Appendix C: Chronology of the Life and Times of David Livingstone

“So teach us to number our days, That we may get us a heart of wisdom.”

— Psalm 90:12, ASV

The dates below are meant as orientation. Where the sources disagree, the disagreement is noted. Livingstone’s own dating became unreliable in his last years, and several dates from that period are uncertain.

1813 - Birth

David Livingstone is born on 19 March at Blantyre Works, Lanarkshire, the second of seven children of Neil Livingstone, tea dealer, and Agnes Hunter.

1823 - The Mill

At ten he goes to work as a piecer in the Blantyre cotton mill, and attends the evening school.

c. 1832 - Spinner and Convert

Promoted to spinner. About this time he comes to a personal faith, helped by Thomas Dick’s Philosophy of a Future State.

c. 1834 - China

Karl Gützlaff’s appeal for medical missionaries to China moves him to train as a doctor.

1836-1838 - Glasgow

Studies medicine and chemistry at the Andersonian University, Greek at Glasgow University, and theology under Ralph Wardlaw, working in the mill in summer.

1838-1839 - Ongar

Accepted on probation by the London Missionary Society; studies under Richard Cecil at Chipping Ongar; probation extended; accepted in 1839.

1839-1840 - London

The Opium War closes China. Meets Robert Moffat and turns to southern Africa.

1840 - Ordination and Departure

Qualifies as a Licentiate of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow in November; ordained on 20 November at Albion Chapel, London; sails on the George on 8 December.

1841 - Kuruman

Lands at Simon’s Bay in March; reaches Kuruman on 31 July. First journey north with Rogers Edwards.

1842-1843 - The North

Travels among the Bakwena and Bamangwato; lives for about six months among the Bakwena to learn Setswana. Meets Sechele. Founds Mabotsa with Edwards in 1843.

1844 - The Lion

Mauled by a lion at Mabotsa in February; saved by the intervention of Mebalwe. Engaged to Mary Moffat.

1845 - Marriage

Marries Mary Moffat at Kuruman on 9 January. Quarrel with Edwards; moves to Chonuane, Sechele’s town.

1846-1851 - Children

Robert born 1846 (Mabotsa), Agnes 1847 (Chonuane), Thomas 1849 (Kolobeng), Elizabeth 1850 (died at about six weeks), William Oswell 1851 (on the Zouga River).

1847 - Kolobeng

The Bakwena move to Kolobeng. Years of drought begin.

1848 - Sechele’s Baptism

Sechele is baptised on 1 October after sending away all but one of his wives. Early in 1849 he is suspended from communion. He is the only African Livingstone is known to have baptised.

1849 - Lake Ngami

With W. C. Oswell and Mungo Murray, guided by Sechele’s man Ramotobi, reaches Lake Ngami on 1 August.

1850-1851 - With the Family

Second journey to Ngami with Mary and the children (1850). In 1851 reaches the Makololo; Sebetwane dies on 7 July; reaches the upper Zambezi at Sesheke on 4 August. Sees the slave trade for the first time.

1852 - Separation and Dimawe

Mary and the children sail for Britain from the Cape in April. In late August a Boer commando attacks the Bakwena at Dimawe, and Livingstone’s house at Kolobeng is plundered.

1853 - Linyanti

Sechele travels to Cape Town to appeal for help. Livingstone reaches Linyanti in May; leaves for the west coast with twenty-seven men on 11 November.

1854 - Luanda

Reaches Luanda on 31 May. Declines a passage home; HMS Forerunner, carrying his papers, sinks off Madeira. Leaves Luanda on 20 September.

1855 - Victoria Falls

Back at Linyanti in September. Leaves for the east in November; sees Mosi-oa-Tunya, which he names the Victoria Falls, in mid-November.

1856 - Across Africa

The night of 14 January at the Luangwa confluence. Father dies in February. Reaches Tete on 2 March and Quelimane on 20 May. Sekwebu drowns at Mauritius. Reaches England on 9 December.

1857 - Fame

Resigns from the London Missionary Society. Missionary Travels published in November. Speaks in the Senate House, Cambridge, on 4 December.

