Livingstone - Explorer & Missionary

By Rob Medland and Martin McGahon

“Doctor Livingstone, I presume?” was Henry Stanley’s famous greeting, which now has its place firmly in British history. But more important are the exploits of David Livingstone and the work he did in spreading the Gospel, and studying nature. His exploration and discoveries of 30 years in Central and Southern Africa made him one of the great pioneers of the 19th century. He was a living hero during his own age, and he was a vitally important trailblazer for the Gospel.

Born in Blantyre, Lanarkshire in Scotland, David was the second of seven children. By the age of ten, he was working at the local cotton mill with his father, Neil. The young man taught himself Latin and developed a love of science – in particular natural history.

But David was in a dilemma. Many people of the time believed science and religion were incompatible; he desperately wanted to become a Christian but could he turn his back on science to give his life to God?

His answer came in a letter that was read out in his local church, from a missionary in China. It spoke of a tremendous need for medics and as a doctor a missionary could speak to people about God while healing their physical needs. David Livingstone strongly felt God’s calling.

So at the age of 19 he had saved enough money to enter Anderson's University, in Glasgow to study medicine. In 1838 he headed south for training by the London Missionary Society; he completed his medical studies and in 1840 David Livingstone was ordained a missionary.

In the December of that year he set sail for South Africa to serve as a doctor at a mission station in Kuruman. His aim was clear: to spread Christianity and bring commerce and ‘civilization’ to the region. Livingstone immediately fell in love with Africa, but he was not content with just one mission station.

He soon started to arrange expeditions into unchartered regions, and he was the first white man many of the African tribes had ever seen. He took with him the good news of the Gospel and as the effects of his missionary efforts are still felt today. Livingstone was also a fierce campaigner for the abolition of slavery, and his labors helped inspire the abolitionists in Europe and North America.

David Livingstone kept detailed journals and mapped his new geographical discoveries for western science. One of the largest waterfalls in the world, Victoria Falls, is the most famous of his findings, which he first sighted in 1855. He also relished sketching and examining the wildlife, insects and plant life in Africa, previously unknown to the western world.

He married Mary Moffatt in 1845. She was the daughter of Robert Moffat, who ran the mission station Livingstone first arrived at in South Africa. Mary was also Scottish but had been living in Africa since she was four.

David and Mary had five children survive into adulthood before Mary died from malaria 17 years after marrying David. By that time Livingstone’s notoriety had grown, not only back in Britain but across the Atlantic in America. His geographical and exploratory exploits made him a national hero.

When he visited Britain, he would spent days speaking in churches on behalf of the London Missionary Society, urging more people to join the work in Africa. This also gave him the forum to campaign vociferously against the slave trade.  

Despite his worsening health, the mission trips and expeditions continued hand-in-hand. It was on one of these adventures to discover the source of the Nile River that contact was lost with Livingstone. There was a public outcry in England for information on his whereabouts and for six years there was no word of Livingstone. By 1871, the commotion had spread to America, so the New York Herald commissioned their reporter Henry Stanley to find David Livingstone.

Eight months after arriving in Zanzibar, and after travelling 700 miles, Stanley found Livingstone near Lake Tanganyika, in present day Tanzania. A strong friendship developed, and Henry Stanley helped Livingstone continue his exploration of the area.

The years spent in the harsh African wilderness continued to take its toll on David’s health but despite Henry’s encouragement to leave and return to Britain, Livingstone insisted on remaining in Africa. So Henry Stanley bade farewell a year later, and took with him all of his friend’s journals. Stanley was the last westerner to see Livingstone alive.

David Livingstone died in Chief Chitambo's Village, Ilala (Zambia) in May 1873. His heart was buried under a tree, near the place he died. His body was carried for over 1000 miles, and then returned to Britain for burial in Westminster Abbey. A national day of mourning was declared in Britain.

Lord Curzon, the president of the Royal Geographical Society in the early 1900s perhaps best captures what David Livingstone accomplished: “As missionary he was the sincere and zealous servant of God. As an explorer he was the indefatigable servant of science. As a denouncer of the slave trade he was the fiery servant of humanity.”