Kingsley's first book, Travels in West Africa is a masterpiece of understatement - she fought with crocodiles, fell into native spear traps and was caught in a tornado on the slopes of Mount Cameroon. She had travelled in West Africa wearing the same clothes that she habitually wore in England: long, black, trailing skirts, tight waists, high collars, and a small fur cap. These same clothes saved her life when she fell into a game pit, the many petticoats protecting her from being impaled on the stakes below. Later that same day, returning to her moored canoe, she found a hippopotamus standing over it and "scratched him behind the ear with my umbrella [until] we parted on good terms."

Kingsley summed up her reasons for travelling to West Africa as "the pursuit of fish and fetish: fish for Dr Gunther of the British Museum and fetish to enable [me] to complete [my] father's study of primitive religion and law."

The first book was a best seller, and she immediately set about writing a second containing all the discarded for lack of space. West African Studies was published, again by Macmillan, in 1899. At the same time, Kingsley became more active in various campaigns against colonial intervention in Africa. As a result of her extensive travels she had concluded that West Africa was much better served by the various traders, "palm-oil ruffians" as they were commonly termed, than the various groups of missionaries and settlers who typically had the ear of European governments. In addition she defended the local institution of polygamy, "extolled the virtues of cannibal tribes" and supported the local liquor trade, "you see more drunkenness in the Vauxhall Road on a Saturday night than in the whole of West Africa in a week." Kingsley was quite influential, with direct access to the Colonial Office, and British colonial policy after 1890 showed a greater concern for retaining African social institutions.

In 1899, while planning her third trip to West Africa, Kingsley wrote to one of her few intimate friends, Matthew Nathan, an officer of the Royal Engineers, who became the Governor of Sierra Leone. The letter included the portentous comment: "I went down to West Africa to die. West Africa amused me and was kind to me and was scientifically interesting - and did to want to kill me just then. I am in no hurry. I don't care one way or the other, for a year or so."

Instead of West Africa, Kingsley departed in 1899 for South Africa; to collect specimens of fresh-water fish from the Orange River. On arrival at Cape Town, she was plunged into the thick of the recently declared Anglo-Boer War. She immediately went to the Army's Principal Medical Officer and offered her services. Apparently annoyed by her persistent application, and in an attempt to discourage further enquiries he suggested she try nursing Boer prisoners at a nearby camp in Simon's Town.

Undeterred by an outbreak of typhoid and dysentery, Kingsley took up the post. She started smoking, and drank wine instead of water, in an attempt to avoid the contagion. But she failed, and on 3 June 1900 at the age of 37 she died of enteric fever. Kingsley's last request was to be buried at sea. Her coffin was taken out into False Bay by torpedo-boat and, with full military and naval honours, interred.

Mary Kingsley's books include:
Travels in West Africa, Congo Français, Corisco and Cameroons, Macmillan, London, 1897.
(Available in reprint: Travels in West Africa by Mary Kingsley, published by Phoenix Press, 2000.)
West African Studies, Macmillan, London, 1899.
The Story of West Africa (Part of the Story of the Empire series), Horace Marshall, London, 1899.

Previous Articles