1858 - The Zambezi Expedition

Sails from Liverpool on 10 March as consul and leader of a government expedition. Mary stays at the Cape and Kuruman; Anna Mary is born at Kuruman on 16 November. Kebrabasa rapids found impassable in November.

1859 - Shire and Nyasa

Explores the Shire River; Lake Shirwa (April); Lake Nyasa (September). Thornton and Baines dismissed.

1860 - Linyanti Again

Helmore and Price families stricken at Linyanti (February to April). Livingstone takes the Makololo home, reaching Sesheke in August.

1861 - The Universities’ Mission

Bishop Mackenzie and the mission arrive. The Rovuma is tried and found too shallow. Captives freed at Mbame’s village in July, Chuma among them by the usual account; mission settles at Magomero.

1862 - Shupanga

Mackenzie dies on 31 January. Mary arrives at the end of January and dies at Shupanga on 27 April. The Lady Nyassa is launched.

1862-1863 - Famine and Recall

Drought and slave raids devastate the Shire valley. Kirk and Charles Livingstone go home in May 1863; the recall reaches Livingstone in July.

1864 - Bombay and Home

Sails the Lady Nyassa from Zanzibar to Bombay (April to June). Reaches London in July. His son Robert, serving in the Union army as Rupert Vincent, dies at Salisbury prison, North Carolina, in December.

1865 - Last Departure

Writes the Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi at Newstead Abbey. His mother dies in June. Leaves Britain for the last time in August.

1866 - The Last Journey Begins

Reaches Zanzibar in January; lands near the Rovuma in March. Wikatani stays with his people near Lake Nyasa (August). Musa and the Johanna men desert and report his death.

1867 - Without Medicines

Medicine chest stolen on 20 January. Reaches Lake Tanganyika (April) and Lake Mweru (November). E. D. Young’s search party disproves Musa’s story.

1868 - Bangweulu

Reaches Lake Bangweulu in July.

1869 - Ujiji and Manyema

Reaches Ujiji, gravely ill, on 14 March; finds his stores plundered. Goes west into Manyema.

1870 - Bambarre

Laid up for months with ulcerated feet; reads the Bible through four times while in Manyema.

1871 - Nyangwe and Stanley

Reaches Nyangwe on the Lualaba in March. Witnesses the massacre on 15 July. Returns to Ujiji in late October. Meets H. M. Stanley at Ujiji (10 November by Stanley’s book; 3 November in other Stanley texts; Livingstone’s own dating points to late October).

1872 - Unyanyembe

With Stanley explores the north of Lake Tanganyika (late 1871) and travels to Unyanyembe (February). Stanley leaves on 14 March. Birthday dedication on 19 March. Porters arrive in August, with Jacob Wainwright and others from Nasik. Leaves Unyanyembe on 25 August.

1873 - Death

Wades the Bangweulu swamps (January to April). Last journal entry on 27 April. Dies at Chitambo’s village, Ilala, probably on 1 May (his companions carved 4 May on the tree). His heart is buried under a mpundu tree. The Zanzibar slave market is closed by treaty on 5 June. His companions meet Cameron near Unyanyembe in October.

1874 - Westminster Abbey

The body reaches Bagamoyo in February. Buried in Westminster Abbey on 18 April; Jacob Wainwright among the pallbearers. Susi and Chuma come to England and help Horace Waller. The Last Journals published.

1875-1876 - The Missions

Livingstonia (Free Church of Scotland) founded on Lake Nyasa (1875); Blantyre Mission (Church of Scotland) founded in the Shire Highlands (1876).

1880 - Blaikie

W. G. Blaikie publishes The Personal Life of David Livingstone.

1882-1892 - The Companions

Chuma dies at Zanzibar (1882). Susi is baptised David (1886) and dies (1891). Sechele dies (1892). Jacob Wainwright dies (1892).

1891 - Protectorate

Britain declares a protectorate over the Shire Highlands and Lake Nyasa region, later Nyasaland.

1964 - Independence

Malawi and Zambia become independent. Both keep many of the places named in his memory.