John Petherick
John Petherick (1813 – 15 July 1882), was a Welsh traveller, trader and consul in East Central Africa.
Life
He was born in
In 1845 he entered the service of
In 1848 Petherick left the Egyptian service and established himself at
In 1858 he penetrated to the
He returned to the Sudan in 1861, accompanied by his wife and with the rank of consul. He was entrusted with a mission by the Royal Geographical Society to convey to Gondokoro relief stores for captains Speke and Grant. Petherick got boats to Gondokoro in 1862, but Speke and Grant had not arrived. Having arranged for a native force to proceed south to get in touch with the absentees, a task successfully accomplished, Mr and Mrs Petherick undertook another journey in the Bahr-el-Ghazal, making important collections of plants and fishes. They regained Gondokoro (where one of their boats with stores was already stationed) in February 1863, four days after the arrival of Speke and Grant, who had meantime accepted the hospitality of Mr (afterwards Sir) Samuel Baker. Speke later publicly accused Petherick of failing to fulfill his commitment.
Speke and members of the white community in Khartoum also accused Petherick of involvement in the
In 1865 the Pethericks returned to England, and in 1869 published Travels in Central Africa and Explorations of the Western Nile Tributaries, in which he set out the details of the Speke controversy.
Petherick died in London on 15 July 1882.
References
- ^ Bernard Verdcourt, "John Petherick - 1813-1882 - Collectors in East Africa - 22", The Conchologists' Newsletter, March 1995
Sources
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Petherick, John". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the