Until 1893, Mary Kingsley lived the typical life of a single Victorian woman, tending to sick relatives and keeping house for her brother. However, on the death of her parents, she undertook an extraordinary decision: with no prior knowledge of the region, she set out alone to West Africa to pursue her anthropological interests.
Mary Kingsley was born in London in 1862. She lived the typical life of a single Victorian woman until 1893, when she embarked on a voyage to West Africa, followed by a second trip the following year. On returning home, she wrote Travels in West Africa, which was published in 1897. Kingsley made one final trip to Africa, enlisting as a volunteer nurse in South Africa during the Boer War. She died there in 1900 and was buried at sea.
Lynnette Turner is Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Edge Hill University.
Toby Green is Lecturer in Lusophone African History and Culture at Kings College London. His book The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa appeared in 2011.
