Most people know Livingston as a daring explorer who 'disappeared' into Africa during the romantic Victorian age or exploration and archeology.
I hadn't quite grasped what a visionary he was, that he was also a linguist, writer journalist, missionary, botanist AND abolishist. The things he set in place changed he face of slavery and in journalism. What an incredible man.
The museum is housed in Shuttle Row along the river Clyde in south Scotland. Its a tenement which the Livingstones shared with 23 other families ( incredible! most modern families would complain that the entire place was too squishy just for them)
Its packed with items relating to his explorations in Africa with maps, journals, letters and navigational equipment, as well as dioramas of significant events in his travels.
It gave us a much broader and better understanding of him and his life. I had assumed he was one of he moneyed explorers, who was some lower peer or some such. Instead I was humbled to find he was the son of a cotton mill worker, who started off in the cotton mills, read and studied while he worked in horrible conditions, applied and got into bible college ( the only education institution available for 'his' type) and became a doctor, missionary and writer - all wrapped up in one. He had a keen interest in biology and set about collecting samples of plants, as well as making notes on the tribes and people he met.
Out the front of the museum is a statue depicting the time he was a attacked by a lion. I'm sure he epitomised the 'proper' English gentlemen with the "just a flesh wound' comment.
Suffice to say, I was deeply moved by his humanitarian views surrounding slavery and his commitment to collecting information and sharing it with an ignorant world
Its packed with items relating to his explorations in Africa with maps, journals, letters and navigational equipment, as well as dioramas of significant events in his travels.
It gave us a much broader and better understanding of him and his life. I had assumed he was one of he moneyed explorers, who was some lower peer or some such. Instead I was humbled to find he was the son of a cotton mill worker, who started off in the cotton mills, read and studied while he worked in horrible conditions, applied and got into bible college ( the only education institution available for 'his' type) and became a doctor, missionary and writer - all wrapped up in one. He had a keen interest in biology and set about collecting samples of plants, as well as making notes on the tribes and people he met.
Out the front of the museum is a statue depicting the time he was a attacked by a lion. I'm sure he epitomised the 'proper' English gentlemen with the "just a flesh wound' comment.
Suffice to say, I was deeply moved by his humanitarian views surrounding slavery and his commitment to collecting information and sharing it with an ignorant world
No comments:
Post a Comment