Stanley, SIR HENRY MORTON, G.C.B. (cre. 1899), although a United States citizen, was born near Denbigh in Wales about 1840. His parents were in humble circumstances, and at an early age John Rowlands, as his name then was, had to shift for himself. When still a lad of fourteen or fifteen he left England, and the story goes that he worked his way as a cabin-boy to New Orleans, where he was fortunate enough to obtain employment in the office of a merchant named Stanley. He assumed the name of his employer, who took a keen interest in the young Welsiman; but on the death of the merchant intestate he was again thrown on his own resources. He served in the Confederate army, and appears to have become a contributor to several American journals. In 1867 he was acting as correspondent for the New York Tribune and the Missouri Democrat on a military expedition against the Indians, and towards the close of that year began his connection with the New York Herald. It was as its special correspondent that Stanley first entered Africa. He accompanied Lord Napier's Abyssinian expedition, and so ably did he make his dispositions that the first news of the fall of Magdala was conveyed to the British public—and also to the British government—by the New York Herald. Stanley next went to Spain for his paper, and while in Madrid received the famous telegram from Mr Gordon Bennett summoning him to Paris; he went at once, and received the laconic instructions to 'find Livingstone.' This was in October 1869, but Stanley did not at once proceed on his new mission; he visited Egypt for the opening of the Suez Canal, and travelled through Palestine, Turkey, southern Russia, and Persia, arriving in India in August 1870. In the following January he reached Zanzibar, and towards the end of March he set out on his first expedition into the heart of the dark continent. Two white men who accompanied him soon turned back; there was the usual trouble with the porters; but in those early days Stanley displayed the qualities of courage, perseverance, and command over the native African which have won for him such a high position in the long roll of African explorers. The road to Tanganyika was not then what it is now; but all difficulties were overcome, and on November 10th Stanley had the satisfaction of greeting Livingstone. For four months they remained together, and there can be little doubt that the influence and example of Livingstone during these four months had a lasting effect on Stanley's character and career. Stanley met Livingstone a special correspondent; he parted from Livingstone with the fever of African exploration burning in his veins. The two men had together explored the north end of Lake Tanganyika, and conclusively settled that the lake had no connection with the Nile basin. On March 13, 1872, Stanley left Livingstone and set out on his return to the coast, having left large quantities of goods with the veteran, and given promises of further assistance. In less than two months he arrived at Zanzibar, and in August in England, where he was awarded the medal of the Royal Geographical Society, and fêted as the lion of the hour. His book, How I Found Livingstone, had an enormous sale. During the Ashanti campaign he followed the fortunes of Sir Garnet Wolseley's troops, for the New York Herald, and he returned to London only just in time to assist at the funeral of Livingstone in Westminster Abbey. The news of Livingstone's death kindled in Stanley a great resolution to complete the work in which his master had lost his life.
An expedition fitted out at the joint charge of the New York Herald and the Daily Telegraph was projected, with Stanley in supreme command. In August 1874 he left England to attempt the solution of some of the great problems of Central African geography. In November, with some 350 men of all descriptions, he quitted Bagamoyo, following the ordinary route to Ugogo, when, turning suddenly northwards, he made for the southern shore of the Victoria Nyanza. From Kagelyi, on Speke Gulf, he circumnavigated the lake, and approximately fixed its general outline. In Uganda he formed a close friendship with King Mtesa, and on his return home his reports of the readiness of the king to receive instruction in the Christian religion led to a great outburst of missionary enthusiasm, and the establishment of mission stations in Uganda. At Bambireh, an island off the south-west shore of the lake, he came into serious conflict with the natives, and the severe punishment he inflicted was subsequently made the subject of much hostile criticism in England. Passing through Karagwé, he reached Tanganyika, and set himself to determine its exact configuration. This accomplished, he made his way to Nyangwé on the Lualaba, where he first met Tippu Tib, the Arab chief; and from Tippu he learned that Cameron had not attempted the solution of the problem suggested by this great mass of water flowing northwards. It is of course impossible to give even in the barest outline the story of Stanley's ten months' journey from Nyangwé to the sea, by which he traced the course of the Congo and filled up an enormous blank in the map of Africa. When he arrived at Bona all his white companions were dead, hardly a third of his native followers had survived, and Stanley's black hair had turned white. It would be difficult to exaggerate the effect produced by this great journey. Politically it led directly to the founding of what is now the Congo Free State, and indirectly to that scramble for Africa among the European powers which has now left but an insignificant portion of the continent unpartitioned. Stanley returned to London in January 1878, published Through the Dark Continent and in 1879 again went out to Africa to found, under the auspices of the king of the Belgians the Congo Free State. Until 1884 this work engaged all his energies. He then returned to Europe, and in 1885 published The Congo and the Founding of its Free State. He took part in the Congo Congress at Berlin in 1884-85, and lectured widely, both in Britain and in America, on his African work.
Towards the end of 1886 Stanley was summoned from America to take command of the expedition for the relief of Emin Pasha (see SCHNITZER). On 22d February 1887 he arrived at Zanzibar; on the 25th he, his officers, and the Zanzibari porters, Somalis, and Soudanese soldiers sailed for the mouth of the Congo, where they landed on 18th March. On 15th June the expedition had reached the village of Yambuya, 1300 miles from the sea, on the left bank of the Aruwimi, 96 miles above its confluence with the Congo. Here Stanley divided his forces. He left at Yambuya camp a large number of loads, which were to be brought on as soon as porters were provided by Tippu Tib. The entire force which left Zanzibar numbered, all told, 706 men. Between Zanzibar and Yambuya it was reduced to 649. Of this number 389, including Stanley and five Europeans, made up the advance force, the garrison at Yambuya numbered 129, and a contingent 131 strong was shortly to join the Yambuya camp from Bolobo. Major Barttelot was left in command of the rear column, and on 28th June Stanley set out on his forced march through the forest. It is impossible to follow in detail the story of Stanley's indomitable struggle with almost insurmountable difficulties. Disaster overtook the rear column; its leader, Major Barttelot, was assassinated; Jameson, the next in command, died of fever, and Bonny alone remained at the camp. For many months no news of Stanley reached Europe; then came rumours of disaster; and finally the news that Emin and Stanley had joined hands on the shores of the Albert Nyanza. Into the history of their relations it is needless to enter, as there exists a small library of Emin literature dealing with the subject in all its aspects. The return journey was made by an overland route to the east coast, and Baganoyo was reached on 4th December 1889. Apart from the main object of Stanley's journey, this expedition established the existence of a vast tropical forest to the west of the lake country, and occupying the northern portion of the Congo basin, as also of the vast snow-capped height of Ruwenzori (18,000 to 19,000 feet). In 1890 Stanley, after recruiting his health in Egypt and the south of France, returned to London, and met with a royal reception. He was everywhere feasted and feted; the Royal Geographical Society bestowed on him a special gold medal; and Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Durham, and Halle conferred on him honorary degrees. Having married Miss Dorothy Tennant (1890), he settled in England, stood unsuccessfully as Unionist candidate for Lambeth in 1892, but was elected M.P. for that constituency in 1895.
His works include, besides those named above, Coomassie and Magdala (1874); In Darkest Africa: or the Quest, Rescue, and Retreat of Emin (1890); a novel, My Kalulu (1873); My Dark Companions and their Strange Stories (1893); and My Early Travels in America and Asia (1895). See also the article SCHNITZER, and books cited there, and CONGO.