 11, 1892
Place of death Nairn, Scotland