biography
| name: |
Kingsley, Mary Henrietta
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| sex:
| female
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| lived:
| (1862–1900)
|
| biography:
| Traveller and writer, born in London, UK, the niece of Charles Kingsley. She was not formally educated, but was a voracious reader in her father's scientific library. She led a secluded life tending her sick parents until they died; she then undertook two remarkable journeys to West Africa (1893–5), to study African religion and law, and was the first European to enter some parts of Gabon. Returning from her second journey in 1895, she wrote Travels in West Africa (1897) and West African Studies (1899). She later came to be consulted by colonial administrators, for her expertise was wide and her understanding of African culture broad-based. Serving as a nurse in the second Boer War, she died of enteric fever. |
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