David Livingstone: the verdict?

[Hollis]

Surely enough time has passed for a final assessment of the guy..

 

[Hollis]

Thanks to bluestreak I have been reading about David Livingstone recently. Quite a fascinating chap really.

Thankyou bluey!!!!!

 

[bluestreak]

that's alright? you been reading that 'empire' book? it makes a lot of assumptions, and i disagree with a lot, but nevertheless it's nice to read a critcal piece about empire by a pro-empire historian.

 

[Hollis]

Yes.. its what I'd call a damn good read. Esp enjoying the 19th century evangelicals.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

He was naive and a Christian evangelist , but he did do his best to help the people he lived among, and took issue with the Arab slavers.

Stanley, on the other hand, was a total wanker who considered the savage Africans to be barely human.

 

[editor]

Stanley, on the other hand, was a total wanker who considered the savage Africans to be barely human.

But he was the Welsh one so that can't be true!

*puts fingers in ears

 

[editor]

Blimey. Ol'Stanley - wanker or not - sure had a pretty tough time of it as a young 'un:

He was born in Denbigh, Wales. His mother, Betsy Parry, was nineteen years old at the time of his birth. According to Stanley himself, his father, John Rowlands, was an alcoholic; there is some doubt as to his true parentage.

The parents were unmarried, so his birth certificate refers to him as a bastard, and the stigma of illegitimacy weighed heavily upon him all his life. He was raised by his grandfather until the age of five.

When his guardian died, the boy was sent to St. Asaph Union Workhouse, where overcrowding and lack of supervision resulted in frequent abuse by the older boys. He stayed until the age of 15.

After completing an elementary education, he was employed as a pupil teacher in a National School. In 1859, at the age of 18, he made his passage to the United States in search of a new life. Upon arriving in New Orleans, he became friendly with a wealthy trader named Stanley, whose name he later assumed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Morton_Stanley

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Who is he? (I studied history at a state school) and then at Oxford, Hollis.

 

[Hollis]

Wow!! You studied history at a state school and then you went to Oxbridge!!!

Pure fucking genius I tell you!!!!

 

[Donna Ferentes]

My point is that it rather demonstrates your wanky poll option to be the wanky poll option that it was.

 

[Hollis]

You know, DF, I can assure you that you really don't have a point to be made on this thread, okay?

Lighten up ffs. Enjoy the sunny Spanish weather. It is sunny?

 

[danny la rouge]

My Dad comes from Blantyre, whence Livingstone also came. There is a very good David Livingstone Centre there, and - perhaps surprisingly - it assesses pros and cons. If it isn't too far for you, maybe you should visit, Hollis?