Clapperton

Clapperton, HUGH, African explorer, was born at Annan, Dumfriesshire, in 1788. At the age of thirteen he went to sea; and having after a youthful peccadillo been constrained to join a man-of-war, he ultimately distinguished himself by his services at Mauritius, and was appointed to the rank of lieutenant. In 1817 he returned to Scotland on half-pay. Government appointed him and Major Denham to accompany Dr Oudney, who was going as British consul to Bornu, in an exploring expedition. By way of Tripoli and Murzuk, they reached Kuka on Lake Tchad in 1822; and Clapperton proceeded westward, accompanied by Oudney, who died by the way. He still pushed on alone as far as Sokoto, but was here compelled to retrace his steps, and, in company with Denham, returned to England in 1825. The journey had done much for the knowledge of Bornu and the Houssa country, but the great geographical problem of the course of the Niger was still much in the same position. To solve it, if possible, Clapperton—the rank of commander having been conferred upon him—started again in August 1825, in company with Captain Pearce, R.N., Mr Dickson, Dr Morrison, and Richard Lander. They commenced their exploration into the interior from the Bight of Benin. His other companions died early on the journey, but Clapperton and his faithful attendant Lander reached Sokoto. Here the Sultan detained him, and vexation joined to the hardships of the journey so affected his health, that he died at Changary, near Sokoto, April 13, 1827. See the Narrative of the first journey (1826); the Journal of the second (1829); and the Records of Clapperton's Last Expedition to Africa, by Richard Lander (1830